Home for Christmas

Chapter 5

Just like Jude with the Connelly family, I was in quite a rush to put some distance between him and me after that initial unsatisfactory conversation and ended up stuffing lots of my fabric into random boxes, which I then had to go through the next day to make sure they didn’t end up creased or in the wrong place.

That task took until mid-morning, and it was only afterwards that I remembered I had been going to message Jeanie and apologize for the out of character comment I’d made about her attitude towards Tim. She didn’t answer her phone when I called, so I composed a remorseful message and then settled down to carry on selecting pretty pieces for the fairy I was going to make Demelza.

My largest and most intricate fairies took as long to think about as they did to actually create, so I really needed to make that one, and Anna’s, a priority over the ones I would be selling at the fairs and on the market, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t pull anything together that I was happy with. It was usually such an enjoyable part of the process, and I felt frustrated that right when I needed inspiration to magically strike, all I could think about was my lodger, who seemed to have a gift for saying the wrong thing, even if he didn’t realize it.

‘Well, in that case, I completely blame that Jude chap for the look on your face,’ Holly said loyally when I later bumped into her in town and explained what had occurred the day before. ‘You’re usually such a ray of sunshine, Bella, but you’re definitely not shining today.’

I didn’t like the implication of that, not one little bit. A natural propensity to always look on the bright side, a laid-back attitude and a definite Pollyanna predisposition were my go-to and cherished personality traits. I pasted on a smile in an effort to rectify the situation, but Holly looked terrified.

‘Don’t fake it,’ she said, patting my arm, then taking a step away. ‘Never fake it.’

I banished the forced smile and shook my head.

‘I refuse to let that man zap my Pollyanna power,’ I pouted, planting my feet even more firmly on the pavement.

‘That’s more like it,’ Holly laughed. ‘Embrace your inner Boudica, and in the meantime, while you’re gathering your strength and polishing your shield, let me treat you to lunch in the Cherry Tree Café.’

‘Thanks, Holly,’ I said, with a nod to the pub, ‘but I can’t join you today. I really need to talk to Jeanie. I upset her yesterday and I didn’t mean to.’

‘Crikey,’ Holly tutted, knowing I never knowingly upset anyone. ‘Jude must have really got to you.’

I didn’t tell her that I’d offended Jeanie before he showed up.

‘I’ll see you tonight, then,’ she said, turning towards the café.

‘Yes,’ I replied, thinking how much I was looking forward to celebrating the fifth of November with my friends. ‘I’ll see you tonight.’

It was quiet for once in The Mermaid, so my heartfelt apology, following up the message Jeanie hadn’t yet had the opportunity to read, was expressed in the bar while she made me a latte and Tink snoozed at my feet, next to the stool I was perched on.

‘I know you’re frustrated with me over the Tim situation,’ Jeanie said, setting the cup down in front of me, ‘but the thing is—’

‘It’s fine,’ I cut in. ‘You don’t owe me an explanation. I just wanted to say I’m sorry that I upset you and I hope you didn’t lose any sleep over it.’

‘Oh, don’t worry, I didn’t.’ She smiled, handing me some packets of sugar. ‘But I’m guessing you did. You don’t look like yourself at all. You should have rung me back last night if you were that worried that you’d upset me.’

‘I had planned to,’ I told her, ‘but I got… distracted.’

‘Oh?’

‘Jude, the guy from the hall, turned up unannounced,’ I said succinctly. ‘A whole day and a bit earlier than arranged, too.’

‘Was that who was hammering on the house door?’

‘Um,’ I said. ‘Hammering with his foot, as it turned out.’

I still wasn’t over that. I really should have made a point of checking the paintwork. I hoped he hadn’t scuffed it with his size elevens. Or whatever size his feet were. The door had only been repainted in the spring, so it should still have been looking pristine.

‘So,’ Jeanie said cosily, leaning over the bar and not showing a moment’s concern for my door, ‘were you good distracted or bad distracted?’

‘Bad,’ I immediately shot back, refusing to think how lovely Jude’s blue eyes looked framed by those long dark lashes. ‘Definitely bad. He’s a very rude man.’

‘Oh dear,’ said Jeanie, standing up again and pulling a face. ‘No redeeming features at all?’

‘As far as I can tell,’ I lied, adding more sugar than I’d usually take to my coffee in the hope that it would sweeten my mood, ‘not a single one.’

I then went on to tell her how Jude had assumed it wouldn’t be an issue if he just turned up, how he’d judged my pumpkin slippers, how Tink had been stupidly charmed by him for no reason at all, how he’d loathed my entire aesthetic and how he’d then made a din dragging boxes about until late in the evening.

Jeanie stopped wiping the glass she’d picked up and grinned.

‘It almost sounds like the lady doth protest too much,’ she laughed.

‘Don’t you believe that for a second,’ I said, hiding behind my cup. ‘I’m only telling you the good bits.’

‘How old is he?’ she asked.

‘Not sure,’ I said, shrugging and drinking down another rather too hot mouthful.

‘Roughly.’

‘About our age, I suppose.’

‘How tall?’

‘Taller than me.’

‘Well, that’s not hard.’

She didn’t say anything else, and I was damned if I was going to fill the silence by mentioning the way Jude’s hair fell back into place with Hugh-Grant-circa-Notting-Hill accuracy when he ran his hands through it or his beguiling ocean eyes…

‘By the way,’ I therefore resorted to asking instead, ‘did I leave my lion’s tail here after the party last week? I can’t find it anywhere back at the house or in the apartment.’

Jeanie jerked her thumb over her shoulder towards the other end of the bar.

‘Oh, for pity’s sake,’ I laughed when I spotted it pinned up next to a card filled with bags of peanuts. ‘Give it to me. It looks like something Eeyore lost, stuck up there like that.’

She unpinned it and handed it over.

‘I’d better get back,’ I said, finishing my coffee and stuffing the tail in my coat pocket. ‘Will you make it tonight?’

‘I can’t say for certain, but I’m going to try,’ she told me. ‘If only to give me the opportunity to further grill you about this Jude guy.’

‘Well, you’ll be wasting your time,’ I said, giving Tink a nudge. ‘Because there’s really nothing else to say.’

I never liked to turn up at an event I’d been invited to at someone’s home empty-handed, but I always struggled when attending a function at Wynthorpe Hall, because they really did seem to have everything. However, their annual bonfire party had provided me with an opportunity to contribute something wonderfully creative, even if it would be ash by the end of the evening. On this occasion, Angus himself had donated some of its component parts, which had made it an even more interesting project.

‘Oh, Jude!’ I gasped, my hand flying to my chest, when I came around the side of the house and found him locking the front door. ‘You made me jump.’

‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Obviously, I didn’t mean to.’

So he was capable of apologising, then. Sort of.

‘Have you been home long?’ I asked.

‘All day,’ he said. ‘I thought I’d work here today and then have an early, quiet night, but then I remembered the party at the hall.’

I hadn’t given a thought to him being invited, too, but of course he had been. That would satisfy Jeanie’s curiosity about him, if she did manage to make it. She could suss him out for herself and then I’d really be in for a grilling. She knew I had a weakness for long lashes and would doubtless want to know why I hadn’t mentioned them as a redeeming feature during my earlier character assassination.

‘I’ve been working here today, too,’ I told him, for want of something to say before an awkward silence descended.

‘I know,’ he said. ‘I could hear your music.’

I managed to stop myself from apologising just in the nick of time. It was an annoying reflex reaction I had, and besides, my music hadn’t even been that loud.

‘It’s a bit early for carols, isn’t it?’ Jude commented, and I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not, but then he didn’t know about my Christmas obsession, so he most likely wasn’t.

‘Not when you want to get in the festive mood,’ I told him bluntly, then more kindly added, ‘I suppose as we’re both heading to the hall, we might as well travel together, mightn’t we?’

I didn’t particularly want to drive there with him, but it would have been ridiculous to head to the same destination in convoy and then later follow each other back again.

‘I suppose so,’ he said, sounding about as keen as I was. ‘I’ll wait out here while you settle your dog. It’s Tink, isn’t it?’

At the sound of her name, she looked up at him and thumped her tail, but he didn’t fuss her.

‘It is,’ I confirmed, refusing to acknowledge that he’d made the effort to remember. ‘And I don’t need to settle her, because she’s coming with us.’

‘But what about the fireworks?’ He frowned. ‘And come to think of it, what about the other dogs? Aside from the noise, I don’t think those so-called silent fireworks are any better than the usual ones, are they? Not for the environment, anyway.’

‘The dogs will all be in the kitchen,’ I told him, ‘and the Connellys don’t have fireworks on Bonfire Night.’

‘So what’s happening at the party, then?’ he asked, frowning again.

‘You’ll see,’ I said. ‘Come on. Otherwise we’ll be late.’

I clicked the key fob to unlock my car, and then it was Jude’s turn to jump.

‘What the hell is that?’ he gasped, catching sight of the person sitting in the passenger seat.

‘That’s the guy,’ I told him, trying not to laugh at seeing him so taken by surprise. ‘He’s my contribution to the evening. He’s wearing some of Angus’s cast-offs and he’s stuffed with straw, which is why I wouldn’t let him in the house.’

Holly had left a trail right through the pub when she’d played her part as the Scarecrow on Hallowe’en, and I had no desire to replicate that up the stairs and in the apartment.

‘I was about to suggest we go in my car,’ Jude said, ‘but not if it’s going to end up filled with straw.’

‘What’s wrong with my car?’ I scowled, even though he hadn’t actually suggested that anything was. I needed to break the habit of presuming he was criticising me before it took hold.

‘Nothing,’ he said, his eyes flicking back to me. ‘It’s just a bit on the… snug side.’

‘I’ll have you know,’ I said, drawing myself up and feeling that my assumption – on this occasion, at least – was justified, ‘I’ve had much taller men than you in that front seat.’

‘Oh, have you, now?’ he laughed, and I felt my cheeks flush.

I swallowed hard as his face was entirely transformed. He looked even more attractive. Attractive, I mean. Not more attractive because I hadn’t so far found him attractive. Not really, anyway. Oh dear.

‘You know what I mean,’ I said, unable to keep a straight face or look him in the eye.

I couldn’t help thinking that it was a relief to know he’d got a sense of humour, even if the first glimpse of it had been at my expense.

‘Am I going to have to squeeze in the back, then?’ he asked.

‘No,’ I said, handing him Tink’s lead. ‘I’ll stuff Mr Fawkes in the boot, and you can take his place.’

He was still picking straw out of the footwell by the time I’d clipped Tink into her harness on the back seat.

‘Does she mind being strapped in?’ Jude asked, glancing over his shoulder at her.

‘No,’ I said, ‘she’s used to it, and as it’s a legal requirement, she wouldn’t have much choice in the matter even if she did object.’

‘I didn’t know it was the law,’ he said, readjusting the passenger seat to accommodate his long legs.

‘I’d keep her restrained, even if it wasn’t,’ I told him. ‘Better to be safe than sorry.’

‘I agree,’ he said, pulling on his seatbelt. ‘Safety first.’

There were already a dozen or so cars parked up at the hall by the time we arrived, and Archie dived into the boot of mine almost before I’d applied the handbrake.

‘Excellent!’ he laughed as he lifted out the guy. ‘I was worried it was going to look like we were burning an effigy of Dad after he told us he’d given you some of his tatty old clothes to dress Mr Fawkes in, but this looks nothing like him.’

I had made the face look as much like Guy Fawkes as I possibly could with some felt for his moustache and a beard, and I’d made good use of a marker pen for the rest.

‘Well, that’s a relief,’ I said, unclipping Tink’s harness. ‘That would have been horrible!’

‘Come on, Jude,’ Archie said. ‘You can help me with this while Bella drops Tink off in the kitchen.’

By the time I’d done that and helped Dorothy carry out trays of toffee apples, baked apples, filled jacket potatoes and hot dogs to where the huge bonfire had been piled up, there was quite a crowd gathered and I couldn’t spot Jude among it. My straw-stuffed guy was atop the fire, though, so he must have played his part in helping Archie with that.

‘Here you are,’ said Holly, coming along and plucking at my sleeve. ‘I wondered where you’d got to.’

‘I was just helping Dorothy,’ I told her. ‘Have you seen Jeanie? She said earlier that she was going to try to come, if she could.’

‘Not yet,’ she said, looking around. ‘It’s hard to make out who everyone is in the dark, though, isn’t it?’

‘It’ll be easier when the bonfire’s lit,’ said Anna, also coming to join us.

She had Alby strapped to her front in a sling, and he was sound asleep.

‘Hello, Anna,’ I said, giving her a hug with Alby between us. ‘I was sorry I missed you last weekend.’

‘Don’t be,’ she said with a faint smile. ‘I wasn’t at my best after endless nights awake with this little man and his terrible teething.’

‘How is he now?’ Holly asked.

‘Better,’ Anna nodded. ‘Until the next eruption, anyway. And I’m feeling better, too. I’ve had a referral from my doctor to get some proper support for my “low mood”.’ She put air quotes around the words. ‘This baby business and the adjustment into motherhood isn’t anywhere near as straightforward as I thought it was going to be.’

‘Well, I think you’re doing brilliantly,’ I told her, thinking how brave she was to tell us so directly what she was going through and how she was feeling. ‘And I admire you for speaking out and saying it hasn’t been straightforward,’ I therefore added.

‘It’s taken me a while,’ she sighed. ‘I was struggling to admit it before, even to myself, and I kept thinking that if Molly had taken to it like a duck to water, then there was no reason why I shouldn’t, too.’

I could imagine that having a friend who was contentedly jogging along to compare yourself to had, in some ways, made speaking out even harder.

‘Oh, Anna…’ I swallowed, feeling choked up on her behalf.

‘It’s okay,’ she said, kissing the top of Alby’s head, which was covered with a knitted hat in the shape of an acorn. ‘Having taken the first steps to getting some help, I already feel better. And of course, Molly has been kindness itself, even when I haven’t been particularly lovely to her.’

‘She’s a wonderful friend,’ Holly said and then stopped as the air was filled with feedback from a loudspeaker which Angus was attempting to talk into.

‘I hardly think he needs that,’ Anna laughed.

Angus handed the ear-offending piece of equipment to Jamie and then began to shout out the running order for the evening.

After he’d said his piece, the fire was lit and the LED glowstick hunt through part of the woods, which had mostly safe paths, was announced as officially open. Sparklers, food and storytelling were to follow, but as soon as Angus had mentioned the hunt and its environmentally friendly credentials, most people were off, aiming to claim more sticks than everyone else and win the prize. Whatever that turned out to be.

It was a while before I saw Jude, and when I spotted him, he was walking out of the woods next to Jeanie, who was laughing at something he’d said and swinging a bucket positively packed with glowsticks. It looked like they had combined their efforts and actually had a decent chance of coming in first – or close to it, at least.

‘I’ve found your lodger, Bella,’ Jeanie said, beaming at me. Jude was smiling, too. ‘He’s far more interesting than you made out earlier.’

Holly raised her eyebrows at me, and Jude followed suit.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ he asked.

‘Never mind,’ Jeanie laughed, linking her arm through his. ‘Let’s go and register our tally and see if we’ve won.’

‘Tiny Tim is going to be heartbroken,’ said Holly with a sigh as we watched them go.

‘Jude’s only here for a month,’ I reminded her. ‘Tim’s got nothing to worry about. Shall we go and grab some sparklers?’ I suggested, hoping they’d reignite my sparkly mood.

‘Food first,’ she said. ‘I’m starving, aren’t you?’

I had been before, but suddenly I didn’t have the appetite to eat a thing.