Page 145 of The Duke Who Saved Christmas
CHAPTER THIRTY – SYLVIE
I was not, in fact, perfectly fine.
I was on the verge of my breaking point.
Not that it would come as a surprise to anyone since I’d been teetering there since I’d stepped foot in Castleton, but I really did think I was about to lose it. I’d barely slept last night, and I’d had the most horrible knot in my stomach all morning, like I was waiting for something to go wrong.
Again, not a shock, given the long string of disasters that had come hand in hand with this wedding.
Never had so many Christmas decorations fit in one car. I wondered how many it was possible to fit before it was too weighed down to move.
Hazel was going for that record, whatever it was.
Every inch of Grandpa’s Jeep was filled with the decorations for her wedding trees. It hadn’t seemed like quite as much as it was when I’d cracked open the garage and seen them in a pile, complete with a dramatic tear-stained note signed by her, but now it was in the car…
Well, it was a bit full on.
It wasn’t like I had all of them, either. Given all the drama, Emily had offered some of her extra, unused decorations—which was something, coming from a woman with sixteen trees in her house. Thomas was swinging by the venue to drop them off, and both my mother and Julian’s mum would be coming to help me finish decorating within the hour.
All while the bride lollygagged in a nearby spa getting a facial or whatever it was that she was booked in for while everyone else rushed to get the old town hall ready for her rehearsal in two days’ time.
I stifled a yawn with my hand as I turned onto the main street to reach the town hall. Christmas was always tiring, but since I usually spent it alone in Dorset, it was never quitethistiring. I had a hunch that Christmas at home would be exhausting even without Hazel’s wedding.
It didn’t escape me how I was no longer thinking of Dorset as ‘home’ either. Castleton always had been my home, and I’d been deluding myself by thinking I could spend a whole month here and not fall in love with it all over again.
Not that I had any idea what to do about it.
The thought of leaving this place with my family, friends both new and old, and… Thomas… was one that settled heavily deep in the pit of my stomach. It was nothing but an aching sadness.
One that mixed with the apprehension of leaving the life I’d built for myself.
I wasn’t sure if I could truly leave Castleton, but I also didn’t know if I could walk away from my life, either.
Not that I had the time to be thinking about this, of course. I had far too much to do and not nearly enough time in which to get it done thanks to Hazel’s fuck up, so torturing myself over a choice nobody was forcing me to make was pointless right now.
Especially before nine a.m. and on an empty stomach.
Nothing important should be decided in such painful conditions.
I took my final turn towards the town hall and was blocked by construction vehicles.
Construction vehicles.
Why was the road filled with them? Why couldn’t I get through?
The niggle of anxiety that had been tickling at me all morning burst to life until the tickle was a painful prickling of my skin from my head to my toes.
I pulled up behind the vehicles and yanked my keys from the ignition before running between two dumper trucks.
It was a mistake.
The town hall no longer had a roof.
There was a gaping hole where the slate shingles once were.
“Stop! Stooooop!” My voice ripped out of me as I shoved my way past a builder.
“Miss, you can’t—”
