Page 54 of A Merry Little Christmas
She beamed at them and hurried over. ‘Been here a while, I see. Honestly, I could hear you from the reception area. It’s to be hoped you’re all on “lates” this week and not the dreaded “earlies”!’
Amanda hadn’t seen me, and we settled back into our own conversation.
‘So what on earth do we do now?’ pondered Kenzie. ‘Break into the village hall this time?’
‘That seems a bit risky,’ I pointed out.
Fen sighed. ‘Look, why don’t we forget all the subterfuge and just tell Ellie? Be honest with her about everything?’
I nodded. ‘We should probably just come clean and admit to her what happened... that we were all feeling ill after eating her chutney.’
Maddy made a face. ‘You really want to do that? Even though we now know most of the jars are now at the village hall, ready for the sale on Sunday, and it would be really easy to steal them so that Ellie would be none the wiser?’
‘How would it be easy, though?’ I asked.
‘Well, think about it. Jaz does Zumba classes at the hall and she has to lock up after her late class on a Thursday night.’
Jaz frowned. ‘I hope you’re not suggesting we break in using my key?’
‘But if you have a key, it wouldn’t be breaking in, would it? You could have a perfectly legitimate reason as an established key-holder, for letting yourself into the village hall after dark, when there’s no one else there.’
I laughed. ‘You really are enjoying all this, aren’t you, Maddy? We’d probably be spoiling your fun if we refused to plan Christmas Chutney Grab mark II!’
‘What? No! Of course I’m not enjoying it.’
Our laughter told her she was fooling no one. And in the end, it was decided that we’d gather at the village hall on Saturday evening, the night before the WI sale, and make sure none of the jars of chutney went home with any unsuspecting customer.
Amanda hadn’t noticed me so far, but a little later, when I went with Jaz to order more drinks, she came up to the bar.
‘Hi, Katja. I didn’t realise you were here.’ She smiled, although I thought she seemed a little awkward with me – not like her usual friendly self. She would know that Caleb and I were no longer together, of course.
‘Amanda!’ I thought it best to act as if I’d only just seen her, too. ‘How are you?’
‘Oh, you know. Working hard selling houses.’ She nodded at the rowdy group over in the corner. ‘I used to work with these muppets, would you believe?’
‘Before you got a job at Caleb’s company?’
She nodded. ‘I was finding it too stressful so when the opportunity came up to –’ Her phone, which was on the bar, rang at that moment. Looking at the name that had come up, she stopped in mid-sentence and snatched up the mobile.
‘Sorry. I’d better –’
‘Yes, of course,’ I said quickly.
She gave me another stiff little smile and hurried out of the bar, and I heard her say, ‘I’ll come right out. See you in a minute.’
I stared after her, my insides shifting uneasily.
It probably wasn’t Caleb she was rushing out to meet. But I had to know. Otherwise, I’d kick myself later for not finding out.
So I told Jaz I’d be back in a minute and I nipped out after Amanda.
Hurrying through the reception area of the hotel, I headed for the revolving door but stopped by the side of it. Going out into the street wasn’t necessary. I could see Caleb’s car parked directly outside – and Amanda was opening the passenger door and slipping inside.
I swallowed hard, feeling suddenly overwhelmed with emotion.
She’d been so eager to see Caleb, she hadn’t even said goodbye to the people she was with.
A second later, the car moved away into the traffic...
