Page 50 of All We Want for Christmas
‘Problems?’ she asked.
‘What?’ he said, frowning, almost angrily, before his expression changed to the wry grimace she was used to. ‘The usual. Actually, I’m glad I caught you. You know you suggested I come over after your dance class tonight?’
‘Idid,’ Lara said, with a wrinkle of her brow.
‘I’d forgotten I was meant to meet Harvey for a drink. I’ve got some presents for his kids and I promised to hand them over and I’ll be pretty late back. I’ve got a very earlystart in the morning, so I thought – um – maybe it’s a good idea for us both if we sleep in our own beds tonight?’
‘Oh,’ Lara said, taken aback. ‘I see – erm, well you can’t let down a friend. It’s fine.’ It wasn’t really fine but she wasn’t going to make a thing of it. ‘We can rearrange … I’ll just have to contain myself a while longer,’ she murmured, with a look that spoke volumes. She had thought of kissing him and not caring who saw them but didn’t dare.
He flashed her a smile in return. ‘Yeah. We can.’
‘Speak tomorrow? It’s not as if we won’t see each other around,’ she said, with a knowing eyebrow raise.
Flynn smiled back. ‘No. Yes. We certainly will,’ he said. ‘See you. Have to go. Carlos is after me and I don’t want him to think I’m skiving.’
‘No, you don’t want that …’
‘Speak soon,’ he said, and with a wave of the hand, hurried away without looking back.
Lara shivered as if a sudden cold wind had rushed down from the fells, heralding a storm to come. Then she sighed and walked back to the cottage. Flynn was busy and their relationship was barely a day old. He had a prior engagement – an unfortunate choice of words, she thought, but it described the situation well. Her life didn’t revolve around him and she was looking forward to seeing Jazz at Zumba. How she would manage not to blurt out her secret about Flynn, though, she wasn’t sure.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Flynn baulked in surprise at finding Molly outside his door with the buggy. ‘Esme too?’
‘I had to bring her. My nan – Brenda – is out with her friends and I don’t want her to know I’m here. I don’t have a babysitter. Is that OK?’
‘Of course it is. It’s great,’ he said, trying to sound warm and welcoming. ‘Um, let me help you in.’
Together, they lifted the pushchair over the low step into the cottage and Flynn returned to the doorway. While Molly unloaded Esme, he glanced to left and right, making sure no one was watching. The last place he looked was Lara’s window before he finally closed the door. The cottage was in darkness, as he’d expected. She should be at her dance class now.
After unstrapping Esme from her pushchair, Molly carried her into the sitting room ahead of Flynn. Esme stared back at Flynn like a baby owl. He wasn’t sure whether to stare back, smile, or try to make conversation with her.
‘This is cosy,’ Molly said, looking around the room with unabashed curiosity.
‘You think?’ Flynn’s palms were sweaty with nerves.
‘It’s smart. Minimal. I suppose I kind of expected it to be grander.’
He smiled. ‘Not for the staff.’
‘It still looks like a holiday let on changeover day. Too tidy to be a real home. If you know what I mean …’
‘I do,’ he said. ‘I left a lot of my stuff in mum and dad’s garage. You have to travel light on the bike and this place came fully furnished.’
Molly wrinkled her nose. ‘Not very Christmassy, though, is it?’
‘I haven’t had time and, to be honest, I’m all Christmased out after a day surrounded by illuminated reindeer and Christmas tunes on a loop.’
Molly nodded. ‘Yeah, I can understand that.’
‘Would you like to sit down?’ He grabbed a blanket. ‘Esme can use this so she can play on the floor. Does she crawl yet? I can move anything that might be dangerous, but, like you say, I don’t have much stuff.’
‘Thanks, and she can crawl a bit.’ Molly deposited Esme on the fleece blanket and sat cross-legged beside her. ‘I’ll stay down here to keep an eye on her. Would you mind fetching her bag from underneath the buggy?’
Flynn was very happy to do so, as it gave him a few extra seconds to compose himself. He marvelled at how well-organised Molly was. She unearthed a variety of toys from the bag, along with bottles, blankets and spare clothes, before repacking it. She was even more organised than Flynn was when he packed the bike.
‘How’s that, then, baba?’ she asked, handing a plastic giraffe to Esme. ‘Here’s Sophie. It’s her favourite.’
