Page 56 of All We Want for Christmas
‘Lara, stop projecting so far forward. I get that His Shitty Lordship made your life impossible, but this isn’t the samesituation and my gut tells me that Flynn is one of the good guys. Who knows, he could even be the one?’
‘Hmm,’ Lara said, trying to shake off the sense of unease that niggled at her despite her friend’s wise words. ‘I’ll admit that would be very nice.’ Very nice indeed, she thought, as a memory of Flynn lounging in his bed wearing zero clothing came into her mind.
‘Let’s drink to it, shall we?’ Jazz said, smiling as she lifted her glass. ‘To “the one” and to a much happier Christmas than the last one. You deserve to let your hair down and celebrate more than anyone I know.’
The Spectacular was winding down when she arrived, so she was grateful for being able to cut in to the private staff car park and avoid the crowds queuing to leave. She slipped across the courtyard to the gate that led through to the staff cottages area but stopped under the archway. Flynn was helping a woman with a buggy down the step from his place. In the light spilling from the doorway, it was unmistakably Molly the waitress and her baby.
Lara dipped back into the shadow of the gateway. Flynn was saying something to Molly but she couldn’t hear what. She wasn’t sure shewantedto hear, but one conversation was ringing in her head.
‘I’d forgotten I was meant to meet Harvey at a pub. I am sorry.’
So why wasn’t Flynn meeting Harvey at the pub? Lara had expected him to be out until much later. Why was he here with Molly?
She could accept that his plans to meet Harvey hadchanged, but what was Molly doing in his cottage? With her baby too?
It could hardly be anything suspicious with the baby in tow, but it was very odd. She was probably half his age and, as far as Lara knew, they were strangers.
He’d tell her as soon as he could, she thought. She could even knock on his door now and ask him, yet something held her back.
Why should she hassle him? It would seem needy, and she would never ever be needy again. Not after Rob. Not ever.
No, she would wait for Flynn to explain, as he surely would.
Telling herself there would be a perfectly reasonable explanation, she walked to her cottage and went inside, turning on the lights.
Who knew, Flynn might pop over at any minute with a ‘You won’t believe what happened tonight’ tale they could both laugh at.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
By late afternoon the next day, Flynn still hadn’t popped over to her cottage. Despite having spotted him three times around the estate, he hadn’t come up to her to offer any explanation at all.
Lara refused to be the one to ask him why he’d lied to her and why Molly had been at his cottage. She’d wasted plenty of time coming up with answers to both scenarios but not a single one of them made her feel any better. Speculating was useless; she had to hear the truth willingly from his own lips.
They bumped into each other as darkness was falling and Lara was on her way back to her office after leading a tour. He was striding along a path that skirted the rear of the kitchens in a way that suggested he didn’t want to be held up. When he spotted her, he pulled up suddenly and looked startled.
She wasn’t sure she even wanted to speak to him, but there was no escape now. ‘Hi there,’ she said, cheerfully enough.
‘Hi.’ He grinned – nervously? Or was she being paranoid? ‘How was your class?’
She felt it was a strange choice for the opening of theirconversation. ‘It was – it was good. How was your evening with Harvey?’
‘Harvey?’ His brow creased in confusion. ‘It was – OK.’
Despite her sinking heart at his lie, Lara kept a smile on her face. It was just about possible Flynn had decided to meet his friend locally and then Molly had turned up the moment he’d got home.
‘Where did you meet?’ she asked.
‘Oh, the White Hart at Ravenglass.’
She nodded in approval. ‘Nice old place. Christmas menu, was it?’
‘Um. The usual stuff. Turkey, Christmas pud.’
Lara looked into his handsome face and felt queasy.
He looked around as if hoping someone would come to his rescue. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t stop. I have to go. I was on my way to sort out an issue with the grotto.’
She raised her eyebrows and said lightly, ‘Again?’
