Christmas at the Second Chance Supper Club (The Second Chance Supper Club #2)
Chapter 1
That kiss …
Wow. They’d only stepped apart a few seconds ago. Bloody hell, her knees were like jelly, her fingers trembling.
So, how did that compare? Her giddy teenage self asked the middle-ager she now was.
Hmm … tender, sensual, sincere, sexy (hell, yes!) … it was certainly reaching parts that hadn’t been reached for a very long time. It was unexpected and beautiful, bold and brave. It was all new, and yet felt like home. Like the past and future had melded together.
A smile crept over her still-tingling lips.
Despite all the baggage (and quite honestly, the pair of them could go on a world cruise with that lot) they both carried from mature lives full of love and loss, parenthood, grief, and betrayal, that moment of being held in Will’s arms again was exquisite.
Hah, even with the sneaky gang of supper club friends gathered outside, witnessing the momentous scene through Will’s window.
The whoops and hollers from the village street giving the onlookers away, after a heap of white lies and excuses as to why they all, at the last minute, couldn’t make the supper tonight.
Cath couldn’t help but grin. Oh yes, the posse were making their noisy way up the path right now, about to explode through the door in a bubble of supportive chat, giggles and delight.
But there was a secret, as well as this kiss, that lay between Cath and Will.
The supper clubbers who were about to crash in on them had no idea that this wasn’t in fact their first kiss.
You’d have to rewind over thirty years for those answers.
But for now, with the emotions of this second-chance love flooding through Cath, it didn’t feel like the right time to be revealing the truth of their youthful romance to the others.
Jeez, they were still trying to come to terms with it themselves.
This moment, whilst beautiful, was also more than a little complicated …
being wrapped in a gossamer web of tangled history.
*
‘Hell-ooo!’ Dan, in his late forties, with cropped grey hair and steely-blue eyes, was first through the front door. Cath could hear the amused smile in his voice.
‘Congratulations, guys,’ his partner Andreas added, his chestnut-dark hair and tanned face appearing around the kitchen doorframe with a beaming smile – his Greek-Cypriot heritage evident in his skin tone, even in an English autumn.
Next was Nikki, late thirties, grinning away, her dark-blonde hair pulled back into a bouncy ponytail. ‘And about bloody time too! Should have happened weeks ago.’
‘We were standing around like weirdos,’ Lily, Nikki’s seventeen-year-old niece, chipped in. ‘Had a few odd looks from passers-by. It was getting well chilly out there.’
‘Hmm, hasn’t anyone told you it’s rude to hang about on street corners spying on people?’ Cath kept up the pretence of being affronted, adding to the humour of the situation.
The group merely scoffed and giggled.
Will, gorgeous Will, was grinning away.
‘Well then, lovelies, is there any food left?’ asked Andreas cheekily. ‘I’m famished. With all the goings-on, we never had chance to have our own supper.’
‘Hah, I only made our two starters, and Will’s bake is now packed away in the fridge what with you lot dropping like flies. But hey, there’s plenty of pudding, thanks to Lily’s pavlova,’ Cath explained.
Will had, in theory, been hosting a supper evening for the six of them. Being a hesitant cook, it was to be the first foodie event in a long time to be held at his home in their rural Northumberland village of Tilldale.
‘Passionfruit, was it?’ Dan gave a wink.
They were in bloody cahoots the whole way through, weren’t they?! Cath shook her head and then joined in the laughter.
‘Tea, coffee, fizz, anyone?’ Will offered, slipping into the role of ‘mein host’.
‘Oh, some fizz would be fabulous. We need to celebrate.’ Nikki was buzzing, delighted that her scheming had finally worked out.
‘Aw, it’s so cute seeing you two all coupled up.’ Youthful Lily’s reaction started sweetly, then she added, ‘Even if you are kind of old.’
‘Hey, less of the old.’ Will pulled a mock grimace, as Cath raised her eyebrows, but neither of them could be grumpy really. Being in their early fifties, they must indeed seem ancient to a teenager; they were her parents’ age after all. But age never stopped anyone from falling in love.
Nikki then suddenly burst into song, with a blast of ‘It’s in His Kiss!’
Cath laughed as she gave her friend a jovial dig in the ribs.
‘Right, let’s get this party started. Will, where do you keep your wine glasses?’ Nikki leapt into action.
Glasses were found and charged with bubbling Prosecco, and the kitchen was filled with merriment, an emotion it surely hadn’t seen in some time, Cath mused, feeling a tug inside.
Will was a widower, and Cath knew well that despite the developments of the day, he was still trying to deal with his grief. He’d lost his wife only two years ago.
‘Aw, best of luck, guys. You make a lush couple,’ Lily added.
‘Thanks … though I still can’t believe you lot engineered this evening.’ Will was struggling to take it all in.
Nikki arched her eyebrows. ‘Well, someone had to get the two of you together.’
‘Indeed. Well then, to new beginnings!’ Dan lifted his champagne flute.
And to second chances! thought Cath, raising her glass, remembering in a sudden wave of nostalgia that they’d never made it past their first magical week together as teenagers.
‘It’s early days yet,’ Will reminded them all, as his eyes flicked to a framed photograph of his late wife, Jane, whilst his hand rested gently on Cath’s shoulder.
It felt like the two worlds were colliding, with Will and Cath very much in an emotional spin.
But it also felt good. Cath looked around this room filled with her newfound and already special friends – she’d only arrived in the village six months ago – hoping upon hope that life would stay as sweet as the sugary-toffee pavlova that Lily had made for them all.
A feeling of hope and joy surged within her, but with it came a reality check.
Cath was all too aware that there may yet be trouble ahead.
After her recent experience of splitting up with her husband, following his bruising betrayal, she was no fool.
That was the main reason behind her move to Tilldale.
Romantic relationships were never easy. Was she really ready to jump back into the fire again?
This friendship group was so precious to her.
They’d helped pick her up when she was lonely, adrift, and trying to establish a new life for herself.
A knot of unease tightened in her chest. Would a romance in its mix just serve to stir things up in the long run?
Might it, in fact, make a right Eton mess of things?
*
They’d piled into Will’s neat lounge with its slate-grey linen sofas, chatting away and catching up on village life: the amiable antics in the stores owned and run by Dan and Andreas, Lily’s latest cakes and bakes (this creative young woman was a pastry chef in the making, and studying determinedly in her final year at high school), and Nikki’s hectic family life – a juggling act with three young boys and a not-so-domestic bear of a husband to look after, whilst toiling in the fast lane of her cleaning business.
Time slipped away with much fizz, laughter and camaraderie.
Will occasionally giving Cath a tender glance across the room; both trying to fathom where they now were with their blossoming relationship.
Cath smiling back warmly, with a touch of shyness.
This shift between them was pretty momentous after all … and so was that delicious kiss.
It was soon almost midnight, and time to head home.
The emotionally charged evening, though exciting and beautiful, had left Cath feeling drained.
It was wonderful how their caring group had schemed to give her and Will some together time, and boy, had it worked, but just at the crucial point post-kiss, when they might finally have had chance to talk about how they were really feeling, their friends had come bowling noisily in.
Their interruption was lovely, of course, but darned untimely.
It was like Cath and Will’s relationship was primed ready to unfurl, and then bumph, it was swiftly nipped in the bud.
Nestled on the sofa next to Nikki – it had seemed all wrong to carry on being lovey-dovey with Will once the posse had invaded – Cath now found herself battling to stay awake.
Her eyelids flickering open and shut like a dodgy blind.
‘Oh, I’m shattered,’ admitted Nikki, giving a yawn beside her. It was evidently catching. ‘Far too much excitement for one day. Time for the off. I’m back at work at seven-thirty tomorrow. Got to be up and ready, keeping the offices and homes of my clients fresh as a daisy.’
‘Yep, the road is calling us, too.’ Dan gave a stretch. ‘Need to be up bright and early as always. Newspaper delivery, bread van, the works.’
‘Oh yes, and there’ll be breakfast bakes to make,’ added Andreas. ‘Croissants and baklava tomorrow, if you fancy a little treat, anyone.’
The lads ran the Tilldale Stores. A quaint stone-built shop at the very heart of the village, in every sense.
They lived in a cosy little flat above it, along with their characterful West Highland terrier, Shirley, named after the sassy Shirley Ballas from their much-loved Strictly Come Dancing.
‘Our little lady will be waiting for us, too.’
‘Oh, how is she?’ asked Cath, who walked the dog now and again for them.
‘She’s fine … still trying to chase those rabbits and squirrels, the little monkey,’ said Dan.
‘Hah, we’re keeping her on the lead! She’s been having far too much fun lately …’ Andreas added.
Cath nodded, remembering all too well Shirley’s escapee antics across the riverside meadows that summer, whilst in her charge. They’d managed to put that drama behind them, thankfully.