Page 11 of A Cornish Winter's Kiss

‘And you know you love me as much as I love you, which is why I’m going to lobby as hard as I can for Scarlett Johansson to play you in the miniseries.’

‘As long as they cast Miriam Margolyes in your role, my ghost will be very happy!’ Emily was still laughing to herself when she ended the call and said her goodbyes to Jasmine as she reached the Tube station. She might not really have any concerns aboutJude doing away with her, but she was still nervous about meeting up with him. And like anything that scared her, the sooner she got it over and done with the better.

Emerging from the Tube station at Covent Garden less than twenty minutes later, Emily scanned the crowd. She’d arranged to meet Jude outside the market hall, where the Christmas decorations had gone up just the day before, and now throngs of people were desperately trying to get photographs of themselves, without hordes of strangers making guest appearances on the edge of their shots. It didn’t take long to spot him; he was wearing a dark blue woollen coat and grey jumper, and even among the crowds he stood out. There was no way he could get away with murder; he was far too good-looking to go unnoticed. When he turned towards her, catching her eye, the nerves that had been bubbling up inside her turned into full-blown somersaults.

‘Thanks for coming. Shall we get a coffee?’ There was no effusiveness in his greeting, no mention of how nice it was to see her. Most people exchanged those kinds of pleasantries, even if it was just a business meeting. But Emily had a feeling Jude wasn’t the sort of person who did anything just for the sake of it.

‘Coffee sounds good, any preference about where?’

‘As long as it hasn’t got a cinnamon stick or a candy cane poking out of the top of it, I don’t care.’ The expression on Jude’s face could have given the Grinch a run for his money.

‘I take it you’re not a massive fan of Christmas.’

‘It’s one day, which now feels like it lasts at least two months, and that’s not just because of how slowly time passes when you’re cooped up with your relatives. Although to be fair, if Ihave to celebrate Christmas, I’ve always preferred doing it in the run-up that doesn’t involve them.’

‘Oh.’ It was the only response Emily could come up with. There was clearly a lot to unpack from Jude’s words, but launching straight in with questions about his personal life almost certainly wasn’t the way to go. She wasn’t about to admit that she adored Christmas, and that as far as she was concerned it could last six months and she’d still love every moment.

‘Right, let’s go and get that coffee, shall we? And work out how we’re going to do this.’ As Jude looked at her again, Emily dropped her gaze towards the floor. There was an intensity in his blue eyes that was unsettling.

‘Sounds good.’ He didn’t say anything else, and she followed his lead away from the bustling centre of Covent Garden to a quieter side street, where they found a coffee shop that wasn’t spilling over with tourists. Jude insisted on paying for the coffees, and she didn’t put up an argument. She was trying to act as if she understood his willingness to pay her to advise him on his book, and that she was confident of the value of her contributions. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to help, she just wasn’t sure she could. A few glasses of champagne had left her feeling far more confident when they’d first discussed the idea, but now she was sitting face to face with him, she had no idea where to start. Despite what he’d said about wanting the story to be told in his way and not anyone else’s, she still thought he’d have been better off asking for input from someone like Sophia, or any number of authors who knew far more about writing love stories than she ever would. She felt like a massive fraud who was just seconds away from getting found out, but she couldn’t stand the silence that was still hanging between them, thirty seconds after he’d set down the coffees, so she decided to make a start.

‘I take it there’ll be no mention of Christmas in the novel you’re writing, given how much you dislike it?’ There was a thick red candle flickering in a glass between them, giving off the scent of cinnamon and orange, and the coffee shop had silver snowflakes hanging in its windows. It might have only been the thirteenth of November, but Christmas was all around whether Jude liked it or not.

‘The book spans November to February. It’s a metaphor for the fact that DCI McGuigan, the lead character, is going through the darkest time in his life.’ The expression on Jude’s face suggested he knew what that felt like. ‘There are a series of grisly murders, with a link to his past. One of which happens on Christmas Day.’

‘Sounds festive.’ Emily couldn’t help laughing, but Jude didn’t join in.

‘It’s not supposed to be festive, it’s supposed to show that all the bright lights and decorations are just an illusion; a pretence that Christmas is somehow a special time of year when everything is wonderful. The truth is terrible things can happen at Christmas, just like any other time. The problem is, according to my editor, the DCI McGuigan series is becoming unrelentingly dark, and that’s turning readers off.’

‘So you need some light and shade?’ Emily furrowed her brow as he nodded. ‘I think Christmas could provide that perfectly. After all, what’s more of a contrast to the darkness than all the light it brings?’

‘Oh God, you really do love Christmas, don’t you?’ He pulled a face. ‘I just can’t see how all of that forced jollity can fit in one of my novels.’

‘I take it there’s a lot of blood and gore in your stories?’ Emily paused as he nodded. ‘Okay, well if you don’t want to focus on the jolly side of Christmas, maybe it would help if you thought about the origin of some of the traditions.’

‘Such as?’

‘The Roman invaders were the first to have Christmas trees, and they certainly didn’t shy away from a bit of blood and gore. They had candlelit trees to welcome the end of winter, bringing in the light after months of darkness. Even if they’d spent months in bloody battles as they fought to seize control, they still needed hope that there were better times ahead. If your editor thinks you need some of that hopefulness in your story, then giving your hero a family Christmas that contrasts with the terrible things he sees in his job could make him feel much more relatable.’

‘McGuigan is a flawed protagonist, not a hero.’ Jude didn’t actually roll his eyes, but the implication was in his words. ‘And they’re not the sort of stories where people have Christmas celebrations straight out of a Disney movie.’

‘But if McGuigan did experience something lighter, it could make the point really effectively that no matter how much the rest of the world is celebrating, terrible things can still happen. It doesn’t have to be a Disney Christmas, as you put it. You can just show that your hero – sorry,protagonist– has more than one side to his personality. The fact that he’s capable of enjoying life and seeing good in the world makes the murders all the more harrowing for him. It will increase his motivation to solve them and it will make readers like him more.’

‘So you want me to have him fall in love and celebrate Christmas?’ Jude was looking at her as if she’d suggested that he give DCI McGuigan a tail.

‘Why not? You could link the two things. If he’s falling in love, then maybe he’s spending it in a different way than he would have done before, with this new person in his life. Maybe that makes him more willing to see the joy of Christmas, rather than viewing it as… what was it you said? One day that goes on for about two months too long?’

‘We’re not talking about me; we’re talking about Cole McGuigan.’ For a moment Jude almost looked as if he was about to smile, but then he shook his head. ‘God, it pains me even to say this out loud, but McGuigan falling in love and Christmas? I just don’t see them going hand in hand and it still being the kind of book I want to write. It’ll feel like I’m selling out and losing all my integrity by suddenly writing McGuigan the kind of happy ever after I just don’t think he’d ever get. If someone was going to get past the wall he’s built up around himself, it wouldn’t be with mistletoe and mulled wine in Winter bloody Wonderland.’

‘Who said anything about Winter Wonderland?’ Emily couldn’t help smiling. There was one part of Christmas in London she could admit to hating and Jude had zeroed in on it. ‘I still think Christmas is the perfect time to write about love, but it can be a great way to relive the magic from when you were a kid too. Why not reintroduce McGuigan to an old flame, someone he can share the memories of past Christmases with, before his career made him so jaded? You said the murders were linked to his past, didn’t you? Why not link the love story to his past too. That way those moments of light your editor wants can be intertwined with the rest of the story, and you won’t feel like you’re selling out.’

Jude looked at her without saying anything for what felt like forever. She’d been about to apologise and tell him that he should just ignore her, as he clearly thought the idea was stupid, but then he suddenly smiled in a way that changed his whole face. ‘You’re a genius.’

‘I wouldn’t go that far, but?—’

He cut her off before she could make any more self-depreciating comments, looking more animated than she’d ever seen him before. ‘No, that’s it. I’ve been trying to think of a way of not making his relationship feel as if it’d been shoe-horned in there because I’ve been forced to write it, which is exactlywhat has happened. I was trying to find a way of him building a relationship with a pathologist he works alongside, but it just felt so false. Doing it your way, his relationship can actually raise the stakes when it comes to solving the crime. As McGuigan realises the murders have a link to his past, and in turn to his rekindled relationship with a former girlfriend, his angst about the risk of getting close to someone can deepen too. Especially if he has to consider compromising himself professionally to protect her. It’s brilliant, although I’m still not sure about the tie in with Christmas.’

‘There’s nothing more romantic than spending Christmas with the person you love. It’s why there are people out there already.’ Emily gestured towards the window. ‘Hunting around to find the perfect gift for the person they’ll wake up with on Christmas Day.’

---