Christmas at Lilac Cottage: (#1 White Cliff Bay) (7 page)

‘I’m not going to hurt her. I’m not sure what will happen between us. I’d like to be her friend more than anything. Maybe in time that friendship will turn into something more, and maybe not, but I have no intention of ever hurting her.’

Jill nodded seriously and then blushed. ‘My apologies, it was wrong of me to talk to you about her like this, I’m sure she won’t thank me for it. But if you spend any length of time in her company you will see what a truly wonderful person she is. I love her like she was my own daughter and I only want the best for her.’

‘I want that too.’

‘Oh, let’s change the subject, she’ll kill me if she knows I’ve said all this. Do you want tomatoes on your sandwich?’

Henry nodded and watched as Jill busied herself with making the food. The truth was he had already seen what kind of person Penny was and he was having a hard time coming up with reasons why he should stay away. Something serious was not good for Daisy, not so soon after the disaster with Emily, but any kind of relationship with Penny was only ever going to be that.

‘
C
ome on
.’ Penny ignored the pout from Daisy, after telling her that they had to stop. ‘We’ll have some lunch and then we can go back to it later this afternoon. It’s important to take breaks when working at low temperatures and it’s not exactly warm in here. I normally give myself a maximum of two hours of carving before taking a long break. Your snowflake will still be here later.’

Penny moved to admire Daisy’s work. ‘This is really good. If you ever wanted a job, I’d be happy to employ you. I turn down so many jobs because I just don’t have the time to do them.’

‘I would love that!’ Daisy almost shouted and Penny regretted saying something before checking with Henry first. It was an offhand comment, but Daisy clearly did have the talent for it and Penny could easily teach her the skills she didn’t know; she was obviously a fast learner.

‘Well, we’ll chat to your dad, if he’s OK with it then you could help out at weekends, providing it didn’t interfere with any homework. I can help you with any tricky bits and I’d pay you of course.’

Daisy had the hugest grin on her face as Penny pushed both sculptures back into the freezer and then walked out into the kitchen.

Penny smiled when she saw two plates of sandwiches waiting for her and Daisy. Jill had obviously made lunch for them. But her smile grew even more when she saw Henry sitting at the table, drinking a mug of tea. She quickly tried to wipe the smile away and that feeling him being there gave to her.

Henry looked up and flashed her a huge smile and she hated that something as simple as that warmed her from the inside.

‘Jill made us all lunch. She just left and she didn’t want to disturb you by saying goodbye. She’s a gem that one, isn’t she, where did you find her?’

‘She was our live-in housekeeper, cook and nanny growing up. She’s never stopped coming round, even though it’s only me here now. I feel bad, especially when I’m more than capable of cleaning myself, but when I once tried to stop her she laid the biggest guilt trip on me about everything that she’d done for us and then didn’t speak to me for over two weeks, despite all my apologies. Then one day she turned back up here cleaning again as if the whole argument had never happened. We’ve never spoken about it since nor would I ever suggest that she didn’t clean again. I love her, she’s literally like a second mum to me.’

‘Maybe she needs the money.’

‘Her husband is probably one of the richest people in the area so I doubt that. He owns the White Cliff Bay Furniture Company.’

Henry paled significantly, clearly backtracking over every comment he had made to Jill to make sure he hadn’t said anything untoward.

‘Oh, don’t worry, he has nothing to do with the company any more. He took early retirement from being CEO many years ago. He still has shares in the company and he’s on the board of directors but he leaves all the management side of things to his son and daughter.’

Penny watched Daisy grab her sandwich and take a massive bite before even sitting down but at a glare from Henry she sat at the table. Penny washed her hands and then joined her.

‘I got the impression that Jill didn’t have any children?’

‘She doesn’t; Clara and Edward are her step-children, from Thomas’s previous marriage. She was housekeeper for them too which is how she and Thomas met. When his wife died she was there for him a lot. A year later he married her and they’ve been happily married ever since.’

‘I think I met Edward at the interview,’ Henry said, thoughtfully.

‘I’m sure you did, he is very hands-on. He knows everyone’s name at the factory and oversees everything that happens. He seems a lovely man.’

‘Don’t think I met Clara, though.’

‘You probably didn’t. I don’t think she gets involved in that side of the business at all. She’s joint CEO but I think her role is more design or publicity or something like that. Well, her team is in charge of that. I’ve never met her but by all accounts she isn’t a nice person.’

Penny looked at Henry’s empty plate in front of him. ‘Did Jill make you lunch too?’

He nodded. ‘I popped by to see if Daisy had finished about half an hour ago and she insisted I stayed for lunch. Sorry, we’ll be eating you out of house and home at this rate. But you can come for dinner tonight before we go ice skating. We have that Italian that Jade kindly brought round.’

Penny bit into her sandwich, her stomach twisting with a sudden unease. What had he and Jill been talking about for half an hour? Jill was a wonderful friend and she’d never say anything bad about her, but she did wonder how far Jill’s over-protective streak for her might stretch in her conversation with Henry.

‘We had a lovely chat about the cruise she and Thomas went on this year,’ Henry said, as if reading her mind.

She tried to relax a little bit, but the way that he was staring at her left her in no doubt that she probably came up in conversation at some point.

‘I’ve invited Penny to come ice skating with us tonight,’ Daisy said before she stuffed the last piece of sandwich in her mouth.

Henry hesitated before speaking just long enough for Penny to think he didn’t really want her to come.

‘Of course you should come with us.’

‘Oh no, it’s fine. I have work to do here and there’s a movie I really wanted to see on TV…’ It sounded lame and pathetic even to her ears.

‘Come on, it’ll be fun. It’s Christmas, you have to enjoy the festivities,’ Daisy insisted.

‘No, I don’t want to intrude, I think it’s lovely that you two are going together. But I’m very happy staying here.’

‘But—’ Daisy started.

‘Daisy, if she doesn’t want to come then we’re not going to force her,’ Henry said.

Penny frowned as she sipped her tea. Although she couldn’t think of anything worse than going with Henry because his daughter had forced Penny on him, she was a bit sad how quickly Henry had closed down the topic of her going. He was clearly relieved that Penny had said she wouldn’t come.

‘But she’s only saying no because she can’t skate. Of course she doesn’t want to be sitting up here on her own, while the rest of the town is enjoying the festivities.’

‘Is that true, you can’t skate?’ Henry asked, his soft grey eyes watching her intensely.

‘I know, it’s kind of ironic, isn’t it, being an ice carver and all, but no I can’t.’

‘Well, I can teach you, if that’s the reason.’

‘No really, I don’t want to be in the way.’

Henry leaned across the table towards her, his eyes focussed only on her. When he spoke his voice was low. ‘If you want to come then come, if you don’t then don’t, but don’t not come because of any other weird reason floating around in your head about me not wanting you there, because I do.’

Daisy stared between them as if she was watching a tennis match.

‘OK,’ Penny said, quietly. She wasn’t entirely sure what the right answer was. She did want to go but she didn’t want Henry to be forced into taking her.

‘OK, you’ll come?’

Penny nodded, feeling suddenly very silly for making such a fuss.

‘Good,’ Henry said. Putting his mug down, he got up and walked out.

‘I’m sorry about him, he has no patience at all. But if he didn’t want you to come, he would say so, look how he was with Jade the other night,’ Daisy said.

‘Daisy, get your arse in here and let Penny have some peace for a few hours,’ Henry called through the open door and Daisy smiled with love for her dad.

‘I’ll see you later,’ she said and ran quickly after him. After a few moments Henry appeared in the doorway, flashing Penny a brief tiny smile before closing the door.

Penny sat staring at the door in confusion. What the hell had just happened?

P
enny could see
Henry in the shed, moving around and looking completely at ease as he worked.

Feeling the need to repair their tentative friendship, though she wasn’t sure why, she cut a big slice of Christmas cake, made a mug of tea and carried it out to the shed.

He didn’t notice her at first. A small foot-long piece of wood was clamped to the table and he was chipping into it with a small chisel. It looked like the beginnings of a small reindeer.

She watched him run his hands lovingly over the wood, brushing away the sawdust. His hands were big and strong and very capable. He had a huge smile on his face as he worked, evidently loving the creativity of what he was doing. He was obviously very talented and if he could create something this detailed and small by hand, it was little wonder White Cliff Bay Furniture Company had hired him. He paused for a moment and she stepped forward.

Either sensing or hearing her move, he turned around and his face lit up into a huge smile when he saw her, which warmed her from the inside. That feeling faded very quickly as she suddenly felt very foolish for coming to apologise to him when clearly he hadn’t been bothered at all by what had passed between them a few hours before. Now, standing there with a slice of cake and a redundant apology drying on her lips, the offer of a cake looked flirtier than she had wanted. It reminded her of Jade arriving with an Italian the night before. She really didn’t want to be lumped in with the women of the town throwing themselves at him. She groaned inwardly. Why was he making her second-guess everything? She felt so raw around him, as if a plaster covering an eight-year-old wound had been ripped off and he was poking at it without even realising it.

‘Hi,’ he said, the grin not disappearing from his face.

‘I thought you might be hungry,’ Penny said, cringing inwardly at how awkward this was, though he hadn’t seemed to notice.

‘Thank you.’ In two large strides he was in front of her. He took the cake gratefully, taking a huge bite. His eyes locked on hers.

She forced her gaze away from him and focussed on the reindeer. Now he had stepped away from it, she could see it in all its glory and it was stunning.

She stepped away from him and his intense proximity to look more closely at it. ‘This is beautiful.’ She ran her fingers over the tiny intricate antlers. ‘Do you make them to sell?’

He shook his head as he swallowed down the cake. ‘No, just for fun. I always make a new tree decoration every year for Daisy, it’s kind of a tradition, that and making terrible mince pies on Christmas Day. Daisy has started making her own wooden tree decorations too and we exchange them on Christmas morning.’

‘I love that idea.’

He stepped closer. ‘You do? Maybe I’ll make one for you this year too.’

She looked up at him and then back at the reindeer. His flirting was making her uncomfortable. He would hurt her. If she let herself be swept away by the comments and looks of affection, she had no doubt that he would break her heart after a few weeks. He didn’t want anything serious.

‘You’re very talented,’ Penny said, annoyed at the crack in her voice. She didn’t want him to know how much he affected her. She blushed as she realised that what she had just said was very flirty too. She really had no idea how to act around men. She had never properly dated. Chris had been her only real boyfriend and he had instigated their relationship. She had never tried to impress him or say the right things because in the first month or so he had been completely smitten with her. Though her shine had clearly rubbed off very quickly.

‘Making furniture is what I’m most comfortable with. This is just a bit of fun for me, it’s nothing like the kind of sculptures you produce,’ Henry said, leaning round her to brush away some more sawdust. ‘I bet you could do something like this very easily. Have you ever carved with wood before?’

Penny swallowed as his sweet, spicy Christmassy scent enveloped her. She shook her head.

‘Have a go.’ He picked up a tiny chisel and offered it to her.

‘Oh, I couldn’t, I don’t want to ruin it.’

He leaned round her, bracketing her with his arms as he took her hands and placed them on the chisel. Goosebumps exploded on her body at his touch. She moved the chisel to the thick fur around the reindeer’s neck. Henry’s hands stayed over hers even though they both knew it wasn’t necessary. As Penny had told Daisy this morning, the skills were completely transferable. She obligingly chipped a few small chunks of wood away, making the fur collar more defined. It was fun to work on a different canvas. This one was a lot more permanent than the carvings she created.

A cough came from behind them and Henry immediately stepped back away from Penny.

Daisy was standing in the doorway, with a slight scowl on her face. She turned her attention away from her dad and looked at Penny. ‘There’s a man here to see you. Josh?’

Penny nodded. ‘Can you tell him I won’t be a second?’

Daisy hesitated for a second then left.

Penny let out a breath she hadn’t realised she had been holding and brushed the hair off her face in frustration.

‘I’m not sure what is going on here, whether all this – the flirting, looks, touches and comments – is just some kind of game for you, or you are just incapable of not flirting with a woman, but nothing is going to happen between us so you can stop it now.’

Henry looked stunned. ‘You’re flirting with me.’

‘I am not.’

‘You brought me cake,’ Henry said, with exasperation.

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t realise cake was the international sign language for I want to get you into bed. If that’s the case I must have been flirting with my friend Maggie every Saturday for the last five or six years.’

‘I’m rubbish at reading women, but I thought you made it pretty bloody obvious you were attracted to me.’

Penny felt her mouth fall open. What had she done to give him that impression?

He stepped closer. ‘Your breathing accelerates when I come near you, your pupils dilate, I can see your pulse hammering against your throat, your body goes into goosebump overdrive whenever I touch you,’ he said, softly laying his finger on her arm and her body betrayed her by proving his point.

‘Fine. I am attracted to you.’

‘I’m very attracted to you, so what’s the problem?’

‘You.’ She gestured frantically at him and all his spectacular gorgeousness. She suddenly stopped her protests for a second to appreciate his wonderful words. He was attracted to her. The endless flirting hadn’t just been a bit of silly fun for him, he actually was attracted to her. Very, was the word he used.

‘What’s the problem with me?’ Henry asked.

She stared at him, realising he wasn’t the problem, she was.

‘I can’t do a relationship. I go into them with everything I have. I’m sure that’s not the kind of thing you’re looking for.’

He didn’t argue against it but finally he spoke. ‘You’re right, I’m not looking for anything serious right now.’

‘And I’m not looking for anything casual. I haven’t been in a relationship since the last one ended in the most heartbreaking way possible. If I go into a relationship again, it has to be with someone I can trust not to hurt me. You seem lovely and kind and Daisy adores you, but you also seem the sort that can get any woman he wants and I certainly don’t think you want to put up with all my insecurities and baggage and crap. So can we please put a stop to all of this flirting, because it’s killing me.’

Penny was suddenly aware of Daisy standing in the door again, she quickly turned to face her.

‘Sorry, Penny, Josh says he’s in a bit of a rush.’

Penny nodded and with one more glance at Henry’s dumbfounded face she hurried out. Well, if she wanted to put Henry off her for good, she’d certainly done that with all her crazy. The men of the town really were right. She was damaged goods.

H
enry watched her go
, confused by how quickly and disastrously that conversation had gone. He didn’t know why he was so drawn to Penny; only a few hours before he had sworn to himself that he wouldn’t pursue things with her but he couldn’t seem to stay away from her. He looked back at Daisy, who fixed him with a glare as she folded her arms across her chest.

‘What?’

‘You said you weren’t going to get involved with her.’

‘I didn’t say that.’

‘We agreed that she was an all-or-nothing kind of girl. You’re not capable of anything serious. You’re going to hurt her and I really like her. She’s said she’s happy to teach me about carving and that I can work with her part time around school and she will pay me to carve. You have no idea how much I want to work with her. My first proper job doing something I absolutely love and you’re going to screw it all up for me.’

‘I won’t screw it up. I have no intention of hurting her, that’s the last thing I want.’

‘But you will. Look at Rosie. You broke her heart.’

‘Rosie was never anything serious.’

‘It was for her.’

He knew he had hurt Rosie when he broke up with her and he felt bad for that, but the worst thing was how upset Daisy had been by the break-up too. He shook his head. Why was he trying to justify his relationships to his sixteen-year-old daughter? Surely it should be the other way round.

‘She was never going to be a good fit for us.’

‘She doesn’t need to be a fit for us, she needs to be a fit for you. You finished it with her because she was getting too close.’

It was true that he found it hard to imagine ever trusting or loving someone enough to have them in his and Daisy’s life permanently. He always kept women at a distance. But Daisy had lectured him about his commitment issues after he had split with Rosie and he had tried to prove he didn’t have these issues by bringing Emily into their life, which had resulted in the very thing he had tried for years to protect Daisy from. Daisy feared rejection, he knew that, that she was scared that one day he would leave her just as her mum had. But what Henry feared was any woman he was with rejecting Daisy, making her feel for one second unloved and unwanted, and Emily had done just that. It would be a long time before he could trust someone enough to let them into his life again.

‘Look, I like Penny and the ice carving is important to me. If you break her heart she is hardly likely to want me around any more. Be nice to her, be friends with her, but please don’t sleep with her,’ Daisy said.

‘Hang on, you don’t get to dictate who I do or don’t go out with. I would never presume to tell you who you can or can’t date.’

‘Oh, if that’s the case, you’ll be OK with me dating the huge tattooed guy who was just flirting with me in the kitchen.’

Henry let out an involuntary growl. ‘That’s different and you know it.’

‘I have never asked you not to date anyone before, not even bitches like Emily.’

‘Watch your language.’

‘The point being I hope you can see how important this job is to me. I like living here. I know it’s small but the views are incredible and I really like living next door to Penny and Bernard. I think she’s lovely.’

‘I do too.’

‘So do you really want to ruin what could be a fantastic friendship for you two and ruin my first job just for a few weeks of fun?’

Henry couldn’t help feeling like the naughty child called in front of the headmaster.

Daisy walked back towards the house and Henry rubbed his head with the sudden complications. But if it really was that important to Daisy, he would have to forget about being with Penny once and for all.

Daisy was right, he didn’t want anything serious and Penny didn’t want to get hurt. It was better all round if he stayed away from her.

H
enry knocked softly
on the connecting door later that night as Daisy tucked into the Italian with great relish. The girl was like a gannet, eating everything and anything in sight, and she still stayed stick-thin.

‘Save some for the rest of us, greedy guts.’

Daisy grinned up at him with her winning smile and carried on eating at full speed.

There was no answer from Penny so Henry tentatively let himself in.

He didn’t want to call out if she was working in the cool room; if he scared her whilst she was working with some of those tools she could end up cutting off one of her fingers. He opened the cool room door but the room was empty. He closed it and that was when he saw her lying on the sofa in the darkness of the front room.

He moved closer and noticed she had evidently fallen asleep reading some romance book. He carefully took the book out of her hands, marked the place with a piece of paper and put it on the coffee table. She was sleeping peacefully, her mouth parted slightly, her long eyelashes dusting her cheeks. He sat down on the coffee table feeling mildly creepy watching her sleep, but finding her peaceful slumber incredibly alluring too.

He ran his hand up her arm, giving her a gentle shake and her eyes fluttered open.

‘Hey,’ he said softly. ‘Dinner is ready and if we don’t get in there soon, the hungry caterpillar in there will eat it all.’

She looked around in confusion. ‘Did I fall asleep?’

‘Evidently.’

She sat up and swung her legs off the sofa, but he put a hand on her shoulder to stop her getting up. ‘Give yourself a moment to wake up.’

‘I never fall asleep during the day.’ She rubbed her face and looked up at him. Her hair was sticking out at all angles and there was something just so achingly endearing about her.

She stood up and shivered. He grabbed the blanket from the back of the sofa and wrapped it round her and with his hand on her back he guided her towards the connecting door.

As they walked into the kitchen, Daisy looked up at them in horror at Penny’s appearance. With the bright red blanket, pale face and hair everywhere she did look like she’d just been rescued from a hurricane or plane crash. Henry made frantic gestures behind Penny’s back so Daisy didn’t say anything to make Penny feel self-conscious. Thankfully, after sixteen years of living together, she knew him well enough to understand him.