Chapter 3
The door opened to reveal Laura standing there balancing a tray with a large freshly baked Victoria sponge and a pile of plates in one hand.
Scarlett watched her face transform from polite and happy to pure surprise as she realised it was she, Scarlett, who was standing on the doorstep.
In a flash of movement, Laura hurried towards the reception desk, planting the tray with a clatter on the polished surface before returning to the doorway and wrapping her arms around Scarlett as she pulled her inside.
‘Scarlett!’ Laura kicked the door closed behind them as she pulled away from the hug and cupped Scarlett’s elbows, looking her up and down. ‘It really is you. Why? How? It’s so lovely to see you.’
‘Hi.’ Scarlett grinned as she blinked away happy tears.
Damn, she wasn’t going to cry again, whatever the reason.
Happy or sad, that just wasn’t her. Laura had always been her favourite cousin, the cousin who had been there for her, without judgement through her wild teenage years and subsequent years of trying, and failing, to find her place in life.
She gave a strangled laugh as she spoke, waving her hands with a flourish. ‘Surprise!’
‘Surprise indeed!’ Laura glanced over her shoulder before turning back to Scarlett. ‘Come with me, I’ve got to tell Jackson. He’ll be so happy you’re here.’
Looking down at her clumpy Doc Martens, Scarlett nodded towards them. ‘Should I take my shoes off?’
‘No, imagine if I were to ask all our guests to. It would be pure anarchy.’ Laura gripped her hand, leading the way across the hall towards the kitchen, the tray of cake clearly forgotten in the excitement. ‘It must have taken you ages to get here. Have you eaten?’
Scarlett stifled a yawn, the tiredness of the drive suddenly catching up with her. ‘I grabbed a sandwich from the services just a little while back.’
‘Oh, we’ll get you something then. You can’t survive on a sandwich for dinner.’ Laura swung the kitchen door open before manoeuvring Scarlett in front of her. ‘Jackson, guess who I found on the doorstep!’
Scarlett watched as Jackson looked up from the paper he was reading at the table before jumping to his feet and rushing over to her. ‘Scarlett! It’s so good to see you.’
‘Hey, Jackson.’ Sinking into his arms, Scarlett grinned.
Jackson had been as much a part of the family since they were kids as anyone, and she’d spent many a happy weekend over at Laura’s house playing with Laura, Jackson, and her other cousins, Richie and Jenny.
He was as much of a cousin to her as Laura, Richie and Jenny were.
Drawing away from him, she pointed between him and Laura.
‘I still can’t believe you guys are actually married! Finally!’
‘Ha, finally!’ Laura laughed. ‘And there was me thinking we got married pretty quickly after getting into our relationship.’
Scarlett grinned. ‘You did, but it took you long enough to get together in the first place.’
‘Haha, it sure did. But now we are, we’re making up for lost time.’ Jackson gripped Laura around the waist and pulled her close before kissing the top of her head.
‘Glad to hear it.’ Scarlett slipped onto the pine bench opposite where Jackson had been sitting. ‘So, how is married life treating you?’
‘Aw. It’s great.’ Laura met Jackson’s gaze and smiled. ‘Everything I ever dreamed of.’
Sticking her fingers in her mouth, Scarlett pretended to gag. ‘Yuck.’
‘You did ask.’ Laura grinned before stepping away from her husband and grabbing a mug. ‘Coffee?’
‘Yes, please. I would literally sign my life away for a good coffee. I’m running on empty.’ Scarlett watched as Laura and Jackson worked together to make the coffee. That’s what she’d always longed for, someone to support her, to slip into those little routines like the two of them.
‘Oh, food. I’ll get you something to eat.’ Laura filled the mug from the cafetiere and placed it on the table in front of Scarlett as Jackson topped it up with a splash of milk.
‘Don’t worry. I can grab something later.’ Picking up the mug, Scarlett took a long deep breath, sucking in the strong, bitter aroma. However good the coffee shops were en route, they’d never measure up to a proper coffee.
‘Umm, let me think…’ Jackson pulled open the fridge. ‘I have some lamb stew from yesterday or chicken curry which we had today, there’s some of that left. I could heat either of those up?’
After taking a long sip of her coffee, the caffeine providing an almost instant fix to the tiredness that had been threatening to consume her, she lowered her mug to the tabletop. ‘I’m veggie, sorry.’
Slapping his hand across his forehead, Jackson groaned. ‘Of course, how could I forget that?’
Scarlett shrugged and grinned. ‘To be fair, you weren’t to know. It’s only been a few years, and I very much doubt you were taking any notice at what I was eating on your wedding day.’
Jackson chuckled as he stooped to the fridge again and pulled out a pack of eggs before brandishing them in her direction. ‘You eat eggs, though?’
‘Yep.’ Scarlett nodded, her stomach grumbling at the thought of food.
‘In that case, I’ll make you some of my French toast, if you like?’ Jackson waited until she’d nodded before taking the frying pan and placing it on the hob.
‘Oh, you’ll love Jackson’s French toast, it’s literally the best.’ Bringing her own mug to the table, Laura sat down opposite Scarlett. ‘In fact, Jackson, can I have some too, please? I’m starving.’
Chuckling, he nodded. ‘Of course you can. I might just make myself some as well. It’s just the weather for a nice warm supper.’
As Jackson turned his back to make the food, Laura reached out and gripped Scarlett’s hands in hers. ‘So, tell me, what’s brought you to Meadowfield?’
Scarlett shrugged. She’d spent half the journey here trying to figure out what to tell Laura, had even practised a billion possible explanations in front of Thelma, but now none of them felt enough.
None of the reasons she’d concocted felt natural.
Laura would see right through them. Instead, she gave Laura a quick smile.
She didn’t want to lie, but then she didn’t want to bring her problems to the people she cared about either.
‘I had some time off, so I thought I’d come and see my two favourite humans. ’
‘Uh-huh, go on…’ Laura nodded encouragingly.
‘What? That’s it. I needed a change of scenery and a much-needed catch-up, that’s all.
’ Scarlett brought the mug to her lips, hoping Laura wouldn’t spot how fake her smile was.
She wasn’t lying. Laura and Jackson had been a huge part of her life.
Laura had always been on the end of the phone or a bus ride away when Scarlett was growing up.
And Scarlett had spent the summer holidays staying with Laura’s family after her dad had got together with her stepmum which, of course, had meant spending a lot of time with Jackson too, who had been an almost permanent fixture of Laura’s family since Scarlett could remember.
She gulped her coffee as another wave of tiredness swept over her.
She’d spent half her time daydreaming that Auntie Ruth and Uncle Phil had been her parents.
She shook her head. She wasn’t that little girl any more.
She wasn’t that child who had cooked beans on toast every night, waiting for her dad to come home from the pub.
She wasn’t the child who had spent the evenings scrubbing the house clean after her dad had thrown up before drinking himself to sleep.
She’d understood he’d only done it to numb the pain of losing his wife, but she’d lost her mum and she’d had to navigate that loss alone.
She shook her head. He was happy now, up in Scotland with her stepmum, and that’s all she could want for him.
‘It’s true. We used to be so close before I moved to Manchester, and I want to be again. ’
Laura tilted her head. It was obvious she could tell there was more to Scarlett’s story than she was letting on, but thankfully she let it lie and instead grinned back at her.
‘Good. I’m glad you came, I just wish you’d given us a bit of notice and I would have saved you a room.
We’re fully booked right up until New Year. ’
Lowering her mug to the table again, Scarlett relaxed. ‘Ha, you shouldn’t be complaining!’
‘Oh, I know. And I’m not. I just feel bad not being able to offer you a room.’ Laura grimaced.
‘Take our room, Scarlett. I’m more than happy to sleep on the sofa so you and Laura can share.’ The oil in the frying pan sizzled as Jackson poured in the mixture.
‘Nope.’ Scarlett held her hands up, palms forward. ‘Absolutely not. I’ve brought my camper and I’ll sleep in there.’
Laura shivered. ‘No chance. You’ll be cold.’
‘Yes, chance. That’s what I’d planned to do when I decided to come here, and that’s what I’ll be doing.
It’s super cosy when I’ve got the heater on.
’ Scarlett glanced towards the kitchen door.
‘I’ll give you a grand tour in the morning if you like?
I’ve done loads of work on it and it’s a proper little home on wheels now. ’
‘Oooh yes, that’ll be great.’ Laura stood up and went to help Jackson dish up the French toast. ‘Where will you park it overnight though? You can use our car park…’
Holding her hand up, Scarlett shook her head. Pennycress was full, which would mean the guest car park would be too, and she wasn’t about to take up space from paying guests. ‘No, I’ve already found somewhere, thank you though. I drove past a lay-by on the way into Meadowfield, I’ll park in there.’
‘But…’ Laura scrunched her nose up.
‘Honestly, it will be the perfect spot there. Close enough to the village but also a little out in the countryside so the views should be stunning.’ Scarlett smiled.
After living in the car park at Devon’s Wine Bar for so long, she was looking forward to stepping out of her camper in the morning and listening to the morning chorus of the birds rather than hearing a couple of gulls squabbling over the remnants of someone’s abandoned kebab.
‘I’ve always loved the idea of travelling in a camper.’ Jackson set a plate down in front of her before sitting down himself.
‘Yes, travelling the NC500 or something.’ Laura dropped a mound of cutlery in the middle of the table before taking her seat next to Jackson. ‘It’d be an amazing way to see the sights of Scotland.’
‘Have you got any travel plans yet? Apart from the freezing cold Cotswolds, of course.’ Jackson chuckled.
‘I think Scotland might be a tad colder than here.’ Laura laughed before taking a forkful of her French toast. ‘But you could visit your dad en route.’
‘True. Umm, I’m not sure to be honest. I need to give it some thought.
’ Scarlett filled her mouth, the taste of sweet cinnamon igniting her tastebuds.
She couldn’t very well admit that the only immediate travel plans she’d had for the last few months had been leaving the wine bar’s car park to grab supplies before returning.
She had a feeling Laura and Jackson would only worry about her if they discovered her home-on-wheels was literally that, her home.
Not that they needed to; she hadn’t been lying when she’d told them it was cosy.
It was. And it had everything she needed; she’d even begged Devon to help her rig up a little shower.
Plus, it was secure. ‘How about you? When I rang Dad last, he said you two are planning a belated honeymoon sometime soon?’
‘We are.’ Laura glanced at Jackson and beamed. ‘In fact, we’ve already planned it. We’re off to Venice for Christmas.’
‘Venice? Wow.’ Scarlett whistled. ‘The City of Love.’
‘We’ll be back Christmas Eve, so we’ll have the best of both worlds, an Italian honeymoon as well as being able to enjoy Christmas at Pennycress.’ Jackson grinned back at Laura.
‘Oh, that will be lovely.’ Scarlett looked around the kitchen, taking in the pine tables and the doors leading out to the decking at the back of the inn. ‘I’d expected you to have the Christmas decs up already. Your family always put them up as early as possible, didn’t you?’
‘Ah, if we had our way, we’d have put them up last weekend, but we had a group of guests staying who were celebrating their parents’ fortieth wedding anniversary so until this morning the rooms were covered with ruby bunting and balloons to celebrate.
’ Laura shovelled another forkful of French toast into her mouth before swallowing and then continuing.
‘We’ll make a start tomorrow though, if you want to come and help?
Obviously don’t feel you have to, you’re here for a holiday and I don’t want to saddle you with a box of baubles to hang. ’
‘I’d love to help.’ Growing up, Christmas had always been a little overlooked to put it mildly and although she’d tried her best to instil some Christmas traditions in the relationships she’d had since leaving home, she’d always seemed to get together with men who either insisted on going home to their parents for the festive season or just weren’t interested and didn’t get excited about it.
‘That’s decided then. I’ll pop up the loft first thing and then we’ll start decorating. We’ll pick up a tree too.’ Jackson took a sip of his coffee.
Turning excitedly towards Scarlett, Laura’s eyes shone.
‘We’re going to get a real tree from the Christmas tree farm just outside the village.
Neither of us has ever had a real tree before.
Sure, we could put the artificial one up, but I don’t know, now we’re married we kind of want to start some traditions of our own, and a real tree each year will be one of them. ’
‘That’s a really cute idea.’ Scarlett loaded her fork with the last of her French toast. All the traditions she’d tried to start with Tyler had fallen flat and he’d always maintained Christmas had become just a commercialised holiday aimed to help the rich get richer and normal folks poorer.
Huh. She imagined that was especially true when you were trying to keep two separate homes and two separate partners.
Instead of decorating their flat or going for festive dates or anything, they’d celebrated the past three years with a cheap bottle of Prosecco and a roast whilst sitting in front of the TV after unwrapping one or two tacky gifts ‘to keep her happy’ as he’d put it.
Of course this little ritual had always been carried out on Christmas Eve; on Christmas Day itself he’d had to visit his grandma in Wales, or so he’d maintained.
The grandma who, conveniently, wasn’t allowed visitors who weren’t family to her care home.
How could she have been so stupid to believe that? And for three straight years, too.
She shifted position on the bench. Had he told the same lie to Donna when he’d visited Scarlett?