Blythe failed to hide a snort. ‘It’s not dry rot. It’s a few festivities to raise money for charity. All you need to do is put a few lights up.’ She remembered Murray’s elaborate display from the previous year. ‘And a sign or two, and maybe a couple of moving figures on the lawn.’
‘Moving figures?’ Abject horror was written all over his face.
‘You don’t have to buy anything. It’s all in the shed. You bought it as part of the contents.’ Blythe gave a smile but it quickly faded thanks to Sam’s rising colour. Blythe quickly went to her photos on her phone and pulled up some from the previous Christmas to show Sam. She held out her phone so he was at arm’s length. ‘Murray’s… your cottage is kind of central to the display because it faces the green, which is sort of the epicentre of the celebrations.’
It wasn’t hard to read Sam’s feelings as he stared at the pictures. She scrolled through a few but his anger levels appeared to be notching up with each swipe so she stopped.
‘I have bought a house in the middle of the village from hell. I’m going to be living in actual hell.’ He shook his head like a dog in the rain.
‘I’d encourage you to be open-minded about this, Sam. Holly Cross is a delightful place to live, it ticksallyour boxes and the fact that the locals celebrate Christmas really is a minor thing.’ She emphasisedminorby pinching her thumb and finger together.
Sam’s nostrils flared as he exhaled. ‘Not to me, it’s not.’
There was an uncomfortable silence broken only by Turpin licking his bowl so hard that it moved and scraped along the patio. Blythe hadn’t expected Sam to shrug and say ‘Great, fetch me a Santa hat. Where do I sign up?’ But she also hadn’t imagined he’d react quite this badly. He was incredibly cross and obviously upset. Which made her really want to know why he was so anti Christmas, but given his current state she wasn’t brave enough to ask.
Blythe stood up. ‘I am truly sorry. If I’d thought for a moment it would bother you this much then I would have told you.’
‘Would you?’ Sam narrowed his eyes.
Blythe thought for a second. She didn’t like to see anyone in this much turmoil, and it was even worse to know that she’d created it. She opened her mouth to reply but Sam got there first. ‘Your silence speaks volumes. Of course you wouldn’t have told me. You would have wanted your commission and that’s all that matters to people like you.’
Okay, it was fine that he was cross but now he was borderline rude. ‘People like me?’
‘Bloody estate agents. You’re all the same. Can’t be trusted.’
‘Now hang on—’
‘I’d like you to leave,’ cut in Sam, staring her down.
There was a moment where Blythe considered arguing with him but in truth she knew it was hard to defend her actions. What Sam didn’t know was that this was genuinely the first time in her whole career that she had done anything like this. She had always stuck to Ludo’s rules, been honest and open with clients, until Amir had taken up the challenge of stopping her setting the sales record. It had been the one and only time she’d bent the rules to get what she wanted and ultimately it had all been for nothing. She wished she could turn back the clock because all she had done was to let Ludo down and upset a client. Although it was likely Sam would still have bought the cottage even if he’d known about the Christmas connection – she was convinced of that, but now they’d never know.
‘Fine,’ said Blythe, snatching up Turpin’s licked-clean bowl and making the cat hop out of the way. She went to storm off but spun around. ‘If it’s any consolation, you don’t hate me as much as I hate myself right now.’
Sam held her gaze. ‘It’s not.’
10
2ndOctober
‘Shhh,’ said Vicky as she opened the door to Blythe. ‘I’ve just put Eden to bed after three stories and a record-breaking number of cuddles.’
‘Okay,’ whispered Blythe, holding aloft a bottle of wine as she went in.
‘I’ll have water if that’s okay? Wine equals calories and I might have overdosed on Norman’s cakes.’ Vicky rubbed her middle as they went through to the kitchen and she shut the door so they could speak at normal volume.
‘I think we all did.’
‘What’s the emergency wine for?’ asked Vicky, getting herself a glass of water and joining Blythe at her tiny kitchen table.
‘Sam sodding Ashton,’ said Blythe, pouring herself a glass of wine.
‘Has he turned you down?’ Vicky leaned forward, intrigued.
‘What? No.’ Blythe did a double take. ‘Blimey, Vick, did you think I’d hit on the guy when he’s just moved into the village?’
‘I may have binge-watched too muchBridgerton. Come on, tell me all about this Sam bloke. It’s been a while since we’ve had an eligible bachelor in the village,’ said Vicky.
Blythe puffed out a breath. ‘Not much to tell really. About our age. Very tall. Nice eyes. But he takes the hump easily and he’s not a cat person.’ Vicky wrinkled her nose at that. She was a big animal lover so anybody who wasn’t was never going to meet the mark in her eyes. ‘Oh, and he absolutely hates Christmas,’ added Blythe.
