Page 43 of All We Want for Christmas
Lara nodded to the costume hanging off the door frame. ‘You’ll have to let me have your measurements for the coat so I can ask Tessa about the alterations.’
‘Thanks. I am very grateful for your help, even if I didn’t sound it earlier. If the coat’s an issue, I’ll just wear the rest of the outfit as it is.’
They were chatting about the work involved in organising the ball and the traditions behind it when Flynn had a message from his mum.
He glanced at it briefly, smiled, and put his phone down again.
‘Something nice?’ Lara asked.
‘It was Mum. She messages me regularly, usually with some spurious question or reason. I know why. She’s always worried that I’ve come off the bike.’
Lara smiled. ‘Were your mum and dad disappointed that you decided to move up here?’
‘A bit. I used to see them every couple of weeks. They moved to Falmouth after they sold their hotel a couple of years ago. Mum was pretty cut up, to be honest, although my dad had pointed out that Cumbria was probably safer than Mongolia. I pointed out that it wouldn’t have been on my South Asian itinerary without quite a detour.’
‘Will you get to Cornwall for Christmas?’
‘No, it’s too far. I promised to go back in the New Year and I’ve asked them to come north in the spring. I was going to ask you about Christmas. I heard a rumour that there’s some communal Christmas dinner here for the staff.’
Lara nodded. ‘There is. I went last year and, with the Spectacular and all the events this time, I also don’t think I can go home, even if my parents weren’t going away.’
‘So will you go to it? Is it compulsory?’
She laughed. ‘No, it’s not compulsory and, yes, I will go. I should, as castle manager.’
Damn, thought Flynn. Bang went his fantasy of a cosy Christmas Day curled up by the fire with Lara.
‘What about you?’ she asked.
‘I do have an invitation from Harvey’s family, but I don’t want to let that side down either.’
‘Don’t feel obliged,’ she said, adding earnestly, ‘I mean it. You’re new. You don’t have to spend your Christmas Day with a bunch of relative strangers.’
‘I don’t consider you a stranger,’ Flynn said, realising that Lara’s presence was the only thing that made thiscommunal dinner attractive in any way. ‘Is it in the servant’s hall?’ he asked, topping up Lara’s glass and his own.
She burst out laughing. ‘Why do you think that?’
‘I dunno. Just something I’d imagined.’ Or assumed, he thought, without any evidence. He still had a lot to learn about Ravendale. About Lara. About himself.
‘The castle doesn’t have a servants’ hall these days. The lunch is held in the Castle Café. Everyone mucks in and Henry and Fiona keep well away, apart from paying for it. It’s actually quite fun, and if last year is anything to go by, everyone gets pretty merry.’
Flynn nodded. ‘I think I ought to go to this Christmas lunch.’
‘I’ll add you to the list then,’ she said. ‘Who knows, you might even enjoy it.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Two hours later, the bottle of wine was empty and Lara was curled up on Flynn’s sofa, stifling her giggles while listening to anecdotes about his theme-park days.
‘You’re not serious,’ she said. ‘They didn’t really try to have sex on a Waltzer?’
‘They did. It was after we’d closed and they’d sneaked into the vintage fair. Apparently it had always been a fantasy for the woman and her boyfriend was keen to oblige.’
‘And you actually caught them?’ Lara asked, tears of laughter in her eyes. ‘In the actual Waltzer?’
‘Well, we knew they were there, so I suggested turning the ride on to … alert them, shall we say … and so all the lights started flashing and the organ stated playing.’
Lara let out a squeal of mirth. ‘The organ?’
