Chapter 13
CHAPTER 13
CAROLINE
‘ Y ou stayed where?!’ gasped Milly.
She was busy tying a bunch of red roses dotted with festive berries and frothy white gypsophila. Right now, though, the ribbon was dangling loosely from her fingers, and the blooms were in serious danger of landing on the shop floor.
‘…and with who?!’ she added, her voice shrill.
‘Shhhh!’ laughed Caroline, shooting a look towards the door. Luckily Jo – Milly’s decidedly nosy assistant – hadn’t returned from the coffee run Milly had sent her on the minute Caroline had dropped the code word for "have gossip".
‘Sorry,’ muttered Milly. ‘It’s fine… she won’t be back for a few more minutes.’
‘Good,’ said Caroline. ‘As I was saying – I stayed at Crumbleton Sands with Jack Jones.’
‘ The Jack Jones?’ said Milly.
‘The one and only,’ said Caroline, doing her best not to look too smug.
‘The one you called Captain Woodentop in your last film review?’ said Milly, raising an eyebrow.
It really was decidedly inconvenient having friends who read every single word you wrote – especially when they quoted the annoying bits back at you!
‘Yes. And… I may have been a bit harsh,’ she conceded.
‘Caroline Cook, you’re blushing,’ gasped Milly.
‘Am not,’ muttered Caroline, mentally cursing the flush that was spreading over her cheeks.
‘Ooh, this is getting interesting,’ said Milly. ‘And you only managed to drive back this morning?!’
‘Yep,’ said Caroline. ‘And for the record, it was horrible! The marshes were a slushy nightmare, but I swear the worst part was walking up the high street. Andy’s not back, and whoever they’ve got covering for him hasn’t finished gritting the cobbles yet – it’s lethal out there!’
‘That’s an understatement,’ said Milly. ‘I bet it was terrifying in your little car - the only reason I managed to get in is because of Murray’s four-by-four.’
‘Ah, the joys of shacking up with the marsh ranger!’ said Caroline.
‘Enough about him,’ said Milly, waving a dismissive hand. ‘I want to hear all about your night with a movie star!’
‘Again – SHHHH!’ said Caroline.
‘Caroline and Ja-a-ck sitting in a tree… K-I-S-S—’
‘Nope. There was none of that!’ said Caroline, cutting her off quickly. ‘He was a perfect gentleman. Plus, he’s still completely jetlagged so he disappeared to bed at toddler o’clock, leaving me to fall asleep on the sofa.’
‘I can’t believe he didn’t have the good manners to offer you his bed!’ said Milly.
‘Dude – he offered me a four-poster of my own,’ said Caroline. ‘I just never made it upstairs. I fell asleep in front of the fire, and then he covered me up with a duvet in the middle of the night so that I didn’t get cold.’
‘So romantic!’ sighed Milly, clutching the roses to her chest.
Caroline desperately wanted to agree and let out a soppy little sigh of her own… but she didn’t dare. She was already regretting the fact that she’d told Milly this much. She knew she should stop… but she had to tell someone before she burst!
‘Not romantic,’ said Caroline, lying through her teeth. ‘Practical and… kind.’
‘What I want to know is what you were doing there in the first place?’ demanded Milly. ‘Were you working on a story? Some kind of festive fix-up?!’
‘As if I would!’ said Caroline. ‘And you have to promise not to spill the beans if I tell you.’
‘You know I won’t,’ said Milly impatiently. ‘Hurry up before Jo gets back!’
‘Okay, okay… so I’ve found our special guest for the Crumbleton Christmas lights,’ said Caroline.
‘That’s epic! Only you could rustle up a film star when you couldn’t find anyone else,’ said Milly. Then she started to giggle. ‘Shame you had to spend the night to convince him, though!’
‘Spend the night with who?’ said Jo, appearing in the doorway with a tray of coffees clutched in her hands.
Caroline winced and widened her eyes at Milly. She could swear Jo had the hearing of a bat – which was a complete nightmare when combined with Milly’s excitable exclamations.
‘No one!’ said Milly, doing her best to sound innocent.
Caroline shook her head furiously. If Jo cottoned on to the fact that they were talking about Jack, it would be all over Crumbleton by lunchtime.
‘Fine, be like that,’ said Jo, plonking the coffees down in front of them and wandering through to the back room, clearly deciding that it couldn’t be very interesting anyway.
Caroline let out a long, low sigh of relief.
‘Sorry!’ Milly mouthed. ‘So…’ she said at normal volume, clearly looking for a way to continue the conversation in code. ‘Was there any kind of… erm… payment for the appearance?’ She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
‘No!’ said Caroline, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. ‘It was completely voluntary… though it took a while to get the go-ahead.’
‘Like… he needed to sleep on it?’ said Milly, her eyebrows going into overdrive.
‘Something like that,’ said Caroline. ‘But not like that!’
‘And what was the… erm… property you viewed like?’ said Milly. ‘Soulless holiday home?’
Caroline shook her head again. She felt awful about saying that, now that she knew how much the place meant to Jack and the fact that he seemed pretty keen on turning it into a proper home.
If he didn’t end up disappearing off to New Zealand, of course.
Caroline pushed the thought to the back of her mind.
‘It’s really… cosy,’ she said at last. ‘I helped decorate the Christmas tree while I was there.’
‘Awwww’ said Milly, her voice rising in an excitable squeak as she squashed the flowers even further.
‘Oi!’ hissed Caroline, a warning note to her voice.
‘What?’ said Milly innocently. ‘It’s just nice to see you so happy.’
‘Who said I’m happy?’ demanded Caroline.
‘Your stupid smiley face!’ chuckled Milly.
‘Fine,’ huffed Caroline. ‘It was nice. Kind of… ordinary, you know?’
‘Ooh, I do!’ said Milly.
‘Nothing ordinary about his bathtub though!’ she added.
‘I knew there had to be more to this!’ said Milly, looking thrilled.
‘More to what?’ said Jo, wandering through from the back room, and staring at the ruined flowers clutched to her boss’s chest.
‘Oh… to the Christmas lights switch on,’ said Milly quickly, popping the battered bouquet down onto the table and turning an easy smile on Jo.
‘Right…?’ said Caroline, hoping Jo wasn’t about to latch onto that surprising snippet.
‘Like what?’ said Jo, looking half interested.
‘Liiike…’ Milly raised an eyebrow at Caroline, clearly passing the baton.
Damnit!
‘Like… it’s going to happen the night before Christmas Eve,’ said Caroline quickly.
‘Uh-huh?’ said Jo, looking less than impressed. ‘I mean… you’ve moved the date like three times already, so that’s not exactly news.’
‘Yeah – but it’s going to be bigger and better than ever!’ said Milly.
Caroline gave her head a quick shake. Milly bit her lip looking guilty, and Caroline rolled her eyes. Maybe Jo wasn’t the one she should be worrying about after all.
‘How so?’ said Jo.
‘A market!’ said Caroline, quickly making something up on the spot. ‘We’re going to have stalls. Hot chocolate, carol singing, last-minute pressies.’
‘That’s… actually, that’s a really nice idea,’ said Jo grudgingly.
‘Yeah, it totally is!’ said Milly with a sly smile.
‘That’s why I’m here,’ said Caroline, deciding she had no choice but to run with it. ‘To make sure the shop will be open – and that you two are up for it.’
‘I’m in,’ said Jo. ‘As long as I get the chance to do some shopping too.’
‘I guess I can’t really say no!’ said Milly.
Caroline grinned at her. ‘Nope, you really can’t!’
Tough!
If her friend had been planning a relaxed evening being all loved-up with Murray, she should have kept her mouth shut and not forced Caroline to make up something so ridiculous on the spot.
Then again… it wasn’t so ridiculous, was it?
Jack had said he wanted to start meeting people in a low-key way. He could turn the lights on and then she could quietly introduce him to a few people. A bit of a last-minute shopping event along with carols and hot chocolate would help take the spotlight off him a little bit. As long as she didn’t announce his presence in advance, he should be fairly safe from any press… other than her, of course!
‘So… who’s the special guest going to be?’ said Jo.
‘It’s a surprise,’ said Caroline quickly, before Milly could put her foot in it again.
‘That means you still don’t have anyone, doesn’t it?’ laughed Jo.
‘Worst case scenario, you can do it Jo!’ said Milly.
‘Always nice to be bottom of the pile,’ huffed Jo, heading over to tidy up the shelves bearing her Grumpy Plant collection.
‘So,’ said Milly, sidling up to Caroline so that she could whisper right in her ear.
‘So what?’ said hissed Caroline.
‘So - you like him like him, don’t you?’
Caroline shivered as Milly’s warm breath hit her ear. She bit her lip, not saying anything.
‘You’re not starstruck, are you?’ demanded Milly.
Caroline eyeballed Milly and shook her head.
‘Wait… was that a “no” to question number one or number two?’ said Milly. ‘No, you don’t like him, or no, you’re not starstruck?!’
‘You’ll just have to wait and see!’ said Caroline with a grin.
‘Aww, tell me!’ said Milly.
Caroline shook her head again. ‘Thanks to you, I’ve got an event to plan… must dash!’