‘Hang on two minutes – I need to change first. It feels like I’ve wet myself.’ She left a soggy trail back upstairs.
A few minutes later she was changed into her jeans and plodding down the stairs again. Zach was in the hall, tying new rope onto an old sledge. ‘How much snow is there?’ She sent up a silent prayer. Lottie had only seen out the front of the house; perhaps the snow wasn’t that bad everywhere else.
‘Enough to go sledging and make a snowman!’
Lottie rolled her eyes – Zach was incorrigible. ‘No sledging before breakfast.’ She gave him a shove in the direction of the kitchen.
The two of them were the only ones up, and her mind raced back to her conversation with Emily. She had read and reread her card from Nana before she’d fallen asleep. Everything and everyone was encouraging her to come clean. Reveal the secret she’d been keeping all these years. She watched Zach happily checking cupboards. Now was probably a good opportunity; trouble was, she wasn’t quite brave enough.
She switched on the kitchen radio and listened as a multitude of road closures and weather warnings were announced. She took stock, thinking back to yesterday. She’d used up most of the leftovers; everyone had hoovered them up like starving locusts. There was ham, and she knew she had some cream crackers left over, along with some eggs and lots of sprouts. She didn’t much like the thought of what she could make with that. Instead, she looked at Zach, who was humming ‘White Christmas’ with his head in the larder. ‘You’ve got loads of tins of tomatoes.’ He popped his head out. ‘Have you got any pasta?’
‘Glass jar on the floor,’ said Lottie, pulling out a chair and flopping down.
‘Oh, brilliant there’s loads. We could do pasta bake for dinner.’
‘Not very exciting.’ Lottie wrinkled her nose.
‘What’s the bread situation like?’ he asked, and by opening the empty bread bin he answered his own question. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve got any strong flour and yeast by any chance?’
‘Who are you, Mary Berry?’ Lottie scratched her head. Nana used to make her own bread, although she hadn’t done it recently. ‘There’s probably some somewhere.’ She knew she sounded uninterested. She’d worked her Darth Vader socks off over the last few days, and she’d had enough. She’d done what she’d set out to do – she’d completed Nana’s last wish and they’d had their last family Christmas at Henbourne Manor – and she’d been secretly looking forward to them all going home. She wanted to get to the stage where there was enough distance from the event that she could begin to remember it through rose-tinted spectacles. This definitely hadn’t been the perfect last Collins family Christmas she had wanted – not even close. Bernard had had a heart spasm. Emily thought she might be pregnant, Scott was a porn star and her mother had been outed as a pretend vegan. Uncle Daniel had a secret lovechild, and there was still no sign of Dave delivering the engagement ring Zach had hidden in the Christmas tree. And the biggest shock of all, for her, was Joe turning up after nine years of living in America, closely followed by his Meghan Markle lookalike girlfriend. Lottie slumped her upper body onto the kitchen table. It was a mess. The Collins family was a mess.
Zach came back into the kitchen with armfuls of stuff. A puff of flour burst into the air as he dumped it all on the table. ‘How about we make some bread?’ He was clearly channelling his inner Paul Hollywood.
Lottie mumbled half-heartedly, ‘They’ll want breakfast first.’
Zach opened the fridge. ‘Scrambled eggs?’ He was far brighter than was necessary in the situation.
‘Vegans,’ said Lottie, making the word sound like she was swearing.
‘Porridge with almond milk for them,’ he said, shoving his head back in the larder. ‘I’ll even pop some raisins in it. I think we’ll be okay for today. Let’s hope the village stores opens up despite the snow, so we can get supplies for the next few days.’
Lottie shot bolt upright. ‘Few days?’ Lottie almost screeched. ‘They’re all leaving tomorrow if I have to dig a way out of the village with my bare hands.’
‘I thought this was what you wanted? Everyone together.’ He looked genuinely perplexed by her reaction.
‘Not indefinitely. Just for Christmas. I’ve got things I need to sort out.’
‘Like?’ he asked as he rifled through Nana’s cookbooks.
‘My life.’ Zach gave a sideways glance. ‘I’m not being dramatic. I’m being factual. This place is sold. Assuming that all goes through smoothly, I will have nowhere to live in a matter of weeks. Someone has got to clear this place out and in case you hadn’t noticed it’s a bloody huge house. I also need to make a decision on what I’m going to do career-wise, and either return to the rat race or get booked onto a course.’ She felt her shoulders sag. That was a mighty big list to do all on her own – especially without Nana in the background cheering her on.
Zach paused in the middle of weighing the flour. ‘Can I help?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know.’ She slumped back onto the table.
‘I will help you, Lottie. But first, I’m making a bread masterpiece.’
She watched him for a moment. ‘Why are you so ridiculously upbeat today?’
He lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘Because with any luck, Dave is going to poop out a ring.’ He looked truly joyful at the prospect.
‘Eurgh,’ said Lottie.
‘And that means I can finally propose to Emily.’
‘And what wondrous way of proposing have you conjured up now?’ she asked.
Zach’s shoulders dropped and his happy bubble popped. ‘I have no idea.’
