Page 49 of The Christmas Star

Theo dug his feet into the branch he stood on and leant against the trunk to centre himself. ‘Ready?’ he asked.

‘Not in the slightest,’ I replied. My hands shook as I let go of the trunk and step by step followed Theo’s instructions.

‘You’re doing great,’ he said as I struggled to manoeuvre my leg over the branch.

‘You’ve got this,’ he said, when whimpering I twisted my torso away from him.

He placed his hands against my hips when, with my whole body shaking, I lowered myself down onto my tummy.

‘Just a bit further,’ he said, as I used what little strength I had left in my arms to ease myself lower still.

Finally, I felt my feet touch the bough. I let out a nervous laugh in celebration. ‘And Rory and Callum think I can’t work as a team.’

Theo looked at me confused.

‘Ignore me. I ramble when I’m nervous.’ I gathered myself for the next leg of our descent.

Keeping one branch ahead of me, Theo’s tone was patient and kind as, step by step, he guided me.

It took a lot longer to get down than it had to get up. I’d never been more grateful to, at last, stand on terra firma. ‘Thank you,’ I said, my voice quivering as much as my being.

The French driver clapped and cheered. ‘Bravo! Bravo!’ he said, but I felt too shaken and stupid to appreciate his applause.

Theo dug into his pocket and smiling, handed me back my phone.

Accepting, I stared at it. Mum’s face was still on the screen and suddenly overwhelmed by a mix of embarrassment and relief and gratitude, my throat thickened and I burst into tears.

‘Come here.’ Theo’s expression softened and pulling me close, he wrapped his arms tight around me.

‘I’m sorry,’ I replied through my sobs. As I continued to cry into his chest, I felt him kiss the top of my head.

CHAPTER 33

I sat in the car waiting for Theo to finish his conversation with the French driver. Failing to understand a word, I dreaded to think what they were saying, although hearing them laugh, I hazarded a guess their amusement was at my expense. Not that I could blame them. I had just made a fool of myself.

Dressed in black jeans and a black thigh-length woollen coat, the Frenchman looked to be in his mid-fifties. Confident and suave, he had dark hair, cut short at the sides, while the top had been left slightly longer. Although still quite tall, he was shorter than Theo and watching their easy interaction, it was hard to believe they’d only just met.

I turned my attention to inside the car and flipping down the sun visor above my head, stared at my reflection in its little mirror. My eyes were red and puffy from crying and my lips purple from the cold; I wasn’t surprised to see I looked as bad as I felt. Worse still, I couldn’t believe I’d embarrassed myself by booing into Theo’s chest.

There’s nothing wrong with being vulnerable, my inner voice said.

‘And you can shut up,’ I replied. I pulled a leaf out of my tangled hair and flicked the visor back up where it belonged.

I rubbed my hands, which were scratched and sore, and tried to get the dirt from under my fingernails. Noticing muck from brushing against tree bark and moss on my jeans, I attempted to clean that off too – but the brown and green stain refused to disappear. I sighed, wanting nothing more than a long hot bath. But I doubted I’d get one and willing Theo to hurry up, questioned if we even had a bed that night.

I turned my attention to my phone and absent-mindedly brought up Mum’s TikTok account.

‘Bonjour à tous,’ Maeve said with Jackson sat next to her. ‘Comment allez-vous? Today is the 23rd of December.’

I frowned as the video continued to play without a single buffer. ‘You’re kidding me,’ I said and, picturing myself stuck up a tree for what turned out to be no reason, I mimicked the two big smiles coming back at me. At least someone’s having fun.

‘Before we talk about what we’ve been up to…’ Maeve continued. ‘…we want to say a big thank you, don’t we, Jackson?’

Clearly a lad of few words, he nodded. ‘Yes. Thanks, everyone.’

‘We never dreamed so many people would be interested in our little trip. Did we, Jackson?’

He shook his head. ‘No. We didn’t.’