I remember my manners. ‘Thanks for having us, Mr ...’ I begin, then realise I don’t even know Bailey’s last name.
‘Just call me Allan, Holly,’ he says pleasantly. ‘After all, we’re practically family now.’
Bailey jumps in the front seat amidst a flurry of snow.
‘Oof, let’s go. It’s getting worse,’ he says. His dad puts the Range Rover in gear, and we crunch off slowly through the snow, leaving behind the lit-up station with its collection of stranded travellers. A small part of me is grateful for bumping into Bailey and that I’m going to have somewhere to sleep other than the station floor. The other much larger part of me is fuming that he let his dad believe we’re a couple.
‘All right back there?’ Bailey twists his head and gives me a dimpled grin. But I scowl at him, and he faces the front again hurriedly.
‘So how long have you two been an item?’ his dad asks.
‘Not long,’ says Bailey casually. ‘It’s been a bit of a whirlwind romance.’ I clench my fists tightly, quietly seething, but manage to hold my tongue. There’d better be a bloody good reason for this!
‘It must’ve been,’ says his dad, ‘since you haven’t mentioned her to us at all. No offence, Holly.’
‘None taken,’ I say gruffly, curious to hear what Bailey will say to that.
But he just replies airily, ‘We were waiting until the right time. Christmas seemed like the perfect occasion.’
What the hell is he playing at? I check his profile, and there’s a small smile playing on his lips, which makes me uneasy. I’m not sure what I’m getting myself into by agreeing to come home with him.
‘Are the others there yet?’ he asks his father.
Others?
‘Simon, Kate, and company arrived late last night. And Mirabelle’s flight was delayed coming in from Paris, so she’ll be here tomorrow morning. And Sarah came up by train yesterday with the girls.’
‘Who are Simon and Kate? And Mirabelle and Sarah?’ I venture, trying to get a handle on who’s going to be at the house.
Allan shakes his head and tsks at Bailey. ‘You haven’t told her about your siblings?’
‘Er, no,’ he says. ‘I didn’t get around to that.’
Allan glances at me through the rear-vision mirror. ‘Simon is Bailey’s elder brother, and Kate is his wife. They have three boys: Noah, Silas, and Tyrone. And Sarah is his elder sister. She and her partner, Mirabelle, have two girls, Susie and Sasha. Mirabelle works in Paris, but they have a house in London.’
I start feeling a bit stressed trying to keep track of all the names.
‘But that’s just the tip of the iceberg ...’ Allan adds with a laugh.
My heart rate increases. ‘W-what do you mean?’
‘Dad!’ says Bailey sharply. ‘We don’t want to scare her off.’
Too late. I’m scared.
I stare at the door handle longingly, wondering if I can jump out now and make a run for it.
Chapter 7
After an hour of driving through rural countryside, with me getting more and more anxious about where we’re going, we pull through an open gate and into a driveway lined with spruce trees coated in snow.
I lean forward as a two-storey stone house with dormer windows and chimneys comes into view through the windscreen wipers. At first, I think it’s a cottage. But as we get nearer, it becomes apparent it’s much larger. I count ten windows on the front alone. Thick snow covers the roof like white frosting on a cake.
But that’s not what makes me gape in disbelief. Someone has gone to town with the Christmas lights. They’re flashing all over the front of the house in alternating strobes of blue, red, yellow, and green. One side of the front lawn has a ten-foot-tall fake snowman with a pipe. The other has a reindeer ensemble pulling a sleigh. And as we drive past, I spot an inflatable Santa attached to the side of the house—in climb mode.
‘Oh. My. God,’ I say aloud without thinking.
Allan bursts out laughing. ‘Aye, we get into Christmas in a big way in our family. It’s the one time of year when you can go a bit crazy. Fun, isn’t it?’
