The Best Little Christmas Shop. Maxine Morrey
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he pointed out your parents’ place. You live above the garage, don’t you?’
I nodded, trying to think back as to whether I’d told him this. I was pretty sure I hadn’t.
‘How do you know?’
‘Xander mentioned it.’
‘Oh.’ I began to wonder what else my mate might have mentioned.
Cal started the car and we headed off, the wipers slapping against the now heavy sleet almost in time to the classical piece that was playing quietly on the radio.
‘Thanks for this.’
He glanced over briefly. ‘You’re welcome.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Hopefully it’ll go some way to making up for coming across as so rude the other day when you offered to help me with George.’
‘Honestly. There’s nothing to make up for. Really.’
He gave me another glance that indicated he didn’t agree. His head turned away for a moment and then back towards me, his brow furrowed. It felt as if he was trying to decide whether to say something or not. ‘I shouldn’t have snapped at you. Sometimes my past has a way of invading the present,’ he said eventually. Whatever it was that he’d been thinking of saying, I was pretty sure that wasn’t all of it.
‘You really don’t have to keep apologising,’ I said, as he pulled the car into the large driveway in front of the farmhouse and garage. ‘It’s already forgotten.’ Looking up from where I’d been fiddling with the ribbon I’d attached to my mittens after losing one of a pair four times in a row, I met Cal’s gaze. If I hadn’t already met him, I’d have said it was the wine causing the slight hypnotic effect I was now feeling. But as I’d also had that feeling whilst perfectly sober, I knew it was pure Cal Martin.
‘Whatever it was in your past, I’m really sorry you had to go through it.’
And me blabbing was pure wine.
‘Thanks.’ He smiled, not seeming to mind. ‘Long time ago now.’
‘That doesn’t always mean a lot.’
He drew a breath in and let it out slowly. ‘No. True. But life’s good now. I have George, and my business, and moving to this village has definitely been good for me.’
‘Really?’
‘Oh yes.’
‘I’m sorry if I kicked off some painful memories.’
‘I told you. Forget it. It’s all good now.’
I put my hand on the catch of the door, then hesitated, my brain telling me to leg it and my mouth, as usual, ignoring the sensible advice and doing its own thing.
‘When you came in at Xander and Giselle’s, you didn’t happen to overhear …’
‘Yep.’
I risked a look up. He was grinning. Damn.
‘I didn’t mean … it’s just that what you heard …’ Cal moved his head a smidgeon to the side, encouraging me to continue with my explanation, the smile still firmly in place. ‘What you heard was out of context. It’s really not what it sounded like.’
‘OK,’ he replied, with a tone that implied he didn’t a believe a word of it.
‘I should go. Thanks for the lift.’
‘My pleasure. I’ll see you around.’
‘Ummhmm,’ I said, noncommittally, waved, and took the few steps to where the metal stairs ran up to my little dwelling.
What I hadn’t taken into consideration as I ran up the staircase was that the sleet, now coming into contact with the cold metal, was freezing over. As I neared the top, one leg went one way and the other went in the opposite direction. I was so glad George wasn’t there because the expletives were out and proud before I even thought about it as I wrapped my arms around the banister and hung there for a moment, a foot dangling in mid-air either side of the steps.
‘Lexi!’ Cal’s concerned call came as I heard the car door slam. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Parfait!’ Oh God, now not only did I look an idiot, I sounded like one. What on Earth had possessed me to channel Giselle right at that moment, especially since I could guarantee this was not a situation my elegant friend would ever find herself in?
‘Stay there. I’m coming up.’
‘No! Don’t! I’m not going to be responsible for you breaking your neck,’ I said, flinging my feet around in mid-air, trying to get a purchase on the step. Unfortunately, every time I tried, it slid straight back out.
‘And I’m not going to be responsible for leaving you like that.’ The stairs reverberated through my arms as Cal’s bulk stepped onto them.
‘Jesus,’ I heard him mutter.
‘What’s the matter?’ I tried twisting around to see him.
‘Nothing. It’s just slippy. Don’t look back at me. Just hold on.’
I flung my feet again and managed to get one on the step, at least lessening the strain on my arms momentarily before it slid and joined the other. On the plus side, I was no longer a starfish.
‘Here. Hold on to me.’ Cal’s voice was now right behind me.
‘Umm … that would mean I have to let go.’ I glanced down at the bare branches of the bushes beneath me. ‘So I think I’m going to go with a no. I’m fine. I’ll just wait here until it thaws.’
Cal’s laugh was deep and warm and I could feel it in his chest as he wrapped an arm around me, the other gripping the metal banister.
‘Let go. I promise I won’t drop you. Xander and Giselle would never forgive me, not to mention my son.’
‘Ummm …’
‘Trust me.’
I turned my head as much as I could to try and see him. He leant forward and met my eyes.
‘Let go.’
Squinching my eyes closed, I did. Cal pulled me back up and lifted me a couple of steps up so that we were both standing on the coir mat that lay outside my front door. Cal was big and the mat was small so it was kind of a squeeze. A little bit of my brain sent out an alarm that this should bother me. Another bit smacked the alarm with a hammer and the noise stopped.
‘Thanks.’
‘You’re welcome. You need to get some salt or grit on these. That could have been nasty.’
‘As opposed to just incredibly mortifying,’ I mumbled as I fished around in my pocket for my key.
‘I wouldn’t go as far as saying “incredibly” …’
I tilted my head up to face him in the half-light of a waning moon. He was smiling and doing that thing that made the world disappear.
‘I would,’ I replied, plunging the key into the lock, and giving it a turn. Risking a look back up, I saw that the smile was still there.
‘You sure you’re OK?’
‘Perfectly.’
‘Parfait?’
‘Oh crap. You heard that too.’
‘I’m hearing a lot this evening.’
I rubbed a hand over my face. ‘Like I said, that thing before was out of context.’
‘I’d love to know what it was like in context then.’
‘I don’t remember.’
Cal laughed, deep, warm, and worryingly sexy. ‘That’s such a cop-out answer.’
I shrugged.