Carole Singer's Christmas (6 page)

‘No, Carole! I mean it. I’m sure you meant well and I know you thought you were acting in my best interest but believe me, you could not have made a bigger mistake if you’d tried. You must apologise. Right now!’

CHAPTER FIVE

Carole trudged along the pavement, feeling very sorry for herself and more than a little foolish as the village clock struck seven on a cold, grey and overcast morning.

So much for a perfect sunny day, she thought, hugging her coat more tightly around her and burying her chin in the folds of the upturned collar.  How she wished she had worn a scarf and gloves.

She wondered exactly how one apologises to a man for accusing him of beating up a little old lady when he was in fact, being more of a knight in shining armour. Damn the man! But he’d got the weather forecast wrong so at least he wasn’t perfect, although to be fair, he had said he’d heard that on the radio.

‘Oh! I’m so sorry,’ she said, bumping into someone as she rounded a corner. ‘I wasn’t looking where I was ... Sebastian! Oh my God! Sebastian. It’s ... it’s you!’

Sebastian looked as shocked as Carole felt.

‘Hello Carole,’ he said, staring at her as if she were a mirage. He leant forward to kiss her on the cheek but missed and planted a kiss just behind her ear in her thick, wavy hair.

‘Sebastian,’ she said again, unable to say anything else.

‘You haven’t changed a bit,’ he remarked as his bright blue eyes scanned all five feet four inches of her. ‘What ... what are you doing in Jutsdown? Visiting Grandma Mitsy I guess. Did she tell you I was back? We bumped into one another the other day, just a day or so after I got home. I’m rambling, aren’t I? It’s just so lovely to see you.’

Carole gave her head a quick shake. ‘Sorry, I’m not quite with it this morning. Um, yes I’m visiting Gran and yes, she did briefly mention that you were back but that’s not why I’m here. I mean ... that is ... Gran’s broken her leg and I’ve come to stay ... to look after her.’

‘Really? When did that happen? She was fine when I saw her.’

‘Yes. It happened on Tuesday apparently but I didn’t hear about it until yesterday. And even then not from Gran. I came down last night and ... now I’m the one who’s rambling.’

They stared at one another in silence for several seconds as if they were both studying a work of art and trying to read the hidden meaning behind the brushstrokes.

‘I’m staying with my parents,’ he said, ‘and back, working at Dad’s estate agency.’

‘So Josie told me,’ she replied.

He nodded. ‘The village drums still work then?’

‘Not as loudly as they used to but yes, they still work.’

Another momentary silence.

‘You really do look wonderful, Carole.’

‘So do you, Sebastian.’

‘I ... I’ve often thought about you,’ he said. ‘Wondered how different my life would be if ... well you know.’

She nodded. ‘Me too.’

‘I made a big mistake.’

‘Did you?’ she said, silently praying that her voice didn’t sound as eager as her heart felt.

‘Yes.’

‘Oh.’

‘I ... I’m getting a divorce.’ He stepped a little closer to her.

She swallowed and blinked several times. ‘I heard.’

‘Josie?’ he asked.

‘Gran,’ she replied.

‘Ah, I don’t think she’s forgiven me yet.’

‘No, I don’t think she has.’

Another step closer. ‘Have you, Carole? Can you?’

‘I ... I don’t know. I ...’ Carole looked deep into his eyes, and saw the old Sebastian.

‘I’ve never stopped loving you, Carole. Some part of me stayed here when I got on that plane. The best part, I think. I’ve come back to see if I can find it.’

‘Oh.’ Her voice sounded strangled even to her and alarm bells were ringing in her ears. She realised it was her mobile and it was as if someone had poured cold water on a spark just as it was bursting into flame. ‘Sorry,’ she said, grabbing her phone from her bag and seeing Dominic’s smiling face looking accusingly up at her on the screen. She had to save herself. ‘It ... it’s my fiancé,’ she lied and she watched the colour drain from Sebastian’s handsome face.

‘Oh! I ...’ he seemed lost for words now.

Carole smiled apologetically and answered the call. ‘Hi Dom,’ she said trying to sound relaxed but feeling far from it.

‘Hi babe, how’s things? I thought you might have called me to let me know you arrived safely.’

‘Oh! Sorry dar ... Dom. It was an awful drive and I was so tired when I got here. I was going to call you later but ... I’m running an errand for Gran and I’ve lost track of time. Are ... are you on your way to work?’ She stole a look at Sebastian from the corner of her eyes and thought that he was looking rather impatient.

‘Yes. I’ve got meetings all day so I won’t get a chance to talk to you until late tonight. Is it okay if I call around eleven? Will you still be up?’

‘What? Er ... yes. Yes, that’s fine.’

‘Okay, I’ll speak to you later. I ... I missed you in bed last night.’

‘Really? I mean, yes, me too. Have a good day. I’ll talk to you later.’

‘Oh! Okay. You’re clearly busy. Catch you later, hun. Love you.’

‘Mmm. Same here. Bye.’

She pressed the end call button and raised guilt-ridden eyes to Sebastian’s piercingly cynical, blue ones.

‘Forgive me,’ he said, ‘and it may be none of my business, but it doesn’t sound like
True Love
on your part. Our conversations were never that brief and we lived a five-minute walk from one another.’

Carole bit her lower lip and squared her shoulders. She felt a need to champion Dominic and oddly enough, to put Sebastian in his place. She hadn’t seen him for ten years and yet in a matter of seconds, he’d managed to reignite feelings in her that she had thought were firmly under control.

‘Our conversations may not have been brief, but your notes certainly were.’

She saw him flinch and felt a tiny pang of regret.

‘Ouch!’ he said. ‘Well, I suppose I did deserve that. I’m really, truly one hundred and fifty per cent sorry for the pain I must have caused you, Carole. I ... I still don’t know why I did what I did. I can only apologise ... and hope that you’ll let me make it up to you.’

‘It’s fine, Seb,’ she lied. ‘It was a long time ago and whilst I will admit that I was devastated, completely, thoroughly and utterly, I’m over it now and I don’t bear you any ill will.’

His eyes seemed to bore into her and she clung to her phone like a talisman warding off evil.

‘I’m not sure that’s what I was hoping to hear,’ he said, his eyes affirming the sadness in his voice. ‘I think I was hoping ... well ... it doesn’t matter what I was hoping, does it? You’re engaged and I’m clearly too late. Aren’t I?’

She couldn’t help but notice the inflection of doubt at the end of that sentence and her heart jumped on the opportunity.

‘Well, when I said that I’m engaged, that isn’t strictly true. What I meant to say is that I’m practically engaged. Dominic is going to ask me to marry him any day now and ...’ Her voice trailed off as she realised just how foolish her words sounded.

A beacon of hope lit up his eyes. ‘So ... it may not be too late then? For me, I mean. For ... us.’

‘Hello Carole! How lovely to see you again.’

Neither she nor Sebastian had heard his father approach them from the car park across the road.

‘Are you staying with Mitsy for a few days?’ he continued, clearly oblivious to the situation he’d stepped into. ‘I hear she’s had an accident and broken her leg. Do give me a shout if there’s anything I can do, won’t you? You two catching up on old times, are you?’

Carole smiled sheepishly. ‘Um ... hello Mr Jarvis. It’s good to see you too. Yes, I’ll be staying with Gran for several weeks I should think. She needs someone to look after her.’

‘Yes, she’s not getting any younger. I was surprised to see her working at the garden centre to be honest but she seems to love it there and Nick’s a fine lad. He usually takes good care of her. He must have been mortified when she fell off that ladder although why she was climbing a ladder I’ll never know but you know Mitsy, never one to ask someone to do something if she thinks she can do it herself.’

‘Yes, that’s true. Gran’s always ... wait a minute! Did you say she’s been working? At the garden centre? And climbing ladders!’

‘Yes, I thought you ... oh, she didn’t tell you. Well, that’s Mitsy for you. Must get on. Do pop round for coffee some time. Penelope would love to see you.’

Carole was too stunned to reply.

‘So Grandma Mitsy’s got a toy boy then?’ Sebastian said after his father had walked on. ‘I haven’t met this Nick guy yet but everyone seems to think he’s the best thing since sliced bread. He’s only in his mid-thirties though, from what I hear. Is he after her money, do you think?’

‘What? Sorry, Sebastian, I have to go.’

‘Oh … okay. May I call you?’

‘Yes. Yes, any time.’

‘I’ll be in the pub tonight if you fancy joining me,’ he said.

Carole was already hurrying down the road but she called back over her shoulder. ‘I’ll have to see how things go.’

Meeting Sebastian for a drink was not top on the list of her priorities right now. She had to get to Josie’s before she left for school, and find out how long her gran had been working at the garden centre and exactly why Josie had failed to tell her that too.

***

‘I thought you knew!’ Josie said when Carole banged on her door ten minutes later, demanding to know why she’d kept that piece of news a secret.

‘Based on what?’ Carole asked, stepping into the hall of Josie’s small, flint cottage. ‘When I spoke to you yesterday I made it clear that I didn’t know this Nick guy from Adam. Surely it must have occurred to you that if I hadn’t heard about him, I also didn’t know Gran was working for him?’

‘Well, when you put it like that, I suppose it should have,’ Josie said, leading the way into the kitchen where she had been having her breakfast. ‘But I can honestly say that it didn’t. Your gran’s been in and out of there since the day he opened it, even before he opened it, come to think of it. At first she just seemed to be hanging around and ... well, I think I assumed she just liked the company, living on her own as she does. I don’t know when she actually started working there. Or whether she really does. Perhaps she still just hangs out there. I know I would, given half the chance.’

Carole pulled out a chair and sat at the kitchen table. ‘That’s not helping, Josie. I’m supposed to be apologising to this guy for accusing him of beating up Gran and for possibly trying to steal her money or something and now I find out he’s actually her employer! No wonder she–’

‘Excuse me! Did you just say you accused Nick of violence towards your gran? And theft? Good God, Carole, that’s almost funny! Nick? Violent? And a criminal?’

‘Okay, don’t make a big deal out of it. Gran’s already read me the riot act. The point is – and I don’t know how many times I have to keep saying this – I know nothing about the guy. I’m beginning to feel as if I’ve walked into a remake of
The Stepford Wives
or something. Everyone keeps telling me how wonderful he is but until yesterday, I hadn’t heard his name more than once when Gran says she told me he pruned her apple tree. Don’t laugh at that and don’t make dirty jokes about my gran!’

‘I wasn’t going to! Although you must admit ... okay, I’m sorry. I’ll shut up.’

‘I’m worried, Josie and I’m convinced he’s hiding something. I don’t care what anyone says. I’ve just got a feeling about him. My insides are definitely giving me warning signals.’

Josie handed Carole a mug of coffee and sat down opposite her hugging a bowl of cereal to her chest. ‘Are you sure that your insides aren’t giving you some other sort of signals? Mine definitely go all weird every time I see him.’

‘Absolutely not!’

‘I can tell when you’re lying, you know. You fancy him too, don’t you?’

‘No! I’m practically engaged to Dominic. I admit that I did think he was rather good-looking but if I fancy anyone other than Dom, it’s Sebastian. God, I nearly threw myself in his arms just now in the middle of the street without giving Dom a second thought!’

‘You did what?’ Josie said through a mouthful of
Frosties
. ‘Are you telling me you’ve seen Seb already? I thought you only arrived around midnight last night! Bloody hell, Carole, you have been busy!’

Carole tutted. ‘I bumped into him this morning, on my way to apologise to Nick. And I do mean literally, bumped into him. We got talking and ... well, I feel awful saying this Josie but it was just like old times. As if none of the last ten years have happened. And he even told me that he made a huge mistake and he’s been regretting it ever since. He still loves me, Josie, can you believe it? Sebastian Jarvis actually still loves me.’

‘Really? He told you that ... this morning ... in the street? He actually told you he still loved you? And that’s a good thing because ...?’ Josie didn’t look convinced.

‘Of course it’s a good thing! Why wouldn’t it be?’

‘Well, because as you keep saying, you are practically engaged to Dom, the guy you’re actually living with at the moment, so that’s one minor problem. Then there’s the fact that Seb does still have a wife, which leads me nicely on to the real crux of the matter. The guy left you at the altar ten years ago, ran off to Aus using money from your joint bank account, and married someone else a few months later. You’re not seriously telling me that you would resume a relationship with a man who broke your heart without so much as a backward glance. And caused you to nearly have a breakdown, let’s not forget.’

Carole glared at her friend. ‘Trust you to remind me of that.’

‘Well, clearly someone has to! Look Carole, don’t get me wrong, I like Seb, I always did but you were devastated when he left. It took you years to get over him and whilst I’m not absolutely convinced that Dom is the love of your life, I think he’s a far safer bet than Sebastian.’

‘He made a mistake, Josie! Surely everyone’s entitled to be forgiven for making a mistake?’