Hayley played with him for a while and then tidied up and made her way to the kitchen.
Jenny was on her own there, rinsing cranberries.
She glanced across as Hayley walked into the room. “Is the wrapping finished? Where’s Jamie?”
“Jamie’s working on the book. And the wrapping is done.” She hesitated. “Can I do anything?”
“I’m making cranberry sauce for tomorrow.” Jenny tipped the cranberries into a pan. “I’ve already squeezed the oranges. If you could grab the brown sugar from the cupboard over there, that would be great.” She gestured and then wiped her hands on her apron.
Hayley opened the cupboard, located the sugar and was about to pass it to Jenny when a piece of paper caught her eye. It was tucked next to a large jar of homemade granola, and it had her name at the top of it.
She picked it up. It was a list, and the heading wasPerfect Christmas for Hayley.
Jenny gave a little shriek and shot across the kitchen.
“You weren’t supposed to see that!” She reached out to takeit and then let her hand drop. “Sorry. I’ve been keeping it hidden, but I checked it this morning and forgot to put it back.”
“You made a list of things that would make a perfect Christmas?”
Jenny made a despairing gesture. “Yes, but—”
“A perfect Christmas for me?” She could see how awkward Jenny felt and maybe she should have let it drop, laughed it off, said something flippant, but she couldn’t. Flippant was for small things that didn’t matter, and this wasn’t small. And it mattered.
“Jamie mentioned it when he called, that’s all,” Jenny said. “He told me how much you wanted a dream family Christmas. I wasn’t sure what that involved so I watched a couple of movies and made notes.”
“Notes?”
“I wanted everything to be perfect for you. I wrote down the things I thought we could reproduce, at least in the house. Sadly I can’t conjure up shops selling gingerbread and candy canes and snowy villages with cobbled streets, which seems to be a staple of some of the movies I watched, but I managed other things. Extra trees. Extra lights. It was all supposed to look effortless and natural and now I’ve spoiled the illusion by leaving my scribbling lying around. It was supposed to be like one of Rosie’s ballets—a performance where no one sees the workings behind the scenes.”
But sometimes the workings were more important than the final performance, because the workings meant something.
Hayley felt a lump in her throat. “You did this for me?”
“Yes. I wanted you to feel at home. I wanted you to feel like part of the family.” Jenny’s shoulders slumped a little. “I wanted you to like us. Me.”
And Hayley realised in that moment that she wasn’t the only one who had been worried. Jenny had been worried too. And caring enough to make a list of things to make Hayley feel festive, and at home.
“Thank you. This is amazing. I can’t believe you did this.” It was difficult to speak. “You made us—me—so welcome, and then we gave you such a shock. I’m so sorry we didn’t tell you before we arrived. Don’t blame Jamie. He did it for me.”
“Don’t think about it. I understand.”
“But it hurt you—”
“A little maybe, but not for long, and families are full of these tiny bruises. Cuts and scratches, that’s all. They heal. They don’t damage the whole.”
“You must think—”
“I think you’re perfect, Hayley.” Jenny reached out and took her hands, squeezing them. “Just perfect.”
“I’m so far from perfect.”
Jenny smiled. “Well, that’s good. If you were perfect, it would be exhausting for the rest of us. Perhaps I should have said that I think you’re perfect for my son. He’s a lucky man. I’m looking forward to spending more time with you and getting to know you.” She hesitated. “We’re your family too, now. I know you’re both adults, but I’m always on the end of a phone if you need a listening ear. And I love Edinburgh. Perhaps I could drive up and meet you for lunch occasionally.”
“I’d love that. Jamie doesn’t often have time off in the day but—”
“I meant you,” Jenny said. “You and I. We could spend some time together. Get to know each other a little better.”
“Oh.” She imagined taking Jenny to the little café she’d discovered in the backstreets and catching up over coffee. “That would be lovely.”
