Escape for Christmas

Chapter Thirteen

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

‘Thank you, Ms Rice. I’m sure Ivy will be fine with these antibiotics, but don’t hesitate to contact us if you’re concerned,’ Brody said.

The pets of Bannerdale clearly didn’t know it was Christmas Eve. Since 9 a.m., when he’d returned from the farm shop, Brody had been dealing with all kinds of creatures, including a hamster with a urinary-tract infection, who was sent home with antibiotics and instructions to dip his carrot sticks in the meds.

Ivy, the British shorthair, was the last patient. She had ear mites and, while Brody was trying to examine her, she’d taken out her displeasure on him by clawing his arm. Her talons had drawn blood, though the owner had chortled as if it was hilarious.

‘Ivy is such a character! Naughty puss!’ Ms Rice declared, stroking Ivy’s head. Ivy hissed at Brody.

‘And a happy Christmas to you too, Ivy,’ he grumbled, bleeding over the exam table.

‘She’s grateful really,’ Ms Rice said. ‘Aren’t you, sweetheart?’

Ivy retreated into her carrier, snarling at Brody.

It was now after 2 p.m. and he’d stayed a full hour after opening time to see urgent cases, sending the staff home and managing the last appointments on his own.

After he bolted the door behind Ms Rice and Ivy, he flung off his Santa hat. He was so wrung out by the events of the past twenty-four hours that, if he’d been a cartoon character, he’d have sunk down against the door and melted in a puddle on the reception floor. He couldn’t even relax with a pint, because he had to drive home, and he was on-call until the start of Boxing Day.

Then he reminded himself that however much his patients weren’t impressed by him, it was nothing compared to Sophie’s opinion of him.

Brody took off his scrubs, had a wash, got changed and put some Savlon on the nasty scratch on his arm. Now he was fifteen minutes late to meet Carl, whom he’d summoned for emergency moral support at the Red Lion. He desperately needed someone to talk to before he went back to Felltop that afternoon. Because he had slept in the spare room and left early for work, he hadn’t seen Tegan since last night.

She was heading to her parents’ house after breakfast to spend the day with them. Christmas Day itself was to be split between his mother’s and Tegan’s parents. She was staying at their house on Christmas night and, although Brody had been invited to stay too, he’d said he ought to be at Felltop in case he was called out and disturbed them in the night, which had been a good excuse.

The Red Lion had Slade blaring out of the speakers, mulled wine on tap and hordes of locals who’d crowded in after finishing work early. It reminded Brody of breaking up from school, but with real ale, and without the scraps with the private-school kids up the road. Yet .

He weaved his way through the main bar to a small room at the rear of the pub, warmed by a roaring fire. Carl lounged in a corner of the snug, looking as annoyingly handsome as ever. Brody didn’t know why Carl hadn’t found a permanent partner yet, although he knew that, sadly, it wasn’t for the want of trying. He grinned broadly when Brody walked over to his table, revealing a set of perfect teeth as white as mountain snow.

‘Hello there. I thought you’d decided to stand me up.’

‘Sorry, I got held up treating a last-minute patient.’

‘Wow.’ Carl winced when he saw Brody’s hand. ‘You’re not as popular with the animals as with the owners then?’

‘Not with a black-and-white cat called Ivy, who objected to me trying to treat her ear mites.’

‘Ouch! “Ivy”, though. Very seasonal.’

‘I don’t think she was feeling too festive.’

‘You don’t look in the Yuletide spirit, either. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look like you’ve not slept.’

‘I haven’t had a lot of kip, no.’

‘Anything to do with the party last night?’

‘Yes, you could say that. Tegan decided to turn up out of the blue.’

‘Tegan?’ Carl exhaled. ‘I thought she was in New York until New Year?’

‘So did I.’

‘Well, that was a nice surprise. No wonder you didn’t get much sleep,’ Carl said with an eyebrow-raise.

Brody was lost for words. He stared miserably into his alcohol-free beer.

‘Oh dear …’ Carl murmured. ‘She’s not pregnant, is she? I mean I know it might not be how you’d planned things, but a baby will be wonderful. Can I be a godfather? Not in the Mafia sense, but in the “renouncing Satan and all his works” sense. Although I can’t promise to renounce all his works, to be fair, as some of them are rather a lot of fun.’

Brody allowed himself a smile before letting it subside again. ‘Tegan’s not pregnant.’

‘Oh, shame. I was rather looking forward to there being a baby at your wedding. You do still want me to be best man? I mean, I know you haven’t made any plans and haven’t actually asked me yet, but I’d kind of assumed. I promise I won’t speak to you ever again if you don’t ask me.’

Brody felt his mouth tilt momentarily upwards in a smile, before it quickly disappeared. ‘Believe me, if I was getting married, I would never dream of asking anyone but you.’

‘ If you were getting married. Shouldn’t that be when ?’

Brody would have taken a large gulp of his beer if he thought it would have done any good, but it was zero-alcohol and therefore of no use whatsoever to dull the pain from the mess he found himself in.

‘Now you’re worrying me, buddy. Would you care to share with Uncle Carl? You know what they say: a problem shared is a problem doubled?’

‘There won’t be a wedding, Carl.’

With delicate precision, Carl replaced his pint on the table. ‘Ah. I see.’

‘I’ve got myself into a bit of trouble,’ Brody went on, glancing looked around to see if anyone he knew might be close enough to overhear their conversation.

‘What kind of trouble? Does it involve Sophie from Sunnyside by any chance?’

‘Why would you think that?’ Brody asked defensively.

‘A hunch and, judging by your face, I’m not far wrong. What happened? My favourite village vet hasn’t gone and done anything silly, have you?’

‘Probably, though not in the way you’re thinking.’

Carl rested his head on his chin. ‘What am I thinking?’

‘That I – we – got involved with someone else.’

‘Well, did you?’

‘Yes and no. It’s complicated.’

Carl rolled his eyes and sat back against the banquette. ‘It always is, where love’s concerned.’

‘It’s not love. It was, but it isn’t now.’

Carl sputtered in exasperation. ‘Can you please stop talking in riddles or we’ll be here until next Christmas. Spit it out, man!’

Brody took a mental deep breath. ‘Tegan and I were engaged, as you and a very select group of other people know. Just because we didn’t want a fuss, and you know I’m a private person.’

‘And I’m honoured I was one of those people.’

‘Well, you’re also the only person – apart from the two of us – who knows that we aren’t engaged now.’

Carl let out a long breath. ‘I’m so sorry to hear that, my friend. I thought you and Tegan were crazy about each other. I know you’ve known each other for years, with your dad and hers being mates, so I wasn’t surprised when you finally got together, or when you told me you were engaged. I thought you’d done the whole getting-down-on-one-knee thing and proposed.’

‘Actually I didn’t. And neither did she. It was last September, when we were watching some daft show on TV about brides from hell, and we were about to turn it over when Tegan said we should do that. And I said, “What? Have a wedding from hell?” and laughed.

‘And she said, “No, Brody, we could have a lovely wedding. A small ceremony, keep it to a few dozen friends and family, and an evening party for the rest. Not right now, but at some point when – fingers crossed – when dad’s feeling better.”’

Carl listened intently.

‘And I realised what was happening, and I was … well, I was shocked that she felt that way, but I was in love and so I said, “Why not?”’

‘As you do,’ Carl said.

‘Don’t be so cynical. I felt so happy and it seemed right in that moment. We’d no plans to set a date, but it seemed natural to make the commitment, especially with Tegan about to go to New York. Finally, after a couple of failed relationships and a lot of lonely nights, this beautiful, gorgeous woman wanted to marry me, and I felt the same.’

‘And you’d have done anything to make her happy,’ Carl said wearily, as if he fully understood where Brody was coming from. Which he probably did, having not been the luckiest person in love himself.

‘Yes.’ Except that now Brody knew better. ‘What I should have done was the thing that would have made us both truly happy. And that would have been to say: “Well, maybe let’s wait. Let’s wait until we’re totally sure. Let’s take a bit more time, because there’s no need to rush.”’

‘Yet you didn’t.’

‘I was afraid of losing Tegan and, at the time, I really did convince myself I was ready for the commitment. As you say, we’d known each other for years as friends and had been together properly for three months. Plus, Tegan was ecstatic and was saying, “My parents are going to be over the moon, and Dad will have something to look forward too. I can’t wait to tell them. Won’t your mum be pleased too?”’

‘So I’m guessing you have now told Tegan that the engagement is off? Last night was it? When she turned up?’ Carl winced. ‘Poor love. I bet she’s devastated.’

‘No, she’s not devastated. She knew it was off before she arrived.’

Carl almost coughed up his beer in astonishment.

‘I broke it off a few months ago, when she told me she’d been sleeping with her boss in New York. So we’re no longer a couple, but no one else knows, and Tegan – neither of us –wants anyone else to know. Not yet.’

‘Jesus, Brody. Why not?’

‘Because we don’t want to ruin Christmas. And before you roll your eyes and laugh, it’s not a simple matter of standing by the tree after we’ve opened the presents and telling everyone: “Oh, by the way, we won’t need the couples massage voucher, we’re splitting up. Happy bloody Christmas to you all!”’

‘No, perhaps that wouldn’t be the best timing.’

‘In fact it’s a totally shitty situation. Tegan’s brother and his wife decided to tell her parents they were getting a divorce at the end of November, and you know her father’s not been well. He’s waiting for a triple bypass in the New Year and there’s a chance he might not make it, as it is. Tegan told me the doctors warned him to avoid any stress, so she’s understandably petrified that any further shocks could make him even worse. What if he deteriorates and he’s not fit for the surgery?’

‘Brody, mate …’ Carl patted his back. ‘This is genuinely awful.’

‘Yeah. So we decided to wait until after her dad’s op, and tell him when he’s stronger in a couple of months’ time. It’s not ideal, but after what happened with my dad, I wouldn’t feel right it I did anything to make hers worse.’

‘I can totally understand that, but it will be tough to pretend and lie all over Christmas and beyond.’

‘We’ll cope,’ Brody said grimly. ‘It’s not for long and if it helps her dad’s recovery, it’s worth it.’

‘OK. I don’t envy you putting on a front, but I can buy that.’

‘Thanks.’ He heaved a sigh of relief at having shared the truth with someone he trusted. But then he remembered the other dilemma. ‘Problem is there’s something else.’

Carl groaned. ‘Oh God. What now?’

‘I – um – have liked Sophie for a long time now, but obviously I didn’t do anything while Tegan and I were together. I wouldn’t dream of doing anything about it and dragging her into this mess.’

‘Being a noble knight in shining armour, you mean?’

‘Don’t joke. I have been tempted. Things hadn’t been great with Tegan for a while. Even before she went to New York last summer I worried that living far apart would put a strain on our relationship, but I thought it was short-term and we could get through it. We didn’t. We grew away from each other, and then she started seeing bloody Wes.’

‘Were you pleased? Relieved?’

‘Of course at first I was deeply hurt and betrayed. More than I’d ever expected to be. The relief came afterwards and sooner than I’d thought, which is telling in itself. It was just about bearable pretending to be engaged while Tegan was going to be in New York for Christmas, but then she turned up here last night. She said her boss had let her come home. Playing the caring new boyfriend, making sure she was able to spend time with her sick father.’

‘What a generous guy!’ Carl scoffed.

‘Yeah. Isn’t he?’ Brody said, recalling how sick to his stomach he’d felt when Tegan had confessed to him about Wes. ‘It’s a whole different thing, now she’s actually here and—’ He paused. ‘This is where it gets really complicated.’

Carl sat up straight in his seat. ‘Oh dear. I think I need another drink before I hear the rest of this.’