Not Just for Christmas

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

T he wreath-making workshop took place the following morning. Erin had noticed the staff setting things up for it while she ate breakfast. An hour later, she returned to the dining room to find it transformed. Now, the tables created a square with a space in the middle. Materials were laid out at intervals along the tables and the scent of pine from the fir twigs was intoxicating.

A few people sat along the bar and more wandered beside the tables, surveying the materials.

Inside the ring of tables, a young woman wove wire around a circle of straw, presumably the base for a festive wreath. With her head bent, she didn’t notice Erin approach and jumped a little when she said hello.

Finally, she lifted her face, revealing the most flawless skin Erin had ever seen. Her naturally rose-pink lips matched the blush on her high cheekbones. With her dark hair cut in a perfect bob, Erin couldn’t help but think she should be on the cover of a glossy magazine, or an actress or something in the public eye .

“Are you joining the wreath-making class?” she asked Erin with a nervous smile.

“Yes.” Erin thrust her hand out and introduced herself.

“I’m Anna,” she said. “Will your husband be coming along too?” She winced. “Or boyfriend?” Again, she winced and her neck flushed bright crimson. “Or girlfriend… partner ! That’s what I meant to say. Will your partner join us today?”

“No, it’s just me.” Erin smiled warmly. “In general, men are my preference, but I’m currently single.”

“And you’re staying in the hotel alone? Over Christmas?” She slapped a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. That sounded judgemental.”

“Don’t worry.” Erin shrugged. “It’s a bit odd, I know, but my family all had different plans this Christmas, so my mum booked this little getaway for me. I’m really enjoying it so far. The hotel is gorgeous.”

“It is lovely,” Anna agreed quietly. She pulled the sleeve of her cream shirt back to reveal more porcelain-like skin and a dainty analogue watch with a black, leather strap. “We’re just waiting for a few more guests. Then we’ll get started. There’s complimentary tea, coffee, and soft drinks at the bar if you want to get something.”

“Thanks,” Erin said, then drifted away to grab a coffee.

Lingering by the bar, she watched more guests arrive, then noticed Lewis appear from a door at the other side of the room, which was marked ‘staff only’. He seemed to draw everyone’s attention. A young couple moved straight over to speak to him, and then the blonde-haired barmaid approached to ask him something. It took him a few minutes to cross the room while fielding questions, but finally he reached the tables and ducked underneath to join Anna in the middle.

From her spot at the bar Erin couldn’t hear what was being said, but she caught the look of annoyance Anna shot Lewis and the way he laughed in response to whatever she’d said. Then he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed the side of her head.

Erin’s stomach squeezed at the obvious closeness between them. Which was ridiculous. It wasn’t as though she was going to have a Christmas fling with a member of the hotel staff.

If she’d indulged in such a scenario while lying in bed the previous evening, it was only a harmless fantasy. She wasn’t delusional enough to imagine it might happen.

While she continued to stare at them, Lewis and Anna suddenly looked in her direction. Right at her. Instinctively, she dropped her gaze to the coffee in her hands and then took a sip. Had Anna noticed Erin staring at Lewis from the moment he walked into the room? The thought was fairly mortifying.

Risking a glance, she found they’d turned away and were head-to-head as they continued to chat quietly. Erin wandered back over to the tables and casually sidled along until she was close enough to hear their conversation.

“I’m telling you, it’ll be fine,” Lewis said, his hand resting lightly at Anna’s elbow.

“I don’t know how I let you talk me into this,” she hissed quietly.

Lewis’s eyes sparkled with affection. “Because you love me so much.”

“I don’t think I love you very much at all at this moment.” Anna glared at him again, but still looked beautiful even when she was scowling.

“Of course you do,” he replied, giving her another side hug. “Anyway, there’s nothing to worry about. I’ll introduce you and you’ll do your thing. I promise it’ll be easy once you get going.”

“You owe me for this,” she muttered.

Turning back to the room, Lewis caught Erin’s eye. His smile was far too flirty for a guy standing beside his girlfriend, but maybe Erin was mistaking flirty with friendly professionalism .

She only vaguely listened as Lewis greeted the guests and instructed anyone who was joining the workshop to find a spot at a table. Mostly it was women who took the seats, but a few of their partners joined too.

Anna, when she spoke, was shy but engaging. She had everyone’s complete attention as she talked briefly about the history of Christmas wreaths, then discussed various styles of wreaths and showed examples. Some were more modern, with glitzy baubles and ribbons, and others more natural and rustic.

Erin’s favourite was the traditional one with holly and berries and pine cones tucked into the pine twigs. Maybe she’d add a couple of cinnamon sticks, too.

By the time she’d watched Anna demonstrate a few techniques, she was eager to get going and immediately began to cover her straw base with fir twigs, securing them in place with fine wire. Anna had made it look easy, but Erin soon found the demonstration had been deceptive. It wasn’t as easy as it looked and she found herself entirely concentrated on the task.

She lost all track of time and hummed along to the Christmas music while she worked. Once the wreath was completely covered in fir twigs, she made a start on the creative part. She’d clumped a few sprigs of holly together and was arranging them on the wreath when she pricked her thumb. Sticking it into her mouth, she tasted the metallic tang of blood and swore gently when she pulled it out to look.

“You okay?” Lewis asked, appearing beside her.

“Fine. Just losing a battle with a holly leaf.”

“Let me see.” He bent beside her.

“It’s fine,” she told him.

“It’s bleeding.” His brow creased. “I’ll get you a plaster.”

“No need. It’s honestly fine…” She trailed off since he was already halfway across the room.

He grabbed a first aid kit from behind the bar and was back in a moment and pulling up a chair beside Erin .

“It’s really not bad,” she insisted.

“Even so, better to clean it up and cover it. Can I?” He held his hand out and she gave him hers, then got annoyed with herself for the way her heart rate sped up at his touch. She hardly breathed when he ran an antiseptic wipe over her thumb and wrapped a plaster around it.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“You’re welcome.” He didn’t immediately let her hand go, but kept a hold of it as he looked her right in the eyes.

Finally, she pulled her hand away and busied herself with choosing a pine cone for her next embellishment. “I’d never have thought making a Christmas wreath would be so absorbing.”

Lewis smiled lightly. “That’s what Anna always says. That she gets lost in it and forgets about everything else.”

“She’s really great,” Erin murmured, looking over at Anna, who was helping Mrs Ward with some sparkly baubles.

“Yeah, she is.”

“She’s so beautiful,” Erin blurted out, then felt her cheeks flush as Lewis looked at her in amusement, as though he could read her mind and see all of Erin’s jealousy laid out.

“Everyone says that,” he said flatly. “Our younger sister, Carla, always says that Anna got all the looks while she got all the confidence.” His lips twitched upwards. “Carla isn’t ugly or anything, so I don’t think she got it right about the looks, but she was right about the confidence. She got more than her fair share and Anna has none.”

Erin turned the pine cone in her hand, wondering if she’d understood correctly. “Anna is your sister?” she asked, needing clarification.

“Yeah. She’s only a year younger than me, so we’ve always been close.”

“That’s nice.” It was crazy how relieved Erin felt to find out they were siblings. Not that it meant he was single, but she could go back to assuming he was and that she wasn’t imagining the vibes between the two of them.

“You don’t look alike,” she said when her brain clicked back into gear. “When you were chatting I sort of assumed she was your girlfriend.” There, she’d set the conversation up for him to make his relationship status clear. If he wanted her to know his relationship status.

“Nope. She’s my sister,” he said, amusement clinging to his words. “And I don’t have a girlfriend,” he added quietly.

“Oh,” Erin said, then felt like a bumbling idiot. Once again, she turned her attention to her wreath while she struggled to think of something else to say. “Do you offer the wreath-making class every year?” she asked eventually.

“No. First time. And if Anna has anything to do with it, I’m not sure it will happen again.”

“Really? She’s great at it.”

“She hates speaking in front of people. I wasn’t exaggerating about her lack of confidence. I had to beg her to do this. Part of me thought it might be good for her, but now I mostly feel bad for dragging her out of her comfort zone.”

“Sometimes it’s good to get out of your comfort zone,” Erin mused.

“Speaking from experience?”

“No. I tend to stay in my comfort zone. I only meant that in theory it sounds like a good thing to do.”

“I wasn’t sure if you were feeling out of your comfort zone now,” he said.

It took her a moment to figure out what he meant. “Taking a trip on my own?” She shook her head. “I don’t have an issue doing stuff on my own.” In recent years, anyway. It hadn’t always been the case. “I have amazing friends and I spend a lot of time with them but they all have boyfriends, so if they’re busy I’m quite happy to go to the cinema alone or a museum. I don’t have a problem eating out alone either. ”

“That’s cool,” Lewis said. He sounded as though he meant it too, not like the people who smiled awkwardly while secretly thinking she was nuts. Or not-so-secretly, in the case of her sister.

While Erin braved another attempt at adding holly to her wreath, Lewis leaned a little closer. The scent of his aftershave tickled Erin’s nostrils and made her heart beat faster again.

“Can I ask you a question?” he said quietly.

She gave him an encouraging nod.

“Do you think it’s weird to make a wreath so close to Christmas?”

She frowned, wondering when you would make it if not at Christmas. “How do you mean?”

“The other reason Anna wasn’t keen to do the workshop was because she says it’s too late in the season. You should make them earlier so you can hang it on your door and make use of it for longer. But I wanted to include it in our Christmas package. I thought it would be a fun thing to offer.”

“I didn’t even think about that,” Erin told him. “I just thought it sounded fun. Plus, it will make my hotel room smell gorgeous.”

“Good. She made me self-conscious about it.”

“Did you plan the programme of events?”

He tapped on the table. “Not just me. It’s a joint effort. The staff all pitch their ideas and then we pick the best.”

The conversation trailed off as Anna walked over to them. “How are you doing?” she asked Erin.

“Good. I had no idea I’d enjoy this so much.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it,” she said, then inspected Erin’s wreath. “Maybe some berries will look good. And possibly a red bow. It’ll add a bit of colour, but still look rustic and traditional.”

Erin was voicing her agreement when mousy Jenny came over to speak to Lewis.

“There’s someone to see you,” she told him. “Mr Garrett. He said he has an appointment, and he’d wait in the office. I told him I didn’t know if it was okay for him to go into the office alone, but he just shook his head and went anyway.”

Lewis let out a growl of frustration. “I forgot about that.”

“You forgot about what?” Anna hissed at him.

“I have a meeting with Mr Garrett, but I’m sure it won’t take long.”

“You said you’d be here the whole time,” Anna whispered. “Please don’t leave me.”

“It shouldn’t take long,” Lewis said, already out of his chair. “Also, you’re doing brilliantly. You don’t need me around.” His gaze fell to Erin. “I’ll see you later.”

“Bye,” she said before he strode away across the room.

“Brothers are awful and never to be trusted,” Anna mumbled, then caught Erin’s eye. “Sorry. That sounded mean. He’s a good brother, really.”

Erin attached another small pine cone to her wreath. “Lewis was saying he dragged you into this. Was it a workshop in the hotel you weren’t keen on, or do you not like running classes in general?”

“In general. I make wreaths to sell, but this is the first time I’ve done a class.”

“Really?” Erin was genuinely surprised. “I’d never have known. You’re great at it.”

Her neck flared red again. “Thank you. I get nervous talking in front of people.”

“I couldn’t tell.”

“That’s good.” She shook her head. “Lewis promised me he’d be here the whole time.”

“Was it his boss he had to meet with?” Erin asked idly.

“No. Mr Garrett is the accountant and Lewis hates him.” She reached for a red ribbon and held it at the bottom of Erin’s wreath.

“That looks great,” Erin said, taking it from her to attach it .

“I don’t think he actually hates him,” Anna went on. “I think it’s more of a love to hate situation. He enjoys complaining about him.”

“He seems to have a lot of responsibility around here,” Erin remarked. “It seems as though he runs the place, but he also looks too young to run a hotel.”

When Anna didn’t respond, Erin looked up from her wreath to find her staring at her with an unreadable expression.

“Sorry,” Erin said. “Did I sound really nosey?”

“No, it’s not that.” Her eyebrows drew together and she lowered her voice. “He does run the place. He’s got a baby face, but he’s twenty-six. He’s worked here since he was sixteen. Just during school holidays and at weekends to start with. He worked his way up, and he got a degree in hotel management too.” Pausing, she glanced around as though worried she might be overheard. “He’s done well for himself and he loves his job, but sometimes I worry that he’s kind of obsessed with it. We’re always nagging him to take more time off.”

Erin was listening so intently that it took her a moment to register when Anna stopped talking.

“That was probably too much information,” she said bashfully. “I feel as though I always say too much or too little and there’s no in between.”

“I did ask,” Erin pointed out. And she did sit there hanging off her every word.

Anna gave a small smile and wandered away to help someone else.

Maybe it was a trait that every member of their family had, but Erin felt an immediate connection to Anna, just as she did to Lewis. Well, not quite the same – she wouldn’t be having fantasies about a fling with Anna – but the sense of knowing her for longer than she had was definitely there.