Page 59 of A Merry Little Christmas
‘That’s not the point.’
‘But it could have killed us. I saved a village from disaster, remember? AtChristmas!’ She started chuckling at the very thought, and after a moment, I joined in. Itwaspretty funny when you thought about it...
Maddy, of course, could skate beautifully, but the rest of us were varying degrees of rubbish.
After half an hour of staggering around the rink, holding onto each other and spending rather more time in a horizonal position than vertical, we called it a day and took our damp butts off to the food wagon for warm pancakes with cinnamon apples or chocolate sauce.
I chose the cinnamon apple pancakes and they were absolutely delicious.
As Maddy muttered to me, out of Ellie’s earshot, it was amazing what you could do with apples – as long you steered well clear of the vinegar...
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
It was the following Friday and I was waiting with Penny in my car outside the school. We were talking about Will.
She’d been to the school and talked to Will’s teacher about the bullying and she said she was feeling so much better just knowing the school was now aware of what was going on.
‘But honestly, I think being in the show will help Will so much with his confidence,’ she said. ‘I feel like he’s blossomed since he got the part of Shrek. And that’s all thanks to you.’
I smiled. ‘I’m really glad.’
‘He’s made some new friends as well. His best buddy seems to be a boy called Daniel. He plays the part of Donkey in the show?’
‘Hey, that’s great. I’m so pleased for him.’ I felt quite emotional hearing about Will’s transformation from being the target for Lewis’s bullying to being the star of the school Christmas show.
‘Look, I realise things are a bit awkward for you with my brother at the moment,’ Penny was saying, ‘but I know Will would love it if you came to see him in the show. We’ve got a spare ticket?’
I hesitated, weighed down by heartache. ‘Maybe. We’ll see.’
Penny had guessed I wasn’t myself and I’d found myself admitting to her that my relationship with Caleb seemed to be on the rocks . . . that he’d obviously gone off me. She’d rubbished that idea immediately, saying it was clear he was crazy about me. But I’d known she was only saying it to make me feel better. By her own admission, she hadn’t actually seen Caleb to talk to for ages... and a lot could happen in a few short weeks...
‘Oh, here he comes.’ Penny smiled. ‘Don’t wave. He gets embarrassed.’
We watched as Will chatted to another boy outside the school gates. Then he ran over to the car and hopped in the back seat, saying, ‘Daniel’s got a new bike so he’s going to ride over tomorrow afternoon and we’re going on a mish.’
‘That sounds good. As long as you’re careful.’
Will sighed. ‘I’m always careful, Mum.’
‘Of course you are.’ Penny’s eyes swivelled to mine with a secret smile.
‘Amish?’ I murmured, puzzled, as we set off for Penny’s house.
‘Mission.’
‘Ah, right.’ I glanced at Will in my rear-view mirror. ‘Hi, Will.’
He smiled. ‘Hi. I don’t need babysitting any more, you know.’
‘I’d still prefer someone to be with you when I go out,’ said Penny. ‘But you are twelve now, so we’ll have a chat about it soon, okay?’
Will shrugged. ‘Okay. So you’re going out with Dad tonight? What’s that all about, then?’
‘Just a friendly drink and a meal.’ She turned and smiled at him. ‘We’ll probably spend the evening talking about you. I said I’d take your dad out for dinner to thank him for rescuing me from that awful date the other week.’
Suddenly, there was a loud roar from behind us and when I looked back, a car I’d noticed travelling close behind me earlier, was now overtaking and getting dangerously near to actually shunting me off the road.
‘Whoa! That wasmad!’ exclaimed Will as it screeched past, missing us by what seemed like a hair’s breadth, before cutting in front of us in an aggressive manner, which meant I had to stamp on the brake. A few seconds later, the car accelerated away from us at speed.
