Not Just for Christmas

Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

T he look that Ivy gave Lewis when he jogged beside Poppy and her bike was lacking in Christmas cheer.

“What’s wrong?” he asked while Poppy reluctantly dismounted her bike.

“Nothing.” The sweetness of her voice was obviously for Poppy’s benefit. A scowl lingered in her eyes when she thrust the dog lead at Lewis and returned the bike to the car.

“Where did Erin go?” he asked.

“Inside.” She closed the car door with excessive force.

“Are you hanging around?” Lewis asked, giving Molly a gentle pat and frowning again at the fact that his dad had given him a dog.

“We’ll come in and say hello to Warren.” She took Poppy’s hand and gave Lewis another fierce look when they were inside. “Kitchen,” she said.

He raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“Come into the kitchen. I need to speak to you.”

“You can speak to me here. I can’t take the dog in the kitchen. ”

She puffed out an irritated breath and her eyes swept over the lounge, where guests were scattered in the comfortable seats. Erin was in an armchair beside the window, chatting with a Scottish couple.

Ivy called over the young waitress, Kate, and passed her Molly’s lead. Kate didn’t have a chance to object to keeping an eye on the dog, since Ivy took Lewis’s elbow and led him behind reception and into the staff corridor.

“What’s going on with you?” he asked, but got no reply.

Poppy skipped ahead of them, then launched herself headlong at Warren when they entered the kitchen.

“Happy Christmas!” he said, swinging her into the air. “Did Santa come?”

She nodded enthusiastically as he set her on the countertop.

“What did he bring you?”

“Popcorn!” she told him, the delight in her eyes distracting Lewis from whatever was going on with Ivy.

“Popcorn?” Warren asked.

Poppy’s cheeks were bright red from the cold as she beamed at him. “I ate it for breakfast.”

“Did you pour milk on it like cereal?”

“No, silly.” She giggled. “I just ate it.”

“And did Santa bring anything else?”

“A bike and a helmet. And Lewis just showed me how to ride it.” She looked at Lewis. “I’m a bit wobbly, aren’t I?”

“Only a bit. You’ll get the hang of it.”

“So have you opened all of your presents already?” Warren asked her.

“Yes.”

“Did you open the one from me?”

Poppy’s eyes went to her mum, and Ivy shrugged in reply to her questioning gaze.

“Did you get me a present?” Poppy asked Warren.

“I did.” He took a step away from her and reached for a tin further along the counter. “I baked these especially for you,” he told her, easing the lid off. “That means you don’t have to share them with anyone unless you want to.”

“Oh.” Poppy looked at Warren and then down into the tin.

“You like ginger biscuits, don’t you?”

“Yes.” She looked entirely sceptical and Lewis felt his lips twitch upwards as he waited for Poppy’s reaction.

“What do you say to Warren?” Ivy prompted.

“Thank you,” she said, frowning. “I thought you meant a proper present.”

“Aren’t biscuits a proper present?” Warren asked, a flicker of amusement in his eyes.

“No, because they’re not wrapped up. And because they’ll be gone when I eat them.”

“The popcorn is all gone,” Warren pointed out. “And that was a present.”

She stared at him for a moment, considering his words. “The popcorn was wrapped up in nice paper.”

“I see.” Warren scratched his head. “You know, I think maybe I have a wrapped present for you. I wonder where I would have put it.” He made a show of looking in several cupboards, much to Poppy’s delight. Finally, he pulled out a present wrapped in shiny red paper. “That looks more like a proper present, doesn’t it?”

Poppy’s eyes were wide as she took it from him. “Can I open it now?” she asked her mum. When she got the nod from Ivy, she tore at the paper to reveal an apron and baking set. “Can I really bake with it?” she asked. “Can I be a chef like you?”

“Yep,” Warren said. “I’ll teach you everything I know.”

“Can you show me how to bake a cake?”

“Of course. Every chef needs to know how to bake a cake.”

“Can you show me now?”

“Not today.” He chuckled. “Another day. ”

Poppy grinned at her mum before turning back to Warren. “Can you help me put the apron on?”

“I can.” He plucked her off the counter and helped her with the apron before they sifted through the utensils in her set, discussing what each of them was for.

With a sigh, Lewis shifted his gaze to Ivy. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

She gave a small shake of her head and took his elbow to pull him away from Warren and Poppy.

“I wanted to talk to you about the woman who you took to your parents’ place for Christmas dinner.”

“Erin. What about her?”

“Why did you take a hotel guest to your parents’ place?”

He shrugged. Admittedly, it was a bit of an odd situation, but it had felt right to take her with him and he’d enjoyed having her there. “We’ve been spending time together. I like her.”

“Do you even know her?”

He raised an eyebrow, fairly sure he knew what was coming. “Obviously I haven’t known her for long, but I really like her.”

Ivy rubbed at her collarbone. “I don’t want to be negative, but something about her feels off to me.” She glanced at Poppy, then met Lewis’s gaze again. “Don’t you find it a little strange that she came here alone?”

Lewis opened his mouth, but Ivy kept talking.

“She doesn’t seem particularly heartbroken for a woman who was dumped by her fiancé a week ago.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s not actually true.”

Ivy wrinkled her nose. “What?”

“She was never engaged.”

“So she just made that up?”

“Not really. Jenny misunderstood and she couldn’t be bothered to correct her.”

“Oh, my gosh.” There was a whine to her voice as she placed a hand over her forehead. “Lewis! ”

“What?” he asked, though he knew exactly what was going through her mind.

“You can’t be serious. You can’t actually be fooled by her little act.”

“We’ve just been hanging out together. Where’s the harm in that?”

“She’s playing you!” she snapped. “Surely you can see that. No one would genuinely come on their own for a romantic couple’s getaway.”

“Her parents bought it for her,” he said weakly.

She shook her head in an exaggerated motion. “I’m sorry, but I think you’re being very na?ve.”

“I think you’re being very loud,” Warren said, wandering over to them, leaving Poppy to examine her Christmas gift alone. “What’s your problem with Erin?” he asked Ivy. “She seems nice.”

“She seems like a fraud, more like,” Ivy hissed.

“Don’t be dramatic,” Warren said, then looked at Lewis. “Have you kissed her with tongue yet?”

He only managed a quick shake of the head before Ivy jumped in.

“You’ve kissed her without tongue? Are you serious? I can’t believe you.”

“I kissed her under the mistletoe. You know that because you pointed out the mistletoe.”

“You’re right.” She stared in disbelief. “I made the joke about the decorations. I can’t believe I encouraged you. If I’d realised she’d lied about her fiancé, I would have never encouraged you.”

“It was only a kiss under the mistletoe,” Lewis said. “What’s the big deal?”

“Seriously?” Ivy spat. “Is no one seeing what I’m seeing here? This woman has turned up at the hotel for a couple’s retreat with a bunch of lies about an ex- fiancé…”

“It was a misunderstanding, not a lie,” Lewis said, but Ivy didn’t seem to hear him.

“After a couple of days she has you so starry-eyed that you’re kissing her under the mistletoe and taking her home to meet your family.”

“She’d actually already met them before today,” he said.

“It’s Christmas,” Warren said. “Let him have some fun.”

“I’m fine with him having fun. All for it, in fact, but do you really not see what she’s up to?”

“I don’t,” Lewis said defiantly, while ignoring the swirl of doubt that stirred in his gut.

“Obviously, she’s read about you. She probably knows everything about you and she’s come here with her flimsy story about the hotel stay being a gift from her parents.” Ivy’s nostrils flared. “Why on earth would her parents buy her a gift for a couple? It doesn’t even make sense.”

Lewis opened his mouth but didn’t have an answer. She had a point – it didn’t make much sense. He’d believed Erin, though. He hadn’t doubted her story for a minute.

Not until now, anyway. Was he being an idiot? Shouldn’t he know better than to be so trusting?

“I think she’s genuine,” he mumbled.

Ivy glared at him. “And I’m telling you, she’s not.”

“Because she couldn’t possibly just like spending time with me?” he said bitterly. “There has to be some ulterior motive.”

Her eyes filled with sorrow, and he felt suddenly defeated. Why did everything have to be so complicated?

“Sorry.” Ivy put a hand on his arm. “You know I think anyone would be lucky to have you, but I also don’t want to see you get hurt again. I’m only looking out for you.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “I’m not going to get hurt. She’s good company and I enjoy hanging out with her, but she’s a hotel guest and she’ll leave in a couple of days, anyway.”

The thought of her being gone soon made his chest constrict, which made him think that Ivy might have a point after all.

By spending so much time with Erin, he was probably setting himself up to get hurt again.

He also knew that the prospect of getting hurt wouldn’t stop him from spending as much time as possible with her before she left.