Not Just for Christmas

Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

A finger food lunch was served in the lounge directly after the wreath-making. Stupidly, Erin spent most of the time scanning the room for Lewis, then cursed herself for acting like a lovesick teenager. It wasn’t like her to get hung up on a guy. Especially one who she’d known less than twenty-four hours. She blamed her friends for encouraging her to have a Christmas fling in their messages.

Thinking of her friends made her check her phone, but their group chat was unusually quiet. Then again, it was the 23 rd of December and they all had plans with their families and significant others over the Christmas period.

Full from lunch, she took her wreath up to her room and gave it pride of place on the table by the window. Then she sat and watched the world go by outside while contemplating going for a walk before the afternoon activity. In the end, she didn’t move from the comfort of her room until the middle of the afternoon when she went and joined the assembled group in the lounge. Four couples were waiting, including the Wards, who waved at her as though they were old friends.

“We’re all here,” Lewis said, flashing her a quick smile. The rest of the group looked at her too and she felt uncomfortable at being the last – as though she’d kept them waiting, despite being exactly on time. “Who’s ready for some Christmas shopping?” he asked jovially, then directed them to the minibus which was parked around the side of the hotel.

Erin had wrapped up well for the trip to the Christmas markets. Her green winter coat was an old favourite and her hat and scarf added extra protection from the cold, but she peeled them off as soon as she took her seat in the middle of the minibus.

A heavily made-up middle-aged woman in the seat in front of her held a hushed conversation with the man beside her before she turned and looked between the seats at Erin.

“What’s happened to your man, then?” she asked in a thick Cockney accent. “Is he ill? I hope it isn’t food poisoning. My Phil had a dicky tummy after dinner yesterday, but he often has a dicky tummy. IBS, you know. Also, he drank six pints of beer and had a few shots of vodka, so I told him it was probably that.”

“Oh,” Erin said, wondering if she was managing to hide her surprise – and horror – at the conversation.

“He hasn’t got food poisoning, has he, your fella?”

“We hope he has,” a low voice grumbled from the seat behind Erin.

Oh, god. Erin felt her cheeks heating. “No.” She shook her head, hoping Mr Ward wouldn’t involve himself in the conversation any further. “No food poisoning. I’m just on my own, that’s all.”

The woman’s unnaturally plump lips moved into a confused pout.

“Terrible thing…” The female voice came from behind Erin. She didn’t bother looking, but from the shift of the Cockney woman’s focus, Erin gathered that Mrs Ward was probably now peering between the seat from the row behind. “Her fiancé split up with her last week. So she had to co me here alone.” Mrs Ward’s hand arrived on Erin’s shoulder. “The poor thing. She’s being very brave.”

“Oh, my word!” the other woman reached through the seats and took Erin’s hand. “That’s awful. And here I am going on about blooming food poisoning and IBS.” She squeezed Erin’s hand. “Would you like to talk about it?”

Erin caught Lewis’s eye in the rear-view mirror and had to stifle a laugh.

“I’m trying not to think about it,” Erin said, removing her hand from the stranger’s and shifting in her seat to dislodge Mrs Ward’s hand from her shoulder. “I think it’s better not to dwell on these things. Focus on the present, that’s what I always think.”

“Yeah,” pouty lips said, while looking slightly put out that she wasn’t getting a story out of Erin.

“That’s the spirit!” Mr Ward called.

Erin smiled tightly at the woman in front, then pulled her phone from her coat pocket. “I just have to send a few messages.”

She kept her head bent over her phone for the entire drive. At least she kept her friends entertained by regaling them with descriptions of the other hotel guests and the misunderstanding about the fiancé. That’s how she was thinking of it – a misunderstanding. It felt better than thinking of herself as a liar.

Once Lewis had given everyone instructions for what time to meet back at the minibus, the group dispersed, heading in the direction of the Christmas markets, which Lewis had pointed out.

Erin hung back, glancing up and down the street and trying to come up with a plan. Preferably one that wouldn’t involve bumping into the other guests, so she could avoid her web of lies growing wider .

“If you’re not in the mood for the markets,” Lewis said. “Stratford is lovely just to wander around. Have you been before?”

“No.” She pulled her mittens from her pockets. “I was only thinking that I don’t want to keep running into the other guests in the market and have to deal with questions about my imaginary fiancé. I’m usually a very honest person, you know?”

“I believe you,” he said, zipping his coat all the way up.

“What else is there to do in Stratford?” she asked, stamping her feet to ward off the cold.

“If you’ve never been before, I’d just have a walk around and take in the atmosphere. There are a lot of historical landmarks, mostly to do with Shakespeare. You can see his birthplace and his grave and there’s the theatre.”

“That sounds like a plan. I’ll wander around the sights and maybe stop off at the markets later. Hopefully, the other hotel guests will do it the other way around.” She shifted her weight. “What do you do while you wait? Will you go back to the hotel, or hang around here?”

“Hang around. It’s not worth driving back. I was planning on finding a nice warm pub where I can sit and people-watch.”

“That sounds good, too.” She cringed, because it definitely sounded as though she was angling for an invitation. Which she kind of was.

“You’re welcome to join me,” he said. “Or if you’d like a tour guide, I can give you a quick tour of the town and then we can find a pub once we’re thoroughly frozen.”

“That sounds great,” Erin said, feeling a tingle of anticipation ripple from her stomach up to her chest. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all,” he said. “The company would be great.”

And the company was great. Erin felt completely at ease as they wandered through the historic town with Lewis pointing out the sights along the way .

After an hour, they walked into a traditional pub tucked away in a narrow, cobbled street. The warmth felt glorious after so long out in the cold.

“Do you think we’ll get snow?” Erin asked as they sat with their drinks beside a log fire at the side of the room.

“Maybe.” Lewis removed his coat and took a sip of his coke. “The weather forecast says not, but who knows? My mum will claim it’s too cold for snow, but I’ve never really understood that.”

“Me neither. I’d love to see Chipping Campden covered in snow. I’ll bet it’s gorgeous.”

“There’s definitely something magical about it when it snows.”

The fire crackled beside them, and they fell into a comfortable silence. Erin’s glass of mulled wine was wonderfully warm and spicy and she smiled, thinking of all the little indulgences she was enjoying on her trip. Spending time with Lewis was definitely one of those indulgences.

“I wanted to say…” Lewis broke her thoughts. “Thank you for whatever you said to Anna. She said you gave her a confidence boost.”

“She seemed as though she needed it. But I didn’t say anything that wasn’t the truth. I thought she was a natural at running the class.”

“The other guests were enthusiastic about it too,” Lewis said, then turned and held his hands in front of the fire to warm them. “Do you have siblings?”

“Yes. A sister, but she’s not as nice as yours.”

Lewis grinned before his eyes widened. “Oh, you’re serious?”

“Unfortunately. It always makes me a bit sad when I hear about people who are close to their siblings, but I just don’t get on with Zara. We see the world very differently.”

“How so?”

Erin considered the question. “Zara is kind of old-fashioned, I suppose. She only ever wanted to get married and have a family. Not that I think that’s a bad thing, but I’m sure she thinks that any woman who wants anything else is kidding themselves because they can’t find a man.”

“So what do you want?” he asked, eyeing her intently.

“I love my job,” she told him slowly. “And I have great friends and a lovely cosy flat. I genuinely like my life and I suppose it’s not that I’m against having a relationship if I found the right person, but they would have to be pretty perfect for me to risk them messing up my life.” That was something she didn’t generally admit, even to herself – but she was happy and she’d worked hard to build a life that she wanted.

Her eyes flicked to Lewis, whose mouth twitched into a smile.

“Oh! That sounded bad, didn’t it?” She twirled her glass on the coaster. “What I meant was, I think it’s important to be happy first and then find someone to share that with. My sister needs a relationship to make her happy. I think that can backfire.”

“Is that the voice of experience?”

It absolutely was, but that wasn’t something she wanted to discuss with Lewis in this beautiful rustic pub. The atmosphere was too lovely to ruin it with such a depressing conversation.

“We seem to have ventured into some deep conversation. Since I’ve only known you for a short time – and because it’s Christmas – let’s stick to lighter topics.”

“Fair enough,” he agreed with a twinkle in his eyes. “What do you do for a living?”

That was a much safer topic of conversation and she relaxed back in the chair as she told him about her job in content marketing, and about the two friends – Alicia and Irina – who she’d made when she started the job. That led to telling him about her wonderful friend, Jessie, who lived next door to her and who she’d met when Erin had moved into the flat four years ago.

Once she started talking about her friends, who were now all friends with each other, she came up with one anecdote after another. Since Lewis seemed thoroughly entertained, she kept on chatting until she checked her watch and found that almost another hour had passed.

They had to make a mad dash back to the minibus, but they made it approximately on time and Erin was feeling exhilarated from the wine and the jog through town when they reached the bus.

“Wish me luck for the drive home,” she said out of the side of her mouth as they waited for the Wards to arrive back at the minibus. “Although, now I have some alcohol in me, the questioning might at least feel a bit more amusing.”

Lewis slid the side door of the van open and gestured for the guests to get in. Then he put a hand on Erin’s arm to stop her from following them. “You can always sit in the front with me if you want.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I promise not to ask you awkward questions about your non-existent ex-fiancé.”

“In that case, I don’t see how I can say no.”

He opened the passenger door, and she climbed up onto the bench seat. As he closed the door, she heard him greeting Mr and Mrs Ward and ushering them into the back.

Erin had a mental battle over which seat to take. There were two passenger seats, and she was currently occupying the one nearest the door. She could slide over and sit close to Lewis, but maybe he’d feel crowded.

At the sight of him walking around the front of the van, she made a quick decision and slid across the bench.

She wanted to be close to Lewis and didn’t particularly care if she seemed too keen.

It was Christmas, after all.