Page 45 of A Scottish Christmas Hideaway
She blew Lexi a kiss and then pulled the door closed behind her and trudged back up to Thistle Cottage. Slumping on the sofa, she sent Reuben a message.
Hey Reuben, how are you? Murray and fam have arrived and are asking after you. We would love to see you.
She chewed her lip for a minute and deleted the last line and instead added,It would be great to see you.JThen she pressed send.
He didn’t respond immediately and Jessica went through to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. It was definitely the cosiest room in the house. She loved the way her mum always decorated it with festive lights, which she hung around the windowsill, also making sure she had festive tea towels and oven gloves slung over the oven door. Her phone buzzed. She walked over to the table and picked it up.
Glad they’ve arrived. Tell Murray I’ll be in touch.
That was it. Short and perfunctory. No, how are they? Or how are you? They were nothing like his previous messages and she wondered why he was being so cold. Especially as he had apparently been all set to drop by and see her at the inn yesterday. It just fuelled her suspicions that she had done something to upset him. She tried to think about her phone conversation again and what he might have overheard. Or could it be that he was embarrassed to see her now that Murray was home? After everything that had happened the last few days, things now felt a bit strange. Jessica still liked him. That hadn’t changed. But she was confused and now wondering whether he regretted it. Shaking her head, she decided she had to stop thinking about it. She couldn’t control what he did or thoughtand the last thing she needed at the moment was any extra hassle. She was meant to be at home to escape.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The next afternoon, Jessica was sitting on the floor playing cars with Lexi. Catriona had dug out the old play rug, complete with printed roads and roundabouts, that she and Murray played with as kids.
‘You’ve still got it, Mum?’ said Murray in delight as Catriona unrolled it on the lounge floor at Primrose Cottage.
‘I thought it might come in handy one of these days,’ she said, setting down a plastic box of cars beside it.
‘Come on, Lexi, let’s play cars,’ said Jessica in delight. She helped Lexi prise the lid off the box and Lexi pulled out a small blue car and an orange van. Lexi had been very shy with Jessica until now and she hoped that this would help them to bond.
‘Okay,’ she said, dipping her hand in and pulling out a motorbike and a small sports car. ‘Where are we driving to, Lexi?’
‘Hmm. Beach.’
‘Okay, let’s go to the beach.’ There was no beach on the mat but Jessica quickly improvised and pulled off her yellow scarf and crumpled it up at the end of the mat. ‘That’s the sand, okay?’
Lexi giggled. ‘Otay.’
Catriona disappeared into the kitchen to check again that they had enough supplies — despite them having enough to last them until Easter — and Jessica and Lexi became absorbed in the game. They were so engrossed that they didn’t notice Murray stepping past them to open the front door.
‘Hey, stranger,’ he said.
Jessica looked up and blinked. She hadn’t even heard a knock at the door and was surprised to see Reuben walk in, looking as gorgeous as ever. She was really trying not to look at him in that way, but it was extremely difficult when he looked the way he did.
‘Hey, Muz,’ he said grabbing Murray for a hug.
Jessica smiled at the sight of them being reunited. ‘It’s like a proper bromance,’ she said sarcastically.
‘Hi, Jessica,’ he said crisply, before looking away.
Ouch. What was with his tone? He definitely was being offhand and weird, and she felt slightly hurt. ‘Hi, Reuben.’ She could play it cool too. Lexi climbed on her lap and snuggled in and Jessica put her arms around her protectively.
‘Hello, Lexi,’ said Reuben, crouching down. ‘I’m your daddy’s friend, Reuben.’
Lexi, clearly overwhelmed with shyness, shoved her thumb in her mouth and buried her head in Jessica’s shoulder. At that moment, she felt a wave of utter love for her little niece. She glanced up at Reuben, who looked at her briefly. But she could see confusion and hurt in his eyes. Then he stood up.
Murray grinned. ‘It’s so good to see you, mate. Carolyn is having a nap. The jet lag has caught up with her. She’ll be down soon, though. You know Jess, obviously. And Mum is in the kitchen. She’ll be through in a second, I’m sure, to take your tea order.’
Reuben laughed. Just at that moment, Catriona stuck her head around the door. ‘Oh, Reuben, I’m glad you’re here. We missed you yesterday. Great timing. I’m just boiling the kettle.’
‘Thanks,’ he said and took a seat on the sofa.
While he and Murray chatted, Lexi climbed back onto the floor and started playing with the cars again. Jessica followed her lead as she went to and from the pretend beach making ‘beep beep’ and ‘toot toot’ noises. Then she stood up and tugged at her trousers. ‘Daddy.’
Murray jumped up. ‘Do you need to go to the loo?’
She nodded.
