Chapter 15
MEG
Meg began the walk towards town. She shouldn’t have been shocked at Chrissie’s remarks when she’d opened the door to Jonathan’s chalet moments ago, but she was.
Her sister’s looks, her reactions and her words still stung because they served to remind her that she’d lost her sister because of what she’d done.
It also told her that Chrissie had made her mind up about her and was never going to give her a chance to prove that she was a different person now than who she had been back then.
She’d known that Chrissie wouldn’t be happy she was spending time with Sarah, and because her sister had chosen to show up in Winterbruck unannounced there had been no way to break it gently.
And their feelings, or certainly Chrissie’s, had all come out at dinner, and she hated that her parents and Sarah had had to witness that.
When she’d left the table last night, Meg had needed to get out of the chalet and away from Chrissie. With her sister there it was like she couldn’t breathe. It was like she was at high altitude all over again, with no respite.
She’d walked around the local area, thankfully wrapped up enough against the cold, but when it had started snowing lightly again, she’d begun to make her way back to her parents’ chalet.
She’d already moved all her things from the spare room into the box room, changed the bedding in silence with her mum who had given her a hug.
Astrid knew that Meg was getting out of Chrissie’s way; she’d told Meg that Chrissie should take the box room as she was the one who’d turned up last, but Meg wouldn’t have it.
She was quite happy in the tinier room as long as her mum didn’t mind moving some of her things.
As she’d paced the streets, Meg had thought about how much fun she’d been having getting to know Sarah, with a visit to the chocolate shop and their day at the Jungfraujoch. She’d hoped they’d have many more. But what would Sarah decide? Would her loyalty put an end to any more contact with Meg?
When she was walking uphill in the direction of the chalet – slowly, given she didn’t want to go back to the tension again – she heard someone pull up alongside her. It was Jonathan. He leaned across to open the passenger side door.
‘We’ve got to stop meeting like this.’ But when he smiled, he must’ve realised this was no happy walk that she was taking. ‘Get in, I’ll take you the rest of the way.’
She nodded in thanks but said nothing further, and when he pulled onto the drive she stayed put and so did he.
‘Things tough over at your place?’ When she looked at him, he shrugged. ‘I saw Chrissie arrive.’ He’d only just turned the ignition off but already the truck had cooled and she shivered. ‘Come inside. I’ve got hot buttered rum if you’re interested?’
She didn’t need asking twice.
From the outside the chalet was a lot like her parents’ next door, but inside was totally different.
Similar wooden beams still added character, but the downstairs was open plan, styled in a mixture of traditional and modern.
The kitchen was bigger than her parents’ – big enough for a table to be in the centre of it rather than galley-style like theirs.
Fitted with wooden cabinets and quartz counter-tops with open shelving and pendant lighting it had a younger vibe, yet one that stuck with tradition.
‘How long have you lived here?’ she asked as he ladled out two lots of hot buttered rum from the slow cooker into heatproof glasses.
‘A few years, and I’ve been updating it in all that time.’
‘You’ve kept its character. I like that.’ She thanked him for the glass and followed him to the end of the kitchen where doors opened out to a patio.
‘I like to sit out here.’ He had an armful of blankets he must have scooped up from inside. ‘Are you okay with this?’
‘Of course.’ She took a blanket and sat in one of the Adirondack chairs. Already the heaters he’d switched on were pushing away much of the cold.
‘This is a good place to think.’ He settled down too, adjusting a blanket across his lap.
The steam from her drink warmed her face as she held it between her hands.
‘So,’ he said, breaking the silence. ‘You and your sister.’
‘Me and my sister.’ Where to start? ‘We’re what you would call estranged.’
‘I know.’
‘You know?’
‘I pick up things from Earl and Astrid. They don’t gossip, but it’s the sort of thing that’s hard to hide. And they used to know my folks, remember.’
‘Let’s just say I’m the black sheep.’
‘That’s certainly not what I’ve ever heard.’
Surprised, she said, ‘Well, I suppose that’s something. But it’s kind of true.’
‘Nobody is perfect, Meg. Not you, definitely not me, and I suspect not Chrissie.’
She sipped the rum and her eyes widened. ‘This is pretty good.’
‘I know.’ And then he smiled the sort of smile she was getting used to seeing. One that wasn’t just for show, but rather one he meant.
‘Modest.’ She smiled back at him. ‘I like it.’
‘The lack of my modesty or the rum?’
‘Both.’ Being here with him made her feel better than she’d felt since she first saw Chrissie step out of that taxi.
‘I said “I know” because it was my dad’s recipe and he taught me how to make it.’
‘That explains it.’ And sharing the memory made him all the more endearing to her. ‘Mum has done her best to pass down her baking to me over the years, but apart from chocolate, I don’t bake much at all. Maybe Chrissie does, I have no idea.’
‘You know, my sister and I had our moments over the years.’ He tilted his head to indicate the chalet.
‘This place, for a start. When Mum and Dad went, she wanted to sell up and I wanted to keep it. We kept it for a while, thought about holiday lets, but she just wanted to cut ties. It’s why I retired early, sold my business and had enough money to buy her share of this place. ’
‘So your sister was happy?’ Meg didn’t remember his sister at all. Then again, she hadn’t remembered much about Jonathan either. And right now, she couldn’t understand why.
‘Kind of. Well, eventually, anyway. To her, coming here was painful. It made her grief resurface. It took her ages to visit me when I moved here for good, but when she did, she found peace with me being here and our parents gone. It took time though.’
‘And are you close with your sister now?’ His disagreement with his sister was nothing compared to hers with Chrissie. He’d think less of her if he knew the truth.
‘We get on well enough. We don’t see much of each other with the distance, but I like being Uncle Jonathan. I get the best bits, without the tie or the stress.’
She took another sip of her drink. ‘You know, I’ve never had a hot buttered rum, but I have to say this won’t be my last.’
‘Easy enough to make. Especially when you have more time on your hands.’ Something of which she had way too much these days now The Cocoa Cupboard had gone.
Her hands stayed warm on the glass. ‘Do you miss having your business?’
‘I did a bit at the start, when I first retired. I was worried that I might get bored and wish I hadn’t given it all up.
But the business was stressful as well as something I was invested in financially and emotionally.
It’s nice not having that kind of pressure any more.
What about you? Ever think about giving up full-time work as a lead chocolatier? ’
‘That choice has been made for me. At least for now.’ She finished the final swig of the rum.
She’d expected questions but instead he reached out for her glass. ‘Another?’
‘Wouldn’t say no.’
He disappeared briefly before coming back outside with two refilled glasses. He pulled his blanket back across his lap. ‘You know you can’t leave it there, don’t you?’
‘I was hoping by going inside you’d forget the mention of my work, or rather my comment which kind of blows my cover.’
‘Cover?’
‘I haven’t told my parents. I don’t want to disappoint them.’
‘What happened, Meg?’
‘I don’t even know where to start.’
‘Why don’t you start from the beginning?’
And so she did. She wound her mind all the way back to her first days in London, the mess she’d found herself in both socially and then for a time, financially, her studies, and finally meeting Grant and her role as lead chocolatier.
Then she told him about Grant’s love of gambling, his bullshit about expansion, his financial ruin and the sale of The Cocoa Cupboard.
‘I loved that shop,’ she said. ‘I really did. And I loved my job. I was good at it too.’
‘I know, I’ve tasted the products.’ He held his glass mid-air in her direction.
‘To The Cocoa Cupboard. Come on…’ He waited for her to lift her own glass.
‘To The Cocoa Cupboard, a successful business where you were at the helm. You were lead chocolatier at a renowned chocolaterie. For a long time. You must’ve been doing something right. ’
She started to laugh. ‘That was a long toast.’
‘It needed to be said.’
But her joy didn’t last. ‘There’s more…’
‘Grant did something else?’
‘Not him, no. Me. I did something.’ She felt the warmth from the mug clutched between her hands.
Was she really going to do this? Tell someone the story she’d kept to herself since it happened?
‘It’s nothing to do with my work. It’s to do with my family.
And you might not want me hanging around when you know what I did. ’
‘Why don’t you let me be the judge of that.’
It took her a while to get started, it took the snow falling lightly once again around the chalet and their surroundings, taking on a beauty she didn’t feel could ever be a part of her soul after what happened, for her to tell him about Chrissie’s wedding day.
When she finished, he puffed out his cheeks. ‘You stood up and said those things?’
‘Yep.’
‘You must’ve felt very strongly to do that.’
She turned to face him. She hadn’t been able to look him in the eye while she confessed what she’d done. ‘You know, nobody has ever said that to me. Nobody ever asked why I felt compelled to humiliate myself, my sister and her fiancé and ruin their day.’
‘So why don’t you tell me.’