Page 73 of New Beginnings at the Little Christmas Inn
‘I don’t think you ever lost it, Fabio,’ Livvy said softly. ‘You haven’t done anything wrong. I didn’t mean that though. Earlier on you said, you hinted you–’
‘I have feelings for you.’ He sucked in a great breath, staring down at the gleaming work surface. A muscle in his cheek worked violently. ‘I fell for you when we drank cognac and renamed the pub. Yes, that long ago.’ He lifted his gaze to meet hers. ‘But I see how Mark looks at you. I see how you light up when he’s near. I know when it’s hopeless. That there can never be a me and you.’
For the second time Livvy was silenced. ‘Then how can you work here feeling like that?’
‘Because I’m a professional. And I think too much of you to leave you without a chef. Stewie will be good once he’s trained but he’s not anywhere near my standard yet.’
That ego again. Livvy felt a smile twitch about her lips. ‘You’ll stay then?’
Fabio nodded. ‘I’ll stay. Same as before. I’m here while my mama is sick.’ He sucked his teeth. ‘And when the worsthappens, I’ll work out as much notice as you need to find a replacement. That is my promise. My word.’
The relief was enormous. ‘No one could replace you, Fab.’
‘This is true.’
‘What’s going to happen about your mum’s flat?’
‘She’s got tenant’s rights but doesn’t want to stay there knowing that man is around. Mark’s looking into finding her somewhere, maybe in an assisted care unit.’
‘He’s a good kind man.’
‘A good man, full stop. Don’t let him get away, Livvy.’
‘Trouble is, Fab, I think we’re destined to be just friends. I don’t think he feels any other way about me. I think Mark and me are friends. Nothing more.’
CHAPTER 38
Flat white – espresso based coffee made with steamed milk,
deceptively strong
‘You taking my name in vain?’
Livvy ran to Mark, like an arrow seeking its target. She felt his arms enfold her as he hugged her to him. He smelled of the cold, of snow and Christmas. It didn’t matter how he felt about her. At this precise moment in time the only embrace she wanted was his.
Above her head she heard him say, ‘Oh, you off, Fabio? Well, yes, it’s been quite the evening. Thank you for everything. Night, mate.’
And then Mark led her back to the stool where she sat feeling exhausted, self-conscious, overwhelmed and about a hundred other emotions. She watched as he expertly made coffee on Fabio’s new machine. They didn’t talk until he put a mug in front of her. He sat on another stool on the opposite side of the work prep station. Far too far away. ‘Happy Xmas, War is Over’had finished long ago and was replaced by ‘It’ll Be Lonely This Christmas’. She really hoped it wasn’t an omen. Could she risk telling him how she felt? What if he just wanted friendship? An awkward one-sided relationship was a sure way to misery; she wasn’t sure she could be as pragmatic as Fabio.
‘Karl’s taken the kids home,’ the love of her life said matter-of-factly.
‘Kids?’
‘Sorry. I think of them as the kids. Shouldn’t really. I mean Stewie, Brittany and Eli. And I walked Simona round to her door. She said she’d be back tomorrow. Everything’s tidied and locked up. Even Austin helped out although I got an eyeful when he bent over to pick up some party popper streamers. I don’t think I’ll ever recover.’
‘Why?’
‘He’d gone commando tonight. There was nothing under that Fred Flintstone costume apart from what nature endowed. It’s put me off pickled eggs for life.’
Livvy managed a giggle.
‘Oh, and Angel’s been taken out for her late-night visit to the garden. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary to report from the car park. Well, apart from the snow, of course.’
‘Thank you. That was kind.’ God, this was stilted. Why couldn’t she look at him? She was like a teenager with a crush. But this was worse. Far worse. With the same hollow dropping out of the stomach you get when you miss the last step running downstairs, she grasped she was hopelessly, irrevocably, deeply in love with him. After a long pause, she said, ‘Shouldn’t you be getting back to Nats?’
‘She’s gone to our neighbour’s. They were doing Christmas cocktails. Heavy on the schnapps knowing Vince and Queenie.’
‘And you’ve missed it. And you won’t be able to get to your parents for Christmas. And it’s all my fault.’
