There was a cackle of laughter from my mother and sister.
“Yeah, thanks. If this carries on, I might find out what Cassie’s now up to.” I folded my arms and watched the fear accrue in both their eyes.
Cassie was my ex, my on again, off again childhood sweetheart, only it hadn’t been very sweet. Nearly three years ago we’d broken up for good and I hadn’t functioned very well for a couple of months. We’d met on our first day at university, lived in the same halls of residence, house shared in our third and second year, and although we’d never lived together, we’d never really spent much time apart, unless we were arguing or on a break.
The breaks had happened quite a lot. Then I found out that she’d been with someone else – two someone elses – while we weren’t on a break, so I’d ended it. Or she had. I couldn’t remember, mainly because there had been a lot of alcohol around in those weeks and then a lot of sleeping around straight after.
It wasn’t something I was proud of. Or wanted to repeat.
“If you bring that girl anywhere near me, I will remove her hair from her scalp.” Claire sounded more like she was promising a new cuddly toy to Eliza.
My mother just stared at me.
“I think it’s best you meet someone else.” The voice from the kitchen startled us all. “And how long am I meant to mix this dough for?”
3
Tour of a gin distillery – from Claire to Marie
Payton
Sneakinghome during the middle of the night was something I’d once been incredibly stealthy at. Those times did not include two suitcases, three bags of Christmas gifts and a six feet four fiancé who did not understand the phrase ‘be quiet’.
The choice had been to leave London late once Owen was satisfied that all of his book shops were ready for the last few days of Christmas shopping tomorrow or to hang on until the morning and potentially get stuck in holiday traffic. The former had seemed like the brightest idea, especially as neither of us liked getting out of bed early – not any more anyway.
“It’s a big house. Your mum won’t hear us.” He almost kept his voice low. Almost.
“Marie has extra sensory powers. Even when I thought I’d snuck in through my window, she still knew the exact time I got in. And she hasn’t seen us for three months, so I’m surprised she’s not camped out here waiting.” I looked around the entrance hall, my dad’s wellington boots discarded carelessly near the door. He’d taken up hen keeping of all things, and I knew from Mum that he liked to do a late-night check. What he didn’t do was put the boots away after. She thought he did it on purpose.
“It’s been three months?”
“It has. We’ve been busy.” I placed my bags down on the floor and found myself wrapped in Owen’s arms. He smelled of cologne and comfort, and a hell of a lot of want.
“Time to slow things down now. I think we should extend our stay here for another week or two. Or take a holiday somewhere warm.” His hands had slipped down to my bottom and the kiss to the top of my head told me he wasn’tthattired.
“That sounds good. I can push a couple of my files to Seph to run if I need to.” I pulled his T-shirt out of his jeans and ran my hand over his abs.
I didn’t think I’d ever get tired of Owen Anders. Before him, relationships and me hadn’t been a success story; I’d pretty much sworn off being involved with anyone, but he’d sneaked in there, being my friend first.
“It must be Christmas,” his hands travelled up to my waist, “if I can get you to agree to take time off that easily.”
I tucked the tip of a finger down the waistband of his jeans. “I think you’re right. We should slow down.” And maybe prepare ourselves for what could be a challenging year ahead.
“I thought you were getting here in the morning.”
I was past the age where I was going to spring apart from a boyfriend. If my mother didn’t want to see our public displays of affection, she needed to announce herself before entering. Clearly the extra sensory perception hadn’t been watered down.
“We decided to leave when the traffic would be non-existent. How do you do that? Know exactly when one of us comes in?”
Owen had relaxed his hands as they were getting close to being in positions that weren’t suitable for parents to see.
“You’ll learn when you have your own children.”
I saw her eye me in the dim light from the lamp she always left on.
“Seph’s here. So are Claire and Killian. Maven is too, and she’s in Seph’s usual room, so don’t be playing pranks thinking he’s in there.” She looked at the three bags of presents. “Leave them there and I’ll put them under the tree in the morning. Funnily enough, I didn’t see Joseph bring any gifts in. Wonder why that is.” Even at two in the morning Marie Callaghan’s words could combust with sarcasm.
“Anyway, it’s good to see you both. And it’s been too long, but we’ll talk about that tomorrow.” She opened her arms and took me in a big hug.
