Snowflakes on Silver Cove: A festive, feel-good Christmas romance (White Cliff Bay Book 2) (21 page)

She smiled, her eyes soft with love for him.

‘I know you have this thing down the town hall this afternoon, but do you fancy going to a kids’ birthday party at lunchtime? It will be loud and noisy but my sister makes the best jelly and ice cream and I’d really like you to meet them.’

‘I’d love to. You’re so good with her. Your conversation made me smile so much.’

He smiled, sadly. ‘I always wanted children. That was one of the things me and Marie would disagree on, I wanted them, she didn’t – she thought she was too young. And now… it’s too late.’

‘It isn’t too late … Well, it’s too late for you and Marie but not too late for you – you could still have that. We could still have that… one day.’

‘I’m not sure I can give you that. The thought of losing you terrifies me, the thought of losing our baby is not something I can even bear to think about.’

Amy shifted so she was straddling him, facing him eye to eye.

‘No one knows what tomorrow will bring, but that’s why we need to enjoy what we have now. Life is for living, it’s for jelly and ice cream and spending time with loved ones, it’s for long walks on the beach with a fat retriever, it’s for dancing in the rain, it’s for amazing sex and making a difference, it’s for making every second count. This is all new for us and I understand you are scared but you’re going to have to grow some balls and man up. If we are going to be together then we are going to have children so you’re going to have to deal with that. And if you can’t then you need to tell me. You can’t live your life in shadow, afraid to step into the sun. And I won’t live like that either.’

Seb swallowed down the lump of emotion that was sticking in his throat. He couldn’t let her walk away when he had only just found her. He tried to change the subject away from the sudden fear of losing her, but this time not through death but his own stupid stubbornness.

‘Any more clichés you wish to share?’

‘Life is a cliché, Seb. You’re born, you die and you try to have as much fun as you can in between.’

‘Tell me more about this amazing sex we could have.’

She smiled. ‘I’m happy to enjoy the next few days with you. Christmas is in four days and I’d like to spend it with you. After that you need to make a decision about our future and how much you want it.’

She kissed him and, as with every time they were together, the fear just faded away. He needed her in his life. He just had to find the courage to take what was on offer.

L
ibby woke
to the smell of bacon and she smiled with love for George. It was weird knowing that she was falling in love with her best friend, after all this time. She had never fallen in love before, she had never allowed herself to, but somehow her feelings for George had sneaked up on her without her knowing. She still didn’t know what she was going to do about it or whether her feelings would be reciprocated, even if she did do something about it. Could she stay if he turned her down and watch him go out with Giselle instead? George was a large part of her wanting to stay, but he wasn’t the only reason. Beyond George, Amy and Kat were the first friends she had ever had, her relationships with the people of the town were also something she hadn’t had before. She wanted to stay but the whole George thing was so complicated and really it shouldn’t be at all.

She got up, wrapped herself in her robe and padded out to the kitchen where George was dishing up bacon onto doorstep-sized pieces of bread.

‘This is nice,’ Libby said, following him into the lounge.

‘Well, I just thought…’ He trailed off and she knew he was still thinking about that incredible kiss the night before. It was all she had been thinking about as well.

She sat down opposite him and he watched her carefully.

‘We’re OK, aren’t we?’ George asked.

‘Of course we are.’

He rubbed his hand round the back of his neck. ‘You feel weird about the kiss?’

She didn’t, not really. The kiss had been perfect and beautiful. What was awkward was she was slowly falling in love with her best friend and he was blissfully unaware about her feelings for him.

She reached across the table and took his hand. ‘I don’t feel weird about it. I’m worried that it means something different to you than it does to me.’

He stared at her in shock but he didn’t say anything else. She relinquished her hold on his hand and turned her attention back to her sandwich.

‘We’ll always be friends though, right, George? Whatever happens between me and you and Giselle or whoever, whether I stay or go, that won’t change, will it?’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t want to lose you.’

She nodded, satisfied by his answer. She just had to pluck up the courage to tell him her feelings at some point.

He focussed on eating his sandwich and she switched her attention to the light flakes of snow swirling past the window. Outside there was a black motorbike, a beautiful old classic Honda Shadow.

‘Whose is the bike?’ Libby asked.

‘I think it’s Giselle’s.’

Of course it was.

‘I do love a woman on a motorbike, there’s something incredibly sexy about that,’ George said.

‘I used to ride a bike,’ Libby said, wondering why she felt like she now had to compete with Giselle for his affection. ‘A red Ducati.’

George looked surprised. ‘You had a Ducati?’

‘Yes, it was my pride and joy, a big shiny red beast of a machine. Until I had an accident and completely wrote it off.’ She slid her robe over her shoulder and pointed out the faint silvery scar there, then pointed out a similar larger scar on her elbow and her knee.

‘There was a sheep in the road and I skidded to avoid it. The worst thing was, I was lying in the middle of this dark road, in agony. I had a broken collar bone and two ribs, I couldn’t move, couldn’t get up, my bike had slid off the road somewhere and I could see this car coming. Its headlights were careening round the corners so fast and I knew he wouldn’t see me till it was too late, knew he was just going to run straight over me and there was nothing I could do about it. It was terrifying, that moment when you know that death is coming. Luckily he did see me at the last second and swerved off the road to avoid hitting me. The guy in the car ended up almost as bad as I was and I felt so guilty about that. The only one not to get hurt was the bloody sheep. Anyway, after that, I decided to give up on the bike and get a car instead. Though I do miss it. I keep thinking about getting another bike, one day.’

‘You know, Lib, if you fall off the horse, you just have to get straight back on again.’

‘Yes I know you’re right, but it’s a bit scary…’

‘But that’s why you have to do it, you can’t go through life scared of the “what ifs”.’

She nodded as she stared at him. He was right in more ways than one.

His phone beeped and he fished it out of his pocket.

‘My mum,’ he indicated the phone, ‘texting to remind me that I offered to help her clean out the loft this morning. Well, offered would probably be pushing it, coerced is probably more accurate. I better go, I’ll meet you outside the town hall at four?’

She nodded and watched him go, deciding that straight after they left the hall she would tell him exactly what was going on in her heart.

J
udith had just finished throwing
the dirty plates into the dishwasher when there was a knock at the door. Rumour had it that Amy was still staying at the pub, so she and Seb were obviously still together, despite Judith telling him she was a prostitute. Slamming the dishwasher door closed, she stormed over to answer the front door and was surprised to see Verity Donaldson on her doorstep.

‘Judith, how are you doing? Are you busy?’

‘I’m fine, come in, do you want a cup of tea?’ Judith opened the door for her. In the kitchen she set about making tea, as Verity selected a chocolate chip cookie from the biscuit barrel.

‘So how are you doing, really?’ Verity asked, taking the mug of tea from Judith.

‘I take it you’ve heard about Seb and Amy? I’m sure the whole town knows by now.’

‘I have, yes.’ Verity dipped her biscuit into her tea. ‘Why is this such a problem for you? I thought you wanted him to be happy again, after all this time?’

‘Yes, of course, it’s just that…’ Judith swallowed. ‘Seb and Marie would have been married nine years now, they would have had children and it seems weird, wrong somehow that he might have that with someone else. I don’t think I’ll ever get over Marie’s death, and it doesn’t seem right that he will. When Alan died, Marie’s father, I knew there never would be anyone else for me, and there never has been. I… just don’t want him to forget her, and for him to have the life with Amy that he can never have with Marie doesn’t seem fair.’

She looked at Verity as she sipped her tea. What was it with her that made Judith bare her innermost feelings? And she didn’t pussyfoot around either, she just told it as it was.

‘Fair on whom? Is it fair that Seb’s life stops just because Marie’s has? He might as well have died too if that’s the case. Do you think that Marie would have wanted that for him? Do you think Alan would have wanted that for you? Do you honestly think that Seb will ever stop loving Marie, or that it’s not possible to love two people at the same time?’

OK, maybe that was a bit too honest.

‘He doesn’t love Amy, how could he? She’s nothing like Marie.’

‘Do you think we have one type that we are attracted to, that we have any control over who we fall in love with?’

‘But she’s vile.’

‘Is she? From what I remember of Marie she doesn’t seem that different.’

Judith felt her hands clench into fists in her lap.

‘Marie spent a lot of summers down here with your sister, Alice. She was accident-prone, clumsy, always getting into scrapes. She nearly killed Alice’s dog when she was cleaning out Alice’s car and accidentally released the handbrake. She had a very kind heart. I remember she used to mow the lawn for my dear old mum before she passed away and walk the dogs for some of the other elderly neighbours. Not that far away from what Amy does now for the some of the old ladies at the far side of White Cliff Bay. Marie spent most Saturdays when she was down here collecting money for the PDSA, selling cakes and rattling a tin. Did you know that Amy volunteers for the local Cancer Awareness charity every Wednesday, raising money, handing out leaflets or, as was the case the other day, dressing up as a penis to raise awareness of testicular cancer?’

‘I didn’t know that, no.’ Judith swallowed. That’s what Alan had died of when the cancer had spread to his prostrate. If they had caught it earlier…

‘And Marie had a wicked sense of humour. When she came to stay in winter one year, and it snowed on the beach, she made a whole row of snowmen that were very well endowed. She put clingfilm over the toilets in the public library; she put salt in the sugar pots in Alice’s cafe. And I remember her using condoms as water balloons in a water fight with some local kids. I think she would have found what Amy’s nephew did to your gnomes last year absolutely hilarious.’

Judith shifted awkwardly. Verity was right; Marie did have a brilliant sense of humour. She always made Judith laugh a lot. Had she completely lost her sense of humour the day Marie had died?

‘Maybe we are drawn to a certain type, but not in looks, in personality. And even if Amy is different to Marie, isn’t it better that Seb doesn’t go for a Marie clone? If he did he would always be reminded of Marie every time he kissed her, looked at her. How could he ever realistically move on if the person he moved on with was her exact replica?’

‘She’s a prostitute.’ Judith tried her last attempt to win Verity round to her way of thinking.

‘Yes, I heard that’s what you thought. I doubt you will approve of this any more than her being a prostitute. If you really want to know what Jackson Cartwright has been doing with Amy for the last year then you should go down to White Cliff Bay town hall this afternoon around four o’clock. I’m going, you could meet me there.’

‘I’m not a prude, Verity, I’m as open minded as the next person. I just don’t think…’

‘…Amy’s good enough for Seb. Yes, I got that. But I think you have to let Seb decide that for himself. It’s rare that we get to fall in love twice in our lifetime, I don’t think it’s fair to stand in the way of that.’

‘I wouldn’t… I…’

‘Look, I better go, I can see I’m upsetting you and I don’t want that. I brought round these brochures.’ She pulled out a stack of brightly coloured brochures from her bag. ‘There’s a group of us going on a cruise in January, thought you might like to come with us. Don’t answer now, just have a look through these. I’ve marked the pages of the ones we are considering. I may see you later then at the town hall. Thanks for the tea, I’ll see myself out.’

Judith watched her go, unsettled. Verity was certainly honest; she had to give her that. She certainly hadn’t got the tea and sympathy she’d been hoping for when she came to her door. Verity had made her out to be quite the bad guy and Judith didn’t like it.

She glanced at the holiday brochures. But maybe it was time to leave White Cliff Bay, if only for a little while, let Seb lead his own life.

She looked at her watch. Maybe she’d pop along to the town hall to see what all the fuss was about.

L
ater
, after George had cleared out several boxes of what appeared to be bank statements that were older than him from his mum’s loft, he was driving back towards the town centre. He had to pop in and see Matt before he met Libby. Over poker on Sunday, Matt had asked him to do an advert for his jewellery shop. He was going to take him the first draft of it for his approval.

As he rounded a corner, he saw a car with its hazard lights on at the side of the road. It was quite an old car, a classic MG roadster convertible, in racing green. It wasn’t a car he recognised so he guessed it belonged to one of the tourists.

But as he pulled over to see if he could help, he spotted the most beautiful woman on the side of the road, desperately trying to get a signal on her mobile.