Chapter 10 #2
Quinn quickly took a step back away from Alex just as Immy came through the back door.
‘Wow, it’s really deep in some parts. I lost Jacob a few times,’ Immy said, stamping her feet on the mat.
‘Zara has a snow day,’ Alex said.
‘I thought she might, the roads are quite bad and so many of the teachers come from out of the area.’
Zara came running back into the kitchen and spotted Immy. ‘I’ve got a snow day!’
‘I heard, lucky you. Oh I’m quite jealous, I wish I could join you for some snow fun instead of going to boring work.’
‘Well, we can make Christmas cookies this afternoon and we’ll be sure to save you some,’ Alex said.
‘Yes!’ Zara punched the air, clearly about to have her best day ever.
‘Well that’s something to look forward to,’ Immy said, giving her niece a kiss on the forehead. She started prepping Jacob’s breakfast.
‘Go and get your coat and hat on,’ Alex said, and Zara ran out of the kitchen at top speed.
‘How was your date with Pip last night?’ Immy asked.
‘I cancelled, I went to see Quinn for a chat.’
Immy stopped what she was doing and looked between the two of them. She must have seen what was written all over their faces. ‘Good chat then?’
Alex actually blushed, which he found adorable.
‘It was a very good chat,’ Alex said.
Quinn laughed, he couldn’t help it. Alex might as well have hired a plane to write it in the sky.
‘Well, finally,’ Immy said. ‘I’ve been waiting for you two to chat for years.’
The fact that Alex had all but told her sister gave him hope that this was more than the casual arrangement she had agreed with him.
‘And where were you last night, you weren’t here when I got back?’ Alex asked.
‘Well I, umm… had a chat with Xander.’
Quinn hadn’t expected that.
Alex’s eyes widened in shock. ‘Another chat?’
‘Wait, this was the second chat with Xander?’ Quinn asked.
‘Second, third and fourth,’ Immy giggled, turning away so she wouldn’t see their reaction.
‘Although I’m pretty sure the fourth one was the last chat.
He has Etta to think of. It’s complicated.
Well not for me, but for him apparently.
Anyway, I had fun so that’s all that matters.
If he doesn’t want more fun that’s his problem not mine. ’
Quinn exchanged glances with Alex. He could tell Immy was trying her best to be nonchalant about it but she was clearly a bit hurt by the brush-off.
Xander had made it very clear to anyone who asked, especially his family, that he wasn’t looking for another mum for Etta and that he would raise her alone.
He had completely withdrawn into himself ever since his wife died, but it looked like Immy had made him peer out of his shell, at least a little.
Maybe Quinn needed to have a word with his cousin.
Or maybe he needed to keep his nose out of other people’s business.
Zara ran back into the kitchen. ‘I’m ready.’
‘Then let snow day commence,’ Alex said.
Alex watched Quinn sledging down the hill with Zara, holding her on his lap like she was something precious, and she knew she had fallen for him a little bit more.
Probably the most important thing she was looking for in a man was that he would love Zara as much as he loved her.
That hadn’t really been a factor before when she’d started dating because she’d known she wasn’t really looking for a serious relationship.
Yes, she’d been put off by Dave when he’d made it obvious that he didn’t like children, because even dating someone casually would be hard if they didn’t want anything to do with her daughter.
But this – not just tolerating her daughter or being friendly, but loving her like she was his own – was everything.
Cheering from Harley, Zara’s best friend and Chloe, Harley’s mum, snapped Alex out of her reverie. She needed to make sure she wasn’t caught looking at Quinn with loving eyes if she wanted to keep what they had a secret.
‘Go on Zara,’ Harley shouted as Zara and Quinn hurtled down the hill towards them.
They reached the bottom of the hill, laughing and shrieking together. OK, the shrieking was definitely more Zara than Quinn but they were both clearly having an amazing time.
‘That was so much fun, I went way faster with Quinn than I did with you,’ Zara said.
Alex thought about whether to have a scientific discussion about why that was the case but, although Zara was a lot smarter than most of the kids in her class (according to her teacher anyway), she wasn’t sure if she was ready for a lesson on mass, gravitational pull, friction and aerodynamics.
And she had promised her daughter there would be no schoolwork that day.
‘That’s because he’s a better sledger than I am,’ Alex said.
‘You should go with Quinn, then you’d go super fast,’ Zara jumped up and down with excitement.
‘I’m not sure I’d fit on the sleigh with Quinn,’ Alex said.
‘You sit on his lap like I do.’
‘I’m probably too big for that.’
‘You can sit on my lap,’ Quinn said, arching an eyebrow at her.
‘Go on. Do it,’ Zara urged. ‘And I can record the moment you fall off on your phone.’
‘What makes you think I’ll fall off?’ Alex said.
‘I think you will. I’ll stay here with Harley,’ Zara said. The way she said that made Alex think she had an ulterior motive to this idea. Harley nodded eagerly.
Chloe nodded too. ‘Go on, I’ll watch them.’
Feeling like she couldn’t say no, Alex nodded and she and Quinn started trudging up the hill.
‘They want to throw snowballs at us,’ Quinn said, when they were out of hearing distance.
‘Oh, is that right?’
‘We can load up with our own snowballs and throw them at them as we fly past.’
‘Good idea.’
They walked up the hill a bit, dragging the sledge behind them.
‘I was surprised that you told Immy about us earlier,’ Quinn said.
‘Yeah. I wasn’t really intending on telling anyone, but Immy knows me better than I know myself. She would have found out very quickly. I’m a terrible liar and I hate lying to her.’
Quinn was silent for a moment and she wondered what he was thinking.
‘Why do you not want to tell anyone?’ he said finally.
She shrugged. ‘Because how would I describe it? We’re not dating, we’re not in a relationship but we are so much more than friends with benefits, so much more.’
‘But it’s no one’s business except ours how we define it. You don’t need to go into details. We just tell people that we’re seeing each other.’
‘But telling people leads to an expectation, especially with us, they know how close we are. “When are you moving in together, when are you getting married, when are you having children?” And I’m not ready for any of those things.
I had that, I had all of that, and my husband threw it away.
And my heart says I can trust you, you won’t hurt me in that way, but I never thought Liam would hurt me either.
I just need time to get my head round this. ’
‘I understand.’
‘You do? I don’t want to hurt you. It’s not that I’m ashamed of you or anything like that. I also worry how Violet will react and there’s no point upsetting her with this yet.’
‘No, that’s true.’
‘And there’s Zara to think of too,’ she reminded him. ‘I’m not sure how I tell her that we’re together. You’re her uncle, I wonder if she’ll find that weird.’
‘Or maybe she’ll love it.’
Alex smiled. Zara probably would actually but she still didn’t want to have that conversation with her daughter yet. Not when she couldn’t even describe what she and Quinn had to herself, let alone to other people.
They reached the crest of the hill and kept walking until they were out of sight from Zara and anyone else down there.
She reached up and slid her arms around Quinn’s shoulders. ‘Are you OK with this?’
‘Yes of course, I’m happy with whatever part of you you want to give me. I don’t like hiding it and sneaking around as if we’re doing something wrong, but I do understand why you want to keep it quiet.’
Alex nodded. ‘This is all so new between us and I don’t want it damaged by other people when we’re still trying to figure it out ourselves. But I want you to know how important this is to me. You mean the world to me and this is something special.’
‘For me too. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pressure you into something more.’
‘It’s OK, I understand the need to shout it from the rooftops, believe me. No one is more happy about this than me. I’ve been wanting this for years. Just give me time.’
‘I will.’
She reached up to kiss him and everything about the kiss told her this was the man she was meant to be with but the more she fell in love with him, the scarier it became.
She pulled back. ‘Let’s get the snowballs ready for our attack.’
They spent a few moments gathering the snowballs, then Quinn sat down in the sleigh.
‘Come on, sit in my lap.’
Alex smiled, as she sat down. ‘Don’t get any ideas.’
‘I get lots of ideas about you. Some of them I’m going to try out on you tonight.’
She felt a shiver of delight run through her at that thought.
‘I just hope it won’t be as bad as last time.’ She felt his smile as he kissed her neck. ‘Right, where can we put the snowballs? I can carry some in my lap.’
‘We can load a few down the sides too.’
They spent a few moments loading as many as they could around the edge of the sleigh and in her lap on top of her coat.
‘Right, are you ready?’ Quinn asked.
‘Yes, just hold onto me. I don’t want a video of me falling out at high speed making its way round social media.’
‘I’ll always hold you.’
He pushed off and the sledge moved forward a little before it teetered over the edge and then took off down the hill. Quinn wrapped his arms around her, holding her close against his chest, and the sledge very quickly picked up speed.
‘Christ, that is fast,’ Alex said as the hills and trees whizzed past.
‘Er, yeah it is,’ Quinn said, uncertainty in his voice, which is not exactly what anyone wants to hear when they are on a vehicle speeding a hundred miles an hour with no way to steer it or stop it.
Within seconds they reached the bottom of the hill where Alex spotted Zara and Harley waiting with arms full of snowballs.
She grabbed one of her snowballs and threw it wildly, but it went nowhere near them.
However, one of their snowballs hit her square in the face and then they were past them, still hurtling at what felt like hundreds of miles an hour towards the frozen lake.
‘Shit,’ Quinn said. ‘We have to bail.’
‘What? You want me to throw myself out of the speeding vehicle?’
‘On three.’
‘What?!’
But the lake was getting closer and they weren’t slowing down even the slightest.
‘Three,’ yelled Quinn, and with that he launched them both out of the sledge where they tumbled and rolled through the snow together. She finally came to a stop with Quinn on top of her. His eyes filled with concern, his arms cradling her body and head.
‘Are you OK?’
‘Of course I am, I’m with you.’
A smile brightened his face. ‘I so want to kiss you right now.’
‘And I really want you to.’
However, any thoughts of kissing went straight out the window as a snowball exploded against the side of Quinn’s face. Somebody clearly had a really good aim.
Quinn blinked in surprise and then shot up, roaring like a monster. The two girls scattered, squealing with laughter as they ran away and Quinn chased after them.
‘That looked like fun,’ Chloe said, her eyebrows waggling mischievously.
‘What, the near-death experience?’ Alex said.
‘No, the bit after that. I didn’t know you and Quinn were together.’
‘We’re not.’
Chloe gave her a look that said she didn’t believe her for a second.
‘We’re not,’ Alex insisted, knowing she was a terrible liar and Chloe would most likely see right through it.
‘Then you should be. That man is in love with you and I’m pretty sure you’re in love with him too. I’ve always thought you two were perfect for each other. I’m not quite sure what’s holding you back.’
Alex was beginning to wonder that herself.
Dear St Nick,
Sorry I didn’t reply to your message last night, I had a bit of a busy and unexpected night.
I love that you love Midsomer too and that’s something you and your other half share. Does she know you’re St Nick, what does she think about you doing such a kind thing for the people of Lovegrove Bay? And if she doesn’t know, how are you painting all these baubles without her seeing you?
I know from your clue yesterday that you’re one of the elves helping to decorate Santa’s cottage tonight and I’m excited that I get to work alongside you, even though I might not know which elf you are.
I dare you to come and talk to me tonight.
Not to identify yourself, just say a few words and maybe I can whittle down my choices even more.
Warmest wishes,
Alex