Page 83 of A Mistletoe Miracle
Outside the air was fresh after recent rain and the grass muddy and slick beneath my trainers, as I headed around the back of the hotel and across the lawns to my music studio.My music studio. It gave me a little thrill every time I thought it.
The rusty old padlock was in the bin, now a new door and windows had been fitted. All the junk had been painstakingly sorted – some dumped, some donated – and the useful tools and garden games relocated to a new shed by the tennis lawns. Inside was grey and bare, but today that was going to change.
I set about turning on the stereo and grabbing all the pots of paint and rollers from under the dustsheets in the corner. This afternoon I was having a painting party. We were going to get some bright colours on the walls before the wooden floor went down.
I was halfway through rewriting the stars, using a paintbrush as my microphone, when a gentle rap on the door interrupted me. I turned, expecting to see Lydia or Rachel, but instead there he was. Nick. Smiling at me like my own personal sunbeam.
‘You’re here.’ I launched myself at him, wrapping my arms around him and accidentally smacking him in the face with the paintbrush. ‘Oh God, sorry.’ I dropped the brush and kissed the red mark on his cheekbone. ‘Are you okay?’
His arms tightened around me, snaking underneath my fleece and he laughed into my shoulder.
‘I’m good.’ He kissed the side of my neck, then my cheek. He lifted his head and looked into my eyes, his blue ones bright and crinkled at the edges behind his glasses.
‘What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming down until tomorrow.’ I smoothed his hair back, my heart hammering. It probably wasn’t good for my health to have him sneaking up on me like this; a girl needed some warning before all these endorphins were released.
‘I couldn’t wait.’
‘But you need to catch up on your sleep after doing a long-haul,’ I scolded him.
‘Yeah, I know, but also, the money came through from the sale. It’s done.’
‘Oh. Are you okay?’
He nodded. ‘Yeah, I think I am.’ Since we’d visited the house that first difficult time, he’d been back on his own to pack up his stuff and say his goodbyes alone, and it had seemed to help him. He could talk a little more freely about his mum now. ‘It’s time I sorted out somewhere to live permanently,’ he added.
‘You don’t want to stay at Stephen’s anymore?’ I asked, carefully keeping my voice neutral.
‘Funnily enough, no. I’d like to have my own place, somewhere I can have my girlfriend over to stay without any awkward relatives in the adjacent rooms.’ He slid his thumb along my jaw, and I nuzzled into his touch like a cat, practically purring.
‘That would be nice,’ I murmured, staring at him as he seemingly studied each strand of my hair, finding them equally fascinating. Privacy. That was something I yearned for too. Between me still living at the hotel and Nick staying at his brother’s it had been hard to come by.
As though on cue, there was another knock on the door. We looked at each other and laughed, reading each other’s minds, before he let go of me. Lydia and Rachel had arrived wearing their decorating clothes and after seeing Nick was there too, completely ignored me to give him hugs, see how he was and show him pictures of little Ivy. I could hardly blame them for wanting his attention.
I popped open the tins of paint, sky blue and sunny yellow, and handed out rollers.
‘Since you’re here, make yourself useful,’ I joked, handing Nick a paintbrush and pinching his bottom as I walked away.
The room was filled with industrious chatter and music as we covered the walls in colour. When the light outside began to dim, my back was aching, but not as much as my cheeks, from all the laughter and singing. We packed the paint away and Lydia and Rachel went ahead to the bar for a well-deserved drink. I locked the door and Nick and I held hands as we followed them at a slower pace. The stone exterior of the hotel was glowing orange as the sun set behind us.
Nick had gone a little quiet, so I squeezed his hand and asked him whether he was okay.
‘I am. I was just wondering. How would you feel if I looked for somewhere to live down here?’
I paused and turned to look him. ‘Like, in Loganbury?’
‘Or close by. Would it freak you out or…?’ He caught his sexy bottom lip in his teeth and lifted his eyebrows.
‘I’d love it, Nick.’
‘I’m so pleased you said that.’ He lifted me off my feet and spun me around. We were both laughing as he lowered me back to my feet. ‘I love you,’ he whispered in my ear before kissing me. I tightened my arms behind his neck to stop myself from falling. Physically at least. Emotionally I knew it was already too late.
‘I love you too,’ I smiled into his mouth. ‘Shall we move this celebration inside?’
He nudged my nose playfully with his own, a glint in his eye. ‘Are you talking about going into the bar, or upstairs?’
‘Hey, don’t knock the bar – I seem to remember us having a very nice time there together.’
‘Yeah, but not with your mother as an audience.’ He laughed and this time I kissed him, catching that happiness and drinking it in like nectar.
We grew quiet, immersed in each other. The future was something we knew was coming and welcomed, and the past, however painful, was something that had shaped us and brought us to this point.
Right where we belonged.
