Page 75 of It Always Snows on Mistletoe Square
Christian nods sheepishly.
‘So, what did happen?’ Estelle asks again, clearly sensing Christian’s injuries aren’t simply the result of a drunken tumble.
‘Got into a bit of a fight,’ Christian says shrugging. ‘It was nothing.’
‘About?’ Estelle prompts him.
‘I think you know what about, Estelle.’ Christian looks Estelle knowingly in the eye. ‘The usual.’
Estelle nods. ‘And as usual you don’t want to talk about it. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to patch your friend up,’ she tells Angela. ‘But this is probably the worst so far.’
‘You might have been patching up a bit more than my head if Ange here hadn’t come along,’ Christian says, looking gratefully at Angela.
‘Just doing me bit,’ Angela says. ‘I saw a damsel in distress and rode to his rescue!’
Christian grins.
‘Is someone going to fill me in?’ Estelle looks between them. ‘Or do I have to guess?’
‘Just tell her, Chrissy,’ Angela says. ‘No point hiding it now you’re safe.’
Christian sighs. ‘All right. I know better than to try and argue with two women! Who, may I say, are much fiercer than any foe I’ve ever met in a pub!’
Angela smiles at Estelle, and Estelle nods her agreement.
‘Right, so I was in this pub – a pub, might I add, that I’ve been to many times before with no problems whatsoever. I was with a few of my mates, and things were getting a little … flirty, shall we say, at the bar.’
‘Christian, I’ve told you to be careful,’ Estelle says.
‘I know, but this was known to be a safe pub before tonight – we’d always been all right there before. Tonight, however, they’d let some new fellas in. I don’t think they knew what sort of pub it was, and … well, let’s just say they took a dislike to what they saw at the bar.’
‘How much of a dislike?’
Christian shrugs. ‘Enough that it hurt.’
‘You was getting the shit beat out of you, Chrissy,’ Angela pipes up. ‘Don’t pull punches. Eek, sorry, that’s a bad choice of words.’
‘Like I said, things got a little heated, and there may have been a broken beer bottle or two. One of which caught me on the head.’ He gently touches the dressing Estelle has applied to his wound. ‘Ow.’
‘But then I arrived and saved your bacon, eh?’ Angela says, grinning proudly.
Christian nods. ‘You did indeed.’
‘What did you do?’ Estelle asks.
‘I was just coming out of the ladies’ and I saw this scuffle. I knew immediately what was going on, on account of what was being shouted – you know the sort of words?’ She looks at Estelle.
Estelle nods. ‘Sadly, yes.’
‘So I pretended to be your girlfriend, didn’t I, Chrissy? I got all, “Please don’t beat up my fiancé, we’re getting married soon!”’ Angela clasps her hands together in the dramatic manner of a black-and-white-movie heroine.
‘She did.’ Christian nods. ‘It was quite convincing, after I’d got over the fact I was suddenly engaged to a complete stranger!’
‘Convincing? I should be nominated for an Oscar for that performance.’ Angela haughtily sticks her chin in the air, then she grins. ‘It made them stop for a moment anyway.’
‘Long enough for me to wriggle free,’ Christian adds, seeming to enjoy this story as much as Angela, even though he was on the receiving end of the violence.
‘Then I grabbed hold of Chrissy, and started making this huge fuss of him, and said how my dad was a policeman and he’d be livid when I told him someone had been beating up his future son-in-law.’
