Page 113 of The Holiday Cottage

Imogen studied the recipe and started making notes in her phone. “I want it to be special.”

“I’ll get Patrick to choose you a good wine,” Sara said. “How about candles? Do you have candles?”

“There are candles in the cottage.”

Imogen looked doubtful. “Do you think candles will be too much? I don’t want to scare him.”

“He’s not the sort of guy who scares easily. Unless you expect him to attend the school play unaccompanied. Also—” Sara leaned forward “—candlelight is very forgiving. If the food isn’t perfect, he won’t be able to see.”

Dorothy gave her a look. “The food will be perfect. Do you want us to keep Ralph here?”

“No, but thank you.” Imogen bent to stroke him. “We love having him around.”

“Well, I’m sure Ralph would happily devour a boeuf bourguignon, so make sure you don’t leave him alone in the kitchen.” Dorothy grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen and started scribbling a shopping list for their trip. “The meat benefits from marinating overnight so we should probably shop this afternoon if we have time. Do you have plans?”

“Just wrapping the Christmas gifts I bought yesterday and getting ready for the play.” Imogen paused. “And I need to go and buy a stamp.”

“A stamp? For a card? I can give you one of those.” Sara opened her purse and found a stamp. “I thought you didn’t send cards.”

“I never have before. This is a first.” Imogen hesitated. “I had another call from Tina.”

Sara’s smile faded. “Oh.”

“I ignored it. I was on my dream date.”

“Good for you.”

Sara scooted her chair closer to Imogen’s and put her hand on her arm. “Did she leave a message?”

“Just that I should call her,” Imogen said. “Which means she must want something.”

Ralph dropped his bone on the floor and crossed the room to her.

“Are you going to call her?”

“I almost did this morning. Partly because that’s what I always do—it’s hardwired into me—and partly because I’m upset and I want answers. She made the decision to cut you out of her life, and she made that decision for all of us. She didn’t give me a choice and she didn’t give you a choice.” Imogen stroked Ralph’s head. “I considered going back to London for the day and hammering on her door so that I could get those answers face-to-face.”

“If you want to go and talk to her in person, then I’ll come with you,” Sara said immediately, and Imogen gave a wavering smile.

“Thank you. You have no idea how much it means to know that you’d do that. But you don’t need to, because I’m not going.”

Dorothy felt a huge wave of relief. She’d been so afraid that Tina might somehow manage to disrupt the new tender shoots of their relationship.

“You’re not?”

“No. I talked it through with Miles, and I realized that getting answers won’t make any difference to how I feel. There is nothing she can say that will change anything, so in a way her reasons don’t matter, do they? It’s done. It happened. It’s in the past. Even if she were to say she was sorry and that she regretted it, it wouldn’t change where we are now. And I’d rather focus on where we are now.”

“So are you going to return her call?”

“No. I’ve written her a Christmas card. My first ever card.” Imogen gave a half smile. “And in the card I told her that I’d met you, and that moving forward you’re going to be part of my life. A big part. And if she would also like to be part of my life and have a proper relationship, then she can get in touch. But if it is to stand a chance of working she needs to stop blaming me, and also you, for the choices she made, and start taking responsibility. Obviously I’d love an apology, but unless Santa can work miracles, I don’t suppose that will be coming my way anytime soon.”

Dorothy felt a rush of respect and something close to awe. “You’re really quite incredible.” Her voice broke a little and Imogen pulled a face.

“I’m really not,” she said. “I should have said it years ago, but I couldn’t bear the idea of cutting ties with the person I believed to be my only family, even if she was only interested in me for what I could provide. I wish I’d done things differently, but I’m not going to beat myself up about that. I did what felt right at the time, and that’s all you can do.”

I did what felt right at the time.

Dorothy felt a lump gather in her throat. That was true of her, too. She’d done what felt right at the time. And she’d beaten herself up about it ever since.

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