Page 26 of Lie For Me

‘I like it,’ Jack lied. ‘Really pretty and colourful.’

Beside him, Lucy nodded slightly too enthusiastically in agreement. ‘Yes, it’s lovely. There’s so…. much of it.’

Ollie burst out laughing, nodded and grinned. ‘They’ve been thorough!’ Sophie smiled and hid her laughter behind Ollie’s shoulder.

‘Now don’t go thinking you can distract me,’ Sophie admonished Lucy. ‘I’m not letting you escape us until you tell us how you got together.’

Lucy opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Sophie added, ‘And don’t try to palm us off with some summary, like we realised we wanted to be more than just friends.’

She leaned forward, smiling like a Cheshire cat.

‘We want details.’

Ollie held up a hand.

‘Some details, but keep it clean.’ To Sophie, he said, ‘She’s my sister, after all.’

Jack looked at Lucy, unsure who was going to start. They’d finally agreed on their simple story about going out with friends one evening, then staying behind when everyone left. One more drink turned into three, then they’d kissed. Okay, so it wasn’t much more than the skimpy story Sophie had already dismissed, but Jack was sure they could flesh out some details. Like the name of the bar they were at. Or maybe what they were drinking. Then he mentally shrugged. Sod the boring we just had one more drink story. It was time to have some fun. Give the people what they want.

‘It was the night before Christmas,’ he began.

Sophie squealed and clapped her hands.

‘I knew it. This is going to be sooo romantic.’

8

Lucy looked at Jack sharply. Unless his next line was, and we were at a bar with friends, he had gone way off script…

Jack continued.

‘It was the last night of the Christmas Fayre at Dulcetcoombe.’

Sophie and Ollie were rapt, drawn into the story. Lucy was horrified. Where the hell was Jack going with this?

‘The house looks beautiful, all lit up from the outside,’ Jack continued. ‘There’s this Christmas craft market outside with all these local traders selling cheese and whisky and chutney and gifts, and mulled wine, of course. And when you go inside the house,’ his voice lowered, and Ollie and Sophie leaned in to follow him, ‘in the grand hall, you see the biggest Christmas tree you can imagine. A huge blue spruce rises up to the ceiling and is covered from top to bottom in twinkly lights and red and gold baubles and ribbons. And underneath the tree are all these beautiful boxes all wrapped up.’ Sophie leaned in further. ‘And there’s Father Christmas, sitting off to the side, with this queue of kids all waiting to meet him, so excited. And all up the stairs are these green wreaths with gold and red ribbon in them. And in the next room, it’s a Sugar Plum Fairy theme.’

Sophie audibly gasped and grabbed Ollie’s arm. It was Lucy’s turn to be rapt; she hadn’t realised Jack had been paying so much attention. She’d been busy that night, as she always was on Dulcetcoombe’s major events, and could only remember him moaning about how cold it was.

‘This room has a tree too, and this tree is covered in silver, pink and dark purple decorations,’ Jack said. ‘And there’s a Sugar Plum Fairy in mid-dance on the top of the tree. The table is covered in an old-fashioned Christmas feast, including sugar plum cake and sugared almonds. And there are sooo many people there.’

Lucy could remember Jack grumbling something about crowds.

‘And everyone is so happy, so excited to be there. Back outside, there are these carriage rides that people can take around the grounds, in horse-drawn carriages, to see the parklands all lit up.’

‘It sounds amazing,’ Sophie said, on a breath, clutching her glass. ‘Lucy, why have you never invited us?’

She patted Lucy’s hand in gentle remonstration and grinned at her.

‘I do. Every year,’ Lucy said. ‘I send Mum all the details, and she passes them on.’ She looked at their blank faces. ‘Doesn’t she?’

Ollie shrugged and, ever keen to pour oil on troubled waters, said, ‘Oh, you know what Mum is like. Probably forgot.’

‘Yes. Probably,’ Lucy murmured, fiddling with the stem of her glass.

Jack covered her hand with his, and she glanced up.

‘It is amazing,’ Jack said, looking at Lucy and squeezing her fingers. ‘And there, in the middle of the throng of people, was Lucy. Looking so calm and in control and serene—’

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