Page 61 of I’ll Be Home for Christmas

Chrissie nodded, her vision blurry with unshed tears, although she could still manage to see the clock: 1 a.m. ‘I should go and let you sleep. Jonathan probably wants to go to bed too – he was still up and about when I warmed the soup.’

Meg smiled. ‘I’ll see you again tomorrow?’

‘Yes.’ It was a single word but a word that meant everything to them both.

‘Are you and Jonathan…?’ But her words trailed off. ‘Sorry, shouldn’t be asking.’ She went to put on her coat ready to leave, but Meg patted the top of the duvet and she sat back down.

‘You can ask. But only if I can ask you if you’ve ever met any other men.’

When Chrissie smiled, Meg gasped.

‘You have met someone!’

‘No! Well… yes, kind of.’

‘I’m going to need more than that.’

And by the time Chrissie left almost an hour later it felt like they’d made a start. The past hadn’t been pretty, but what had happened wasn’t something she wanted to let rule her life any longer.

It was time to move forwards.

21

SARAH

Sarah had slept in, but her mum’s bedroom door was shut long after she got up. When she went downstairs, Grumps told her that Chrissie had been with Meg until the early hours.

‘That’s a good sign.’ Sarah had never wanted to say much to her grandparents about their daughters’ falling out, but if the sisters had been together and Grumps hadn’t reported a drama, it had to be a good thing, didn’t it?

Grumps put his arm around Sarah’s shoulders. ‘It is definitely a good sign. Now, breakfast? Your nanna has made French toast. She started beating those eggs as soon as she heard you stirring.’ He steered her over to the table and sure enough Nanna appeared with a big oval plate of French toast. In the middle of the table was a selection of fruit – strawberries, blueberries and raspberries – and a little jug filled with maple syrup.

‘I’m eating like a princess. Tell me you guys didn’t wait for me?’

Grumps laughed. ‘I had a bowl of porridge with your nanna, but that was early. It’s closer to lunchtime now than breakfast. You’ve slept most of the morning away. Jonathan did the paths though, told me not to wake you.’

‘Did he say how Meg is this morning?’

‘He says she’s fine, still sleeping.’

Sarah tucked into the fluffy golden pieces of French toast, and just as Grumps was about to make them all a coffee there was a knock at the door. He changed direction and instead of going to the kitchen went down the hallway.

‘I’ll do the washing up,’ Sarah told Nanna, but before she could pick up the plates a figure appeared alongside Grumps in the hallway.

‘Well, don’t just sit there,’ Nanna whispered as Sarah stood staring at the visitor in shock.

She ran into Rhys’s arms. ‘I can’t believe you’re here!’

‘I’m here,’ he whispered into her hair. ‘You were so upset and worried when Meg was missing that I couldn’t stay away. I want Christmas with you, Sarah. I want every day with you, but I don’t care how. So here I am. In Switzerland.’ His smile made those familiar dimples appear.

She turned to her grandparents. ‘Grumps, Nanna, this is Rhys.’

‘I gathered that,’ Nanna laughed.

‘It’s good to finally meet you.’ Grumps held out a hand for her fiancé to shake, and she kept her hand on Rhys’s free arm as if she was afraid to let him go.

Nanna shook his hand too. ‘Welcome to Winterbruck.’

‘It’s good to be here.’ But awkwardly he added, ‘I hope it’s okay that I turned up.’