Home for Christmas

Chapter 15

I’d decided as soon as the Brambles party invitation landed that I was going to go all out and get dressed up to the nines for it, and I had now resolutely decided that just because I was going to attend it with a man I was trying my hardest not to fall in love with and who was leaving the area the very next day, I was not going to change that plan. Not even if it put me at potential risk of experiencing another of his knee-weakening kisses.

Being preoccupied with thoughts of those kisses did nothing for my ability to apply eyeliner with a steady hand, and it took three attempts before I was satisfied with the look I was aiming for. Thankfully, my curls had been easier to tame, and the casual up-do, secured with a diamanté claw and a couple of sparkly clips, was perfect.

I was still scrutinising my reflection in the bedroom mirror when my phone alarm went off, reminding me that it was time to go. I had spent literally hours getting ready and couldn’t help wondering if I would have gone to quite so much trouble if I wasn’t going to be heading out with Jude. The outfit would have been the same, but I couldn’t remember the last time I’d painted my fingernails and toenails.

Not that anyone was likely to see my feet that evening, but the head-to-toe treatment I’d treated myself to did make me feel good. A quick spritz from my Jo Malone Velvet Rose and Oud, a kiss on the head for Tink, and I was finally good to go.

I could hear Jude in the hall, so I negotiated the stairs with extra care and resisted the urge to adjust the hem on the sapphire-blue sequin shift dress I’d found in my favourite local charity shop and which I’d teamed with silver heels and a small clutch bag. The bag was second-hand, too, but the shoes were new and, if I was being honest, not all that comfortable.

‘I thought we’d take my car—’ Jude began.

His words trailed off when he turned around. His mouth fell open, and his eyes widened as he took in what I was wearing. His reaction was comedic, but it didn’t make me want to laugh. I was more inclined to throw myself into his arms, which was absolutely not the correct or appropriate response, even if he had made me feel like a million dollars.

‘You were saying?’ I said, trying my hardest not to look as gratified by his reaction as I felt. I had supposedly dressed for myself, after all, not to please a man. Not even Jude.

‘Uh,’ he stammered, ‘I was going to say we could go to the party in my car, but never mind that for a moment.’ He smiled. ‘Bella, you look absolutely stunning.’

‘Thank you,’ I said, smiling back.

I was rubbish at accepting compliments but bit back the usual inclination to shrug it off and start going on about how it was mostly make-do and mend and cheap as chips.

‘I mean,’ Jude went on, ‘that is, you always look lovely, but I’ve never seen you dressed like this. So smartly, I mean, for a party.’

‘I don’t think I’d get on very well making fairies in this outfit,’ I said, thinking how wonderful it was to hear him so tongue-tied, even though I knew I shouldn’t have allowed myself to feel so thrilled. ‘But I’m pleased you like it. As you know, I do love to make an occasion out of things, and especially occasions to do with Christmas.’

Knowing for certain that Jude thought I looked as good as I felt was no help in the not-falling-further-for-him stakes, and I needed to move the conversation on. I couldn’t compliment him on his outfit, because he had his coat done up and a scarf around his neck. He did smell very good, though, but I could hardly say that.

‘I do know you have a fondness for occasion-making,’ he said, smiling again. ‘And you’re right, that’s definitely not a workday dress.’

‘I think we’d best get going,’ I said, before my head really started to swell. ‘And I honestly don’t mind driving us there and back, because I’m not planning to drink tonight.’

I would have to change my shoes before I got behind the wheel, though. And knowing me, I’d most likely end up staying in my Converse.

‘Funnily enough, I’m not drinking, either,’ Jude told me. ‘As I’ll be driving tomorrow, I’d rather not have anything tonight.’

‘You aren’t planning to head off that early, though, are you?’

‘No,’ he said, ‘not too early. Though I daresay you’ll be itching to get moved into the house as it’s the first of December tomorrow, won’t you?’

‘Don’t worry about that,’ I told him, reaching around him for my coat, which he then took and held open for me to slip on, ‘I have plenty of things I can get on with to celebrate the day without having to be in the house.’

‘Why does that not surprise me?’ he laughed.

‘Because in the month you’ve been here,’ I laughed back, ‘and after our rocky start, you’ve got to know me pretty well, after all.’

In the end, we did take Jude’s car, and the heated seats were a revelation. I felt cosily cocooned in the warm interior, and it did feel rather nice to be driven for once as opposed to being the person doing the driving. It was a shame it was dark already, because I would have loved to have admired the landscape as we headed right into the Fens, which was where Brambles was located.

‘Here we are,’ I said, pointing out the sign for the distillery, even though it would have been impossible for Jude to miss it because it was so brightly lit.

He pulled off the drove road onto the drive, and the sight which met our eyes made my seasonal spirit soar. There were potted Christmas trees lit with tiny warm white lights flanking the door, and I could see the reception area had been transformed with more trees and vast swags all decorated to match the colours of the Brambles branding. It looked like the perfect glittering haven in the dark landscape, and I couldn’t wait to get inside.

Jude parked the car in one of the few spaces that were left, then rushed around to open my door.

‘Are you sure it’s all right that I’ve come?’ he asked, sounding a little nervous. ‘I’m not going to know a soul, am I?’

Before I had an opportunity to reassure him, a mud-splattered four-by-four pulled up next to us and Holly and Bear climbed out.

‘There you are,’ I said to Jude, who was already looking relieved. ‘You know two people already.’

‘Three,’ he nodded, as Bear opened the rear door of Holly’s truck and Jeanie inelegantly jumped out.

‘You made it!’ I called, smiling at her.

‘Aunt Evelyn said I deserved a night off.’ She grinned, then readjusted her dress, which had ridden up on the drop out of her seat.

‘I couldn’t agree more,’ I replied, nodding. ‘Let’s get inside. It’s freezing out here.’

There were lots of other guests already inside, and the warm air that wafted out to greet us was filled with the traditional pine and cinnamon scents of Christmas, as well as a hearty heated punch, which I knew was going to pack a literal punch. I mentally reaffirmed that I wouldn’t be touching that, even though I didn’t now have to drive us home.

‘Hello, hello!’ said Jack, the distillery owner, as he rushed over. ‘Thank you all for coming. As you can see, it’s almost a full house already, so we’re in for a fun night.’

I introduced him to Jude, who he made very welcome, then Tilly, Jack’s partner, showed us the room they had set up with racks for everyone to hang their coats on.

‘Oh, Bella!’ gasped Jeanie as I undid and pulled off my coat. ‘That dress is stunning.’

‘Wow!’ agreed Holly. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so dressed up.’

‘Well, you two look gorgeous, too,’ I told them, because they did.

‘And what about me?’ asked Jude, and Jeanie, who could see him over my shoulder, began to laugh. ‘Hey!’ he objected. ‘I’ll have you know this was the best of the bunch.’

I spun around to look at him.

‘Oh my god!’ I laughed, too. ‘Where did you find that?’

‘Where do you think?’ He grinned.

The large jumper he was wearing had a black background, but there was a huge blue, glittery stag on the front and almost every inch that wasn’t stag was covered in shimmering silver stars.

‘Angus!’ Holly and Jeanie said together, and Jude nodded.

‘I need sunglasses to even look at it,’ I said, making a show of shielding my eyes from the glare as the light caught it.

‘Wait,’ Jude said. ‘You haven’t seen the best bit yet.’

He lifted the waistband and fiddled with something underneath, and after a second’s delay, the antlers on the stag began to flash madly.

‘No way!’ squealed Jeanie, clapping her hands together.

‘Ah, mate,’ said Bear, who was wearing a red checked shirt and black jeans. ‘You’ve shown me right up.’

‘Sorry,’ Jude laughed.

‘But I thought you hated Christmas.’ Holly frowned.

‘He does,’ I whispered.

‘I do,’ Jude said more loudly. ‘But Bella invited me along this evening, and I thought it would have been churlish not to enter into the spirit.’

‘I love that you’ve done this,’ I said, then felt my face flame.

‘And I love that you’ve colour-matched,’ Jeanie took the greatest pleasure in pointing out. ‘You look like a proper pair. You’ll have to stick together tonight.’

‘Oh yeah,’ said Holly, pulling out her phone. ‘Let’s get a photo of you.’

‘Not in here,’ I said, keen for that not to happen.

My heart was being stupid again. And having a reminder of Jude’s outfit after he’d left tomorrow and knowing the reason he’d gone to the effort of wearing it was not going to help it settle down or aid my ability to quickly get over him.

‘Let’s go and join the party and find a festive backdrop,’ I suggested, but with the intention of doing nothing of the sort.

Jamie and Angus had just arrived when we all stepped out of the cloakroom, and Angus immediately collared Jude, which gave me the opportunity to slip away and mingle with some of the other guests without feeling guilty about deserting him or missing out on the photo opportunity.

Every aspect of the party was wonderful. The Christmas dinner-themed canapes were utterly moreish, and the mocktails, which were the only drinks that I was determined to taste, were delicious, too. Jack and Tilly were the perfect hosts and introduced me to Fliss, who ran a supper club championing local food and drink on her nearby family farm, which I still hadn’t got around to visiting.

‘My grandad gifted me one of your fairies for my birthday, Bella,’ Fliss told me. ‘And I absolutely love it.’

‘Oh, thank you,’ I said, ‘I hope it’s bringing you luck.’

‘So far, so good,’ she said with a wink, just as a guy swooped by and whisked her off to dance.

‘This is my partner, Eliot,’ she called as she disappeared into the crowd. ‘I’ll introduce you to him later.’

I gave her a thumbs-up, because there was no way she’d be able to hear me.

‘Come on, Bella,’ said Owen, suddenly appearing in front of me. He had been the Wicked Witch at the Hallowe’en party in the pub, and I was pleased to see that the green face paint which had given me the creeps had washed off. ‘Let’s hit the dance floor, shall we?’

‘Go on, then,’ I said, letting him take my hand and lead me through to a much larger room, which had a DJ set-up and had already attracted quite a crowd.

I never needed asking twice to dance and I certainly didn’t need a drink in me before I said yes. I had no idea if I was a good or bad mover, but I was an enthusiastic one, and I’d danced with a few people by the time I noticed Jude standing on the sidelines. He was tapping his foot in time to ‘Lola’s Theme’, which I absolutely loved, but was making no attempt to come and join in, even though he could see me and Jeanie.

‘Why isn’t Jude dancing?’ I bellowed in Jeanie’s direction.

‘Dunno!’ she said, spinning around me. ‘I’ll go and see if I can grab him, shall I?’

I didn’t have time to answer her, because Owen appeared at my side again and, with no preamble at all, planted a whiskery kiss on my cheek.

‘Hey!’ I protested loudly as the tune began to fade out, taking some of my exuberance with it.

‘Not good?’ he said, looking shocked that I had so vehemently objected.

‘No,’ I said. ‘Not good.’

‘But I’m packing this,’ he said, holding up a plastic sprig of mistletoe that had seen better days.

‘That doesn’t mean you can just go around kissing people, Owen,’ I scolded.

‘Sorry,’ he said, pulling a face. ‘I should have asked you first, shouldn’t I?’

‘Yes,’ I said seriously, ‘never assume consent.’

He looked chastened, but I wasn’t going to tell him not to worry about it. The alcohol units coursing around his system didn’t justify his bad behaviour.

‘I’m sorry,’ he apologized.

‘Here, mate,’ said Kieran, who had also been at school with us and who I had noticed was watching our exchange with interest, ‘let me show you how it’s done.’

I wondered what I was in for, and a few guests who were dancing near to us were openly looking at the three of us, too.

‘Bella,’ Kieran said seriously, ‘in the spirit of mistletoe season, may I kiss you, please?’

‘That’s more like it,’ I applauded happily. ‘See, Owen? That’s how it’s done. Yes, Kieran,’ I graciously added, ‘you may kiss me.’

I had been expecting another chaste peck on the cheek, but Kieran made it a full-on smacker on the lips.

‘I meant you may kiss me on the cheek, you twit!’ I told him as he stepped away, initially looking thrilled with himself.

‘Oh,’ he said, his smile vanishing. ‘I thought…’

‘Perhaps we need to be a bit more specific,’ suggested Owen to his friend.

‘Either that,’ I advised, ‘or ditch the mistletoe completely and don’t go around kissing anyone else.’

They both thought that was a good idea, and we all carried on dancing through the next three songs with their sprigs tucked firmly in their trouser pockets. It wasn’t until the DJ started playing Paul McCartney’s Christmas classic, which had always been my and Jeanie’s favourite, that I realized she wasn’t on the dance floor – and she wasn’t talking to Jude, either, because they’d both disappeared. I decided I’d go and find them once the song had finished, because it was too good a dancing opportunity to miss. This party, coupled with putting the lights up outside the house, was exactly what I needed to kick my seasonal celebrations off.

‘It’s a brand-new blend,’ I heard Jack telling some other guests in the reception area as he began to pour rich ruby-coloured liquid into shot glasses after I’d left the dance floor. ‘Bella, come and try this!’ he called when he saw me. ‘Jude said earlier that you both enjoyed the gin he picked up on the night of the switch-on.’

Where was Jude? I looked around the space, but still couldn’t see him.

‘I’m not drinking tonight,’ I told Jack, as the other guests began to sip and make noises of deep appreciation.

‘Driving?’ Jack asked.

‘No,’ I told him.

‘These are tiny measures,’ he said. ‘Sip one, just to get the taste.’

‘Oh, go on, then,’ I said. ‘Just one small sip.’

I didn’t stick to the one sip after I’d tasted it, but I did draw the line after my third sample.

‘That really is delicious,’ I told a gratified Jack.

It had warmed me right to my toes. Not that I was cold, having danced for so long, but there was something almost seductive about an internal warmth sparked from the taste of a rich, thick tipple.

‘Another one?’ Jack offered.

‘No, thanks,’ I said, ‘but I’m definitely putting it on my Christmas list.’

‘I’ll get Tilly to bag you up a bottle to take away with you. We’ve almost sold out.’

‘Did Jude like it?’

‘He didn’t try it,’ Jack told me. ‘I think he said he’s driving tonight.’

‘Of course he is,’ I laughed, feeling foolish for forgetting. ‘He’s driving me .’ Driving me to distraction. I might have spent a lot of the party dancing with other people, but Jude’s generous commitment to entering into the festive spirit by wearing one of Angus’s most outlandish Christmas jumpers had been at the forefront of my mind for much of that time. ‘In that case, make it two bottles if you have enough, and I’ll give him one for Christmas.’

I wasn’t sure how he felt about festive gifts, but hopefully the drink would be a nice memento of his time in and around Wynbridge, even if he didn’t want to associate it with the twenty-fifth of December. I was tempted to check the time then, to work out exactly how much longer in the county he’d got left, but knew that would bring my party mood down, so resisted.

‘You haven’t seen Jude, have you?’ I asked Jack instead.

He shook his head.

‘Not for a while now.’

I hoped he hadn’t left and forgotten that he was supposed to take me with him.

‘I’m going to see if I can find him,’ I said, returning my empty glass to the tray Jack was holding.

‘Okay,’ he said. ‘We’ve put loads of lights up in the gazebo, so if you don’t find him in here, then he might have gone for a wander outside to sit under that.’

That did sound likely, given how full-on and festive the party was, and when I’d searched everywhere I could think of inside and checked that Jude’s car was still visible through the reception area window, I knew Jack must have guessed right.

With the night so cold and clear, I grabbed my coat from the cloakroom before I slipped out and round the side of the building to where the gazebo was set up. Jack had been right about him and Tilly putting lots of lights in there. It was almost as bright as a summer’s day, which turned out to be a blessing, as it saved me from what could have been a mortifying moment.

Having spotted Jude, I had been poised to shout out his name. He was unmistakeable in that jumper, even from the back, but I was relieved I hadn’t called out when I realized that there was a woman sitting astride his lap and that they were engrossed in a very passionate clinch.

It was a few seconds before the shock wore off and I could look away. As I stumbled back towards the main building, I realized that Jude must have taken my talk of the abundance of Christmas kisses after our moment in the porch to heart and had decided to dish out a few of his own.

‘Hey, Bella!’ said a cheery voice. ‘What have we missed?’

I looked up a second before I bumped into Jemma, who had just climbed out of a Wynbridge taxi with her husband Tom.

‘Quite a lot, as it turns out,’ I told her. ‘But it’s still in full swing.’

‘We’d best get in there, then,’ laughed Tom.

As they headed towards the party, I ran away from it. I caught the taxi up just before it pulled back onto the drove road and tapped on the window, scaring the poor driver witless.

‘Sorry,’ I apologized when he opened it. ‘I didn’t mean to make you jump. Oh, it’s you, Nigel. Hello.’

‘Bella,’ said the man, frowning, who I recognized as school chum Kirsty’s dad and Tommy’s grandad. ‘Are you all right, love?’

‘Hey,’ I said, trying to smile. ‘Yes, I’m good, but I’m feeling all partied out now. Any chance you could run me home if you’re heading back to town?’

‘Of course,’ he said. ‘Hop in.’