Chapter 24
Thanks to everyone pulling together, the week passed with barely a hitch and any hiccups we did encounter were swiftly solved because one of us had the skills to deal with it.
Many of the visitors had posted about the event online saying what a fabulous time they’d had, and I couldn’t for a minute imagine that it wouldn’t be repeated the following year.
Saturday was finally Halloween, and in the evening, once the square had entertained its share of sugar-high trick-or-treaters, all that was left was the long anticipated Beastly Banquet.
As we didn’t have tickets, me, Erik and a few others had decided we deserved a trip to The Dragon as a reward for all our hard work.
We were just about to walk there when my mobile rang.
‘It’s Kate,’ I said to the others. ‘So, I’d better answer.’
‘Skylar?’ she sounded frantic when the call connected.
‘Hey,’ I frowned, ‘what’s up?’
‘We’re two servers down,’ she told me in a slightly breathless rush. ‘And we can’t manage to pull this off with a skeleton staff. No pun intended.’
‘Oh, no,’ I said. ‘Of course, you can’t. Give me two minutes and I’ll be there.’
‘What’s happened?’ Erik asked.
I explained the situation, and he kindly elected to come with me.
‘Maybe we could help in the kitchen,’ I suggested as we rushed off in the opposite direction to the others. ‘That’ll free some staff up to serve the banquet.’
However, the evening didn’t pan out as simply for us as that.
‘You could easily fit into it, Kate!’ I protested, when Erik and I found ourselves being measured up for the costumes the wait staff should have been wearing.
‘I really couldn’t,’ she said. ‘It’s too small for me and before you suggest Luke could wear the other one, Erik, it’s made for someone taller than him and there’s no time to alter it.’
So, that was how we ended up dressed to look like a steampunk couple with make-up to match and, with zero experience between us, serving the super-exclusive Beastly Banquet for the dozen guests who had paid handsomely to be there.
I had always had a bit of a thing for men wearing eyeliner and the kohl lines enhancing Erik’s blue eyes were too much! I was on the point of a swoon from the moment he revealed his look and hard pushed to focus on the food rather than him.
Fortunately, no one seemed to notice the less than silver service and even though I wanted to exclaim in shock when I realised that the two men dressed convincingly as Scrooge and Marley were my grandfather and Rafe, I somehow stayed in character and managed to suppress it.
‘You two look incredible,’ I said, however, as I inexpertly followed Erik around with the sauce boat and leant between them so they could help themselves.
Erik had a heavy platter to balance, but I thought I was worse off because the contents of what I was carrying would make a real mess if they spilt. I soon found it was best not to think too much about it for fear of manifesting a mistake!
‘Are you surprised to see me?’ Grandad George laughed and rattled his chains.
‘Just a bit,’ I confessed. Having assumed Rafe’s spare ticket was for Hugh I was more than surprised. ‘But delighted.’
‘We’re rather surprised to see you, too,’ Rafe smiled.
‘I hope I can pull it off,’ I told him. ‘Bon appétit.’
Having played our parts as best we could in the subtly lit dining room that was dressed for drama, at the end of the meal, Erik and I were finally able to leave the other two servers to deal with the decanters and so on.
‘Shall we get some air?’ Erik suggested as he undid the top button of his shirt.
‘Yes,’ I said, even though I wasn’t convinced, given the whole eye liner aesthetic, that us being alone was sensible, ‘I’m really warm in this get-up and could do with a breather.’
I went to unpin the tiny hat on a band that had been digging into my scalp and let down my hair, but Kate objected.
‘Don’t change a thing,’ she insisted. ‘We’ll need you to see the diners off the premises later. That is, if you don’t mind hanging on?’ she added pleadingly.
‘In for a penny,’ I sighed, knowing we wouldn’t get to The Dragon. ‘Come on then,’ I said to Erik. ‘But I’m not going anywhere near that haunted tree.’
The garden was still set up and lit, so we headed off to sit in the little alcove in the fern garden which was out of sight of the house.
Erik had the foresight to grab a couple of blankets and cushions which I was grateful for because I hadn’t walked many steps in the chilly night air before I was feeling much cooler.
‘What a week!’ I declared as I sat on one of the cushions and Erik plonked himself next to me on the other.
‘Tell me about it,’ he said, then stood up again and draped one of the blankets around my shoulders.
As the fabric touched my skin I felt every nerve ending light up.
‘Thanks,’ I said, my breath catching.
‘No problem.’
He sat down again, closer to me this time.
‘I’ve hardly seen you,’ I said in as normal a voice as I could muster, ‘apart from when we’ve been helping switch everything about, but it’s been worth all the effort, hasn’t it?’
‘Definitely,’ he agreed and then produced two hip flasks from the pockets on his long coat. ‘I’m sure the events must have raised loads for The Chapel.’
He offered one of the flasks to me.
‘What’s in this?’ I asked.
‘Some of the Phantom Punch Luke concocted. I thought we might need it, but—’ I took a huge swig before he had time to finish explaining and started to cough.
‘As I was saying,’ he laughed, ‘I pepped it up a bit because I thought we might need something stronger after what we’ve gone through tonight. ’
‘Well,’ I gasped, my voice gruff, which made him laugh again, ‘it’s certainly warmed me up again.’
If I had been contemplating a moonlit seduction, I’d just blown it. Probably just as well.
‘Have you got any left?’
I gave the flask a shake.
‘Only a little.’
‘Oh well,’ Erik grinned, ‘down the hatch.’
Knowing what was inside, he didn’t cough like I had, but it did take his breath away.
‘You were right,’ I giggled, ‘after tonight, we did need that. I can’t believe I didn’t drop anything because my hands were shaking the whole time.’
‘Mine too,’ he said and drained the dregs. ‘And on top of the week I’d already had, I really needed something to settle my frayed nerves rather than ramp them up.’
‘Oh no,’ I gasped, pulling my thoughts back in a friendlier direction and thinking it was a shame we hadn’t had time to catch up before. ‘What’s happened?’
He huffed out a breath, and it streamed ahead of him. It must have been colder than I had realised. The blanket he’d given me was keeping me warm.
‘Do you remember me telling you,’ he began, ‘that my dad going quiet wasn’t necessarily a good sign?’
‘Of course,’
‘Well, on this occasion, it was a very bad sign because he’s finally shown his hand and got my agent involved and on the case, too.’
‘What have they cooked up between them?’ I asked. ‘Something you’re really not keen on, I’m guessing?’
‘Not keen at all,’ he confirmed. ‘I heard about it through Peter, my agent, but I knew Dad must have had a big hand in it and yesterday he admitted as much.’
‘So, what do they want you to do?’
Erik looked as if he couldn’t believe what they were suggesting.
‘Take up a television commentary position with a sports channel,’ he told me.
Obviously, I hadn’t known what he was going to say, but I hadn’t expected anything like that.
‘And I do get why they’re keen,’ he added.
‘I really do. They’re both still thinking that I should be squeezing every last drop out of my career, and this is a route lots of other ex-players take, but I don’t want it. ’
‘You’re happy as you are right now, aren’t you?’
‘I’m very happy as I am,’ he nodded. ‘This quiet life, doing something completely different now that I can’t play the game I loved, is really helping me process what’s happened and focus on what the rest of my life could be.
Without that odd-shaped ball occupying my every waking moment, there’s room for so much more. ’
I snorted at that and Erik smiled.
‘Sorry,’ I said and held up the hip flask. ‘Your fault though.’
I drained the very last drop and handed the flask back. His fingers brushed mine and felt far warmer than my hand. He slipped the flask into the coat pocket again along with his.
‘Here,’ he said and took my hands in his and blew warmth onto them.
It felt like an intimate gesture and kicked off that stirring feeling deep in my belly again, and just when I thought I had reined it in. The sensation spread considerably further as his kohl rimmed eyes met mine and I knew I had to break the moment.
‘Though you know,’ I said, as I gently eased my hands from his, ‘if you did take the commentary role, your continued fame could then take off in all kinds of TV directions.’
‘Such as?’ he asked huskily.
‘Game shows. Reality TV. I could just see you in the jungle doing those mad challenges and eating, instead of playing with odd shaped…’ I shook my head feeling embarrassed. ‘I’m going to shut up now,’ I blushed as Erik doubled over with laughter.
‘I can always rely on you, can’t I Skylar?’
‘To do what? Make a fool of myself?’
‘No,’ he said and turned to face me. ‘Make me laugh!’
‘Well,’ I said, ‘that’s what friends do, isn’t it?’
‘Um,’ he said, his gaze flicking to my lips before resting on my eyes again, ‘friends.’
‘Best friends,’ I whispered and swallowed.
‘Friends who—’ he began, but I didn’t give him time to finish.
Throwing caution to the wind, I dismissed my determination to keep my distance, closed the gap between us, pulled him to me and kissed him. He didn’t resist and neither of us held anything back.
‘Wait,’ he said, and pulled away the tiniest bit after what felt like too short a time. I leant further in to counter his move. ‘Is this the impact of the punch?’ he asked, between kisses. ‘Because I didn’t mean for this to happen when I added to it—’
‘No,’ I said and kissed him again. ‘It’s not the punch. This is all me.’