Page 67 of One Snowy Day
‘That’s a very good point.’
She raised her glass. ‘Sofa?’
He clinked it with his beer bottle. ‘Sofa.’
Not long after, the café had been cleared, he’d let Alyssa know he’d pop back in the morning, and all the goodbyes had been said.
When they moved out into the street, Georgie linked arms with him as they made their way along the snow-covered road. That’s when he looked around, took it all in. He couldn’t help thinking that his mum would love this. And she would definitely approve of his decision to stay.
Because as his eyes locked again with the woman walking next to him, he decided there was a very definite possibility that he’d just found one very good thing at the end of the day.
EPILOGUE
SEVEN MONTHS LATER
Alyssa Canavan pressed the button on her brand-new coffee machine and watched as a perfect iced cappuccino poured into the glass mug on the silver drip tray. It had been her biggest new investment since the Once Upon A Time Café re-opened on the other side of the street from where it used to be. The refit of the salon had taken three weeks in total, but Lachlan Morden had been as good as his word and taken care of the labour and the construction costs. Apparently, the café offer had been ten grand over the asking price, and he was happy to donate his half of that – in advance of the sale being finalised – to the worthwhile cause of keeping the people of Weirbridge in teas, coffees and prawn toasties.
Of course, he wasn’t the only one who’d helped with the work or the costs. Alyssa put the iced cappuccino down on the table that was occupied by one of her new regular customers.
‘There you go, Stan.’ The DNA test results had come in a few weeks after he’d provided his services as an electrician for the duration of the refit. Alyssa wasn’t sure if she’d ever get used to calling him ‘dad’, but they’d both agreed she could stick withStan until it felt right. Her mother had accepted Stan’s paternal status pretty swiftly, but she’d been mortified that now that the truth was out, Stan hadn’t taken the opportunity to ride off into the sunshine with her. Her delusion truly knew no bounds. All Dorinda had succeeded in doing that night was embarrass herself and show her true colours and she’d suffered the consequences. Alyssa had come to terms with it and forgiven her mother for the sake of her family and her peace of mind, but the villagers hadn’t. The rumours. The glances. The whispers everywhere she went. Dorinda loved attention, but not that kind. She’d never bothered to form friendships in the village, and now people actively boycotted her, after learning that not only had she kept such a secret from Alyssa, and then tried to weaponise it to wreck Jessie’s marriage, but she’d showed absolutely no remorse for her actions. No one would give her the time of day after that. Dorinda hadn’t given a toss about their judgements, but she did care that the locals would no longer even consider using her property services. Only a couple of months after the party, she’d packed her bags and moved to Benidorm, saying she wanted a fresh start where no one knew her. Last Alyssa had heard, she was working in a golf club bar there. Bit of a full circle moment.
Meanwhile, Stan and Jessie had covered the rest of the costs of the refit. Jessie had said it was only fair, because they owed her plenty of years of backdated child support.
In the meantime, Stan’s daily visits and chats had become the favourite part of Alyssa’s day. She was going to miss him when he went off to Tenerife next week.
She called back over to her favourite man, who was currently re-stocking the sausage roll shelf. ‘Grandad, are you okay if I take a break and sit here with Stan for a few minutes?’
Hugo nodded. ‘Of course, love.’ He’d taken all the dramas remarkably well, and Alyssa knew that his friendships with Jessieand Val had helped him to get through it all. Her grandad would always love his daughter, but Alyssa sensed that there was a tiny bit of relief now that her mum was out of sight and no longer causing drama and turbulence in his life.
She was just about to sit with her d…Stan, when the door opened and Ginny charged in, bellowing, ‘Emergency situation!’
‘I’ve got this, Alyssa,’ Grandad told her, before turning to his other granddaughter. ‘And the emergency would be…?’
‘Five caramel shortcakes, six ginger slices and three empire biscuits. I’m trying to bribe the film crew to give me more screen time.’
It had made absolutely no difference to their relationship that they now knew they were half-sisters with different fathers. Nor had her sister’s dramatic flair subsided in any way since she had joined the coaching team at the Moira Chiles Academy of Drama and Music. What had changed, however, was that she’d developed high hopes of TV fame, as a documentary team had been filming at the Academy for months now, and the first episode was airing next week. There was going to be a watch party in the Academy’s theatre, and their grandad had already booked out a whole row for their customers and his pals.
Alyssa was taking the night off, which was easier now that Kayleigh –her niece– was home from university for the summer. She was interning full time at her Aunt Helena’s law firm, but keen to help out at the café a couple of nights a week for extra cash.
It was strange how everything had worked out. Every now and then, Alyssa caught herself wondering if she’d rather things had stayed the same. Still over at the old café. Still living in the flat above it. But the answer was currently getting out of the van that had just parked in front of the café window.
Casey Munn was one of the project managers over on thedevelopment of flats that were being built in the building that used to house the Once Upon A Time Café. He’d come to look at the property the week after Jason Morden had sold it, and fallen in love with Alyssa’s empire biscuits. Last week, after four months of dating, he’d told her he’d fallen in love with her too. She was going to nip through to the salon later and Jessie was going to do her hair for their date tonight. She wanted to make a special effort so Casey would remember how she looked the first time she told him she loved him back.
Jessie McLean finished applying Cathy’s violet rinse and moved her over to the mirrors so that she could get started on Val’s blow-dry. Aye, she was still on her feet behind a hairdressing chair, but she didn’t mind it in the least, because it was only two days a week. It was the best of both worlds. She’d kept the salon going for all her regulars in the village, and on the other three days a week, the chairs had been rented out on a one-year agreement to a couple of lovely lassies who were just starting out in their careers. All the younger ones went to them, and the feedback had been terrific. If Georgie ever came back, which was looking increasingly unlikely, then she could take Jessie’s slot and she’d also have the income from the chair rentals and Alyssa’s café rental, until she decided what she wanted to do with the salon. If she didn’t come back, well, Jessie would retire one day, but she wasn’t in any hurry. It wasn’t like Stan was nagging her to go now.
Val must have read her mind.
‘How are things going with Stan, Jessie?’
Her pals had been an incredible support over the last few months, and she couldn’t imagine what she’d have done without them, because Lord knows it hadn’t been easy. Burying Stan’saffair for all those years had been one thing, but when it came out, it had forced them to take a long hard look at their marriage. It had been touch-and-go for a while, but they’d come out the other end of it all with a relationship that was different from before. There were no secrets now. No resentments. Just honesty and full disclosure on both sides. Luckily there had been a twenty-four-hour cooling-off period on the lease that he’d signed, so he’d cancelled that the morning after the party.
‘You know, it was always you I loved Jessie. It was a mistake that I’ve been ashamed of since it happened,’ he’d told her that night. She’d known that was true and he’d proved it every day since with his love, his loyalty and his determination to do right by his family, including Alyssa. She’d forgiven him for the affair a long time ago, but somehow this had all brought them even closer. In trying to wreck them, Dorinda Canavan had actually made them stronger. And for Jessie, that was a win that she’d take every moment of the rest of her and Stan’s days together.
‘They’re going fine, Val,’ Jessie answered honestly. ‘He’s off to Tenerife next week and I’ll join him for a fortnight in August.’ That was the new deal they’d struck. Stan would go over for a couple of months at a time, and Jessie would join him for a week or two in the middle. He got to play golf, and she enjoyed her time there… just as long as it didn’t stretch out long enough for her to miss her pals. ‘Hang on, my arse is buzzing.’
She groped into the back pocket of her trousers, and pulled out her phone, and saw that it was a FaceTime call from Georgie. She answered straight away, scanning the phone around the room so that Cathy and Val could give her a wave too. ‘Hello, love! Is that you just landed?’
Georgie Dern grinned into the phone, while dodging other passengers as she left the baggage reclaim and pushed her gargantuan case out of the arrivals hall. ‘It is, Mum. I’ll be home soon, and I’ll give you a shout as soon as I get there.’
