‘Honestly, I was. I was just taking five minutes after I settled George, which seems to have turned into’ – he glanced at his watch – ‘over an hour.’
‘You must have been tired. I see you might be coming to your senses.’ Molly leant across and tapped the notepad on the counter.
Cam picked it up. ‘You were right; Grandmother isn’t getting any younger, and we can’t keep relying on her to work in the shop and take George to school. Maybe if I can recruit a hard-working apprentice, it’ll make our lives a little easier.’
‘That it will,’ she replied, leaning up and kissing him on the lips.
‘And how was the shelter?’ Cam asked.
‘All very Christmassy. Sam has worked hard all day putting up a tree and decorations and, as you can imagine on nights like this, the shelter was packed. There was no more room at the inn. All the beds were taken.’ Molly knew that wasn’t the answer Cam was looking for, though; he wanted to know had she caught up with Bree. This was the exact moment she needed to tell Cam that they had a visitor in the cottage for the night. She swallowed but before she could speak, he did.
‘I’ve eaten,’ he said, pointing to the table. ‘You’ve laid out two sets of knives and forks.’
‘I know, I’ve laid the table for two because we have a visitor for the night.’
‘Huh.’ Cam was perplexed. ‘Who?’ He looked around. ‘There’s no one here.’
Molly could feel her heart hammering against her chest. She wasn’t sure how Cam was going to react when she told him their visitor was Bree, but unfortunately that moment was taken out of her hands as they both became aware of a presence and turned to find Bree standing in the doorway.
Cam’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open. Molly exhaled. She couldn’t take her eyes off Bree. She looked so different. Her long, wavy towel-dried hair tumbled to below her waist. There were no dirty smudges on her face and her hands and fingernails were clean. Taking in the aroma surrounding her, Molly realised Bree had sprayed on a little of her perfume, which was on the windowsill in the bathroom.
‘You look lovely and very clean,’ said Molly, smiling. She didn’t dare look sideward as she could feel Cam’s eyes burning into the side of her face.
‘I didn’t know where to put the towels, so I’ve left them in the bathroom, and here are my dirty clothes. I’ve hung up my bag in the hallway too, I hope that’s okay.’ She was holding her pile of dirty clothes and hesitantly took a step forward then looked down at her feet. She stretched out her arms and handed the clothes to Molly. ‘And I hope you don’t mind, but I borrowed these from the bathroom.’
Molly heard Cam’s intake of breath. Bree was wearing his slippers.
‘It was just that my feet were cold,’ she continued, ‘and I didn’t have any clean socks.’
‘Of course we don’t mind, do we, Cam?’
Sensing more than tension brewing, Molly dared to look at him. She knew they might be heading for a full-blown row. Cam was staring at her, disbelief was written all over his face. His mouth was opening and closing like a goldfish, but no words were coming out.
‘There’s a warm drink for you on the table and if you’d like to go sit by the fire in the living room, you know the way,’ suggested Molly quickly, not wanting Bree to be a witness to the row that was about to erupt any second. ‘And I’ll dish up dinner. You must be starving.’
Bree slowly glanced between them both before picking up the mug of hot tea. As soon as the kitchen door was shut, Molly braced herself.
‘What the hell is going on here? That girl is wearing my slippers and dressed in your pyjamas.’
‘Keep your voice down, Bree will hear you.’
‘Keep my voice down?’ Cam swung a look around the kitchen. ‘The last time I looked this was my cottage. Why is she here?’
‘Just hear me out because my guess is you would do exactly the same if you were faced with the same situation as me. The shelter was full and there was nowhere else for her to go. I couldn’t leave her out on the streets – have you seen the weather right now? – and she hasn’t eaten and she’s starving.’
Cam leant against the table. ‘Molly, you can’t get involved. If you take one person off the street, what about the rest? Is our home going to become a refuge? Are we opening up another shelter here?’
‘Of course not.’
‘It’s been a long day and all I want is to be able to relax in my own living room with my family and now it’s filled with strangers.’
‘Not strangers, just one girl who is in need of a little bit of help.’
‘And why is she wearing your pyjamas and my slippers?’ His eyes were firmly fixed on her.
‘Because … because I’ve asked her to stay the night.’ Molly could feel her pulse ramp up as the words let her mouth.
Cam looked exasperated. ‘You’ve asked her to stay the night?’
