Pearl finds herself watching as he marches away through the freshly formed layer of white. ‘He’s great, isn’t he?’ Shelley remarks, catching her friend’s eye.
Pearl nods. ‘Yeah. He really is.’
‘And you two seem to be getting on well,’ Lena suggests with a smile.
Pearl chuckles, shrugging off the suggestion that there might be a spark between them. ‘He’s just a nice guy. Down to earth. A decent man…’
‘Single, right?’ Lena asks.
‘Yes, his wife left him this time last year. Took his kids over to live in France.’
‘Wow,’ Shelley murmurs.
‘So he’s not a big fan of Christmas,’ Pearl adds. ‘Not now anyway.’
‘I wonder how he feels about spending it with us?’ Lena muses as they head back indoors and start to prepare breakfast. Busying away in the kitchen, they are already working instinctively. Shelley is main cook, Pearl the sous-chef and Lena the table setter and Director-in-Chief of toast, ensuring that a steady supply is produced. And breakfast today is a reasonablyjolly affair, despite Frida declaring that ‘it’s a complete disaster’ as she reaches for Michael’s home-made plum jam. But there’s a resignedness to her tone now. And when Niall reminds her that they have everything they need here, she doesn’t disagree.
‘Most importantly, we have wine,’ Shelley announces.
‘And plenty of food,’ Niall adds. ‘We won’t have to drill holes through the ice and fish in the loch…’
‘…Or eat each other,’ Lena says with a grin.
‘But what if we eat all the food?’ Theo blurts out. ‘Will we have to kill the hens?’
‘Of course not,’ Pearl exclaims.
‘The woodshed freezer’s practically full,’ Lena assures him.
‘Oh, more hedgerow berry crumble?’ Frida groans, and Roger pats her hand as if placating a child.
‘The crumble’s excellent, darling.’
‘But a bit of variety would be nice…’
‘Well, how about we build a fire down by the loch later, and we can cook sausages?’ Niall suggests.
‘Great idea!’ Pearl enthuses.
‘But what about Christmas Day?’ Frida asks, forehead furrowed now. ‘We don’t have a turkey, do we?’
‘We’ll just have to improvise,’ Shelley says firmly.
She’s not exactly sure what she means by this, and perhaps, if this goes on for days – or even weeks – they’ll be resorting to fish fingers garnished with sweetcorn kernels after all. But it’ll be okay, she decides, trying to dampen down a flurry of nerves as she steps outside to call home.It’s not your fault,she reminds herself.You didn’t cause the snowfall.
‘Joel?’ she starts when he answers. ‘It’s not good news, I’m afraid…’ Her chest seems to tighten as she awaits his reaction.
‘You mean you’re definitely snowed in?’
‘Yep, totally. There’s no chance of getting out of here, I’m afraid. So we can’t catch that flight.’
She senses him absorbing this new information. ‘Oh, darling,’ he murmurs. ‘You poor things.’
This catches her by surprise. She hadn’t expected sympathy – even from the new Joel. ‘I do feel kind of stupid,’ she adds.
‘Don’t worry,’ he says firmly. ‘I’m gutted, of course I am. I can’t believe we’re not going to be together tomorrow. But as long as you’re all warm and safe, that’s all that matters.’
‘We are,’ she says. ‘We’ll be okay. But I’ll miss you all…’
