Page 28 of The Cornish Christmas Book Clu
‘Thanks.’ He gave the scone a wary look.
‘Don’t tell me. You’re one of the rare men who doesn’t like sweet things?’
‘Okay, I won’t.’
‘Won’t what?’
‘Tell you you’re spot on and therefore make you mad at me.’ Gage shrugged, as though it was his lot in life to put people’s backs up.
‘Relax. I prefer honesty, remember?’
He picked up the scone and cautiously took a bite, then another. ‘It’s not bad. Not too sweet, although I’d probably—’
‘Prefer it without the icing.’
‘Well, yeah. Sorry.’
‘Nothing to be sorry for. We’re all different. At least I won’t have to fight you for the thickly iced corners of Christmas cake.’ She licked her lips. ‘They’re my absolute favourite.’
Gage shuddered.
Next thing they were both laughing and Tamara felt back on safer ground.
Chapter Eleven
‘Do you think he’ll have the nerve?’ Pixie pushed a strand of messy blonde hair out of her face. ‘God, this wig is getting on my nerves.’ Her Halloween costume was inspired by an old picture of her namesake, Pixie Geldof, wearing a skimpy black satin slip-dress, electric blue tights, black lace-up Doc Martens and a huge silver cross around her neck. They’d had a good laugh over the hairstyle because, instead of sexy and tousled, it looked like a bird was using it as a nest.
‘He turned a funny colour when I prodded him about it.’ Tamara snickered. ‘A bit like gone-off milk? Sort of green around the edges.’
‘He’ll do it for you, lovey. Anything to get in your spandex trousers.’ Pixie waggled her fake eyelashes. She’d grumbled about them too earlier and was deathly afraid they’d come unstuck and land in someone’s pint.
It’d seemed a fun challenge when she considered playing off his half-promised John Travolta impersonation by channelling her own inner sexy Sandy. Now she simply felt exposed and uncomfortable.
‘Don’t be daft. Things aren’t like that between us.’
’What about the famous kiss? We’ve all heard about that.’
Tamara’s face flamed. ‘One kiss. We got a bit carried away, that’s all.’
Pixie sniggered. ‘I’d say you did.’
‘Anyway, Christos couldn’t keep his eyes off you earlier in that outfit.’ She firmly changed the subject.
‘Only until Emily paraded in and then his eyes shot out on stalks,’ Pixie said dryly. ‘I’m surprised Paul let her out of the house in that Elizabeth Hurley look-alike safety-pin dress. She’s only just turned eighteen for Christ’s sake. Where she got her looks from, I don’t know.’
‘True.’ Paul and Becky were lovely people, but regular looking. Somehow, their eldest daughter was a slender, doe-eyed, brunette knockout.
Tamara found Christos’s interest disturbing too, on several levels.
‘I’ve told him you’ll stop work at half seven to join your quiz team, so he’ll have to pull his finger out then.’ Pixie’s voice wobbled. ‘I’m not sure he’s cut out for this.’
‘I suppose it’s a huge learning curve and very different from what he’s used to. For both your sakes, I hope he gets there and soon.’ Deep down she wasn’t convinced, but time would tell.
‘Yeah, I need to cut him some slack, I suppose. It’s early days.’
‘I’ll pick up the dirty glasses, okay?’
They’d spent ages this morning decorating the pub. Black silky cobwebs dotted with huge scary plastic spiders were draped from the rafters, and white, eerily realistic skeletons were tucked into the best spots to startle people. Rocky had done an awesome job carving pumpkins to dot around the place, all lit with safe LED candles so they didn’t end up calling the fire brigade. While they’d been fixing it all, they’d joked that after they took it down again, it’d almost be time to decorate for Christmas. They wouldn’t be the first in the village to get in the festive spirit because the Webb and Burt families who lived next door to each other in Wesley Lane had put theirs up already. The quasi-friendly rivalry had started a while ago now and seemed to escalate annually as each tried to outdo the other. Oversized inflatables were the thing these days, and, this year, a giant Father Christmas in one garden looked scornfully across at the huge snowman next door, who topped its height by an annoyingly obvious degree.
