All She Wants For Christmas

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He made no indication of having noticed. ‘It’s been a tough day for all of us. I’m ready to drop. Make yourself at home here and sleep well, I’ll see you in the morning.’

He turned abruptly, not waiting for her answer, and made for the fireplace, raking over the ashes to make sure that they were properly extinguished and closing the damper to conserve the heat in the room. He paused only to issue a curt ‘Goodnight’ in Beth’s direction and then he was gone.

Mariska’s portrait drew her attention back over to the sideboard. She’d been accomplished, beautiful and successful. This was the kind of woman that someone like Matt could love—that he had loved. If Beth had needed any proof that her reaction to Matt’s smile and the brush of his fingers was strictly one-sided, then here it was.

A stab of regret gave way to a grin. Could she be any more perverse if she tried? One minute she was willing Matt to be out of reach and the next she was regretting the fact that he was. Beth rolled her eyes at her own foolishness, collected her handbag and padded up the stairs to the room that was to be hers for the night.

It appeared that father and son were working as a team the following morning. As Jack helped Beth fold her clean clothes into a pile, ready to take back with her, Matt disappeared into the garage, reappearing again with a workmanlike toolbox and a length of copper pipe, which he loaded into the boot of his car along with the rest of her possessions.

From the way that they were both dressed, jeans, heavy jumpers and in Matt’s case a pair of thick-soled boots, it looked unlikely that he intended to simply drop her off at her cottage. As Matt produced a pair of red Wellingtons and a second pair of socks, insisting that Jack put them on, Beth wondered what he was intending to do with his morning, and when he intended to inform her about it.

Her cottage looked deceptively cheery from the outside, but inside it was a very different matter. The place was already beginning to smell damp and everything was cold and wet, including the walls. Matt dumped his toolbox in the hall and peered up the stairs at the loft hatch. ‘I’ll just go and take a look in the loft. Have you got a ladder?’

‘Please, you’ve done enough already. I texted Marcie this morning and she and her husband should be here in a couple of hours.’

He gave her a hurt look. ‘I’m pretty handy with a wrench. Learned all I know from my father—he’s a plumber and electrician by trade and has his own contracting company. He was very upset when I failed to follow in his footsteps and went to medical school.’

Matt’s lopsided grin gave the lie to any disappointment on his father’s part. A vision of what else Matt might be handy with flew into her head and she turned to Jack, trying to ignore the heat that was spreading through her. ‘Is there any end to your dad’s talents?’

‘Well, as Jack points out, I’m pretty deficient when it comes to signing. So I’ll just leave you two down here to send a few secret messages to each other while you’re mopping up.’ He gave her a wink, and suddenly he became an essential part of the rest of her morning.

Jack stamped on the wet carpet, his Wellington boots throwing up little splashes of water, and Beth couldn’t help but laugh. ‘I guess I don’t have much choice.’

‘No, you don’t. Jack, find the torch for me, will you?’

By the time Matt reappeared from the loft, an hour later, Beth was wiping the kitchen cupboards dry and Jack was tipping water from cups and bowls into the sink. His jeans were grimy from the loft and a streak of dirt ran across his brow, where he had obviously swept his hand across it. He looked about ten years younger and a world away from the tightly buttoned man that she had met yesterday.

‘Will you turn the water on if I shout when I’m ready?’ He took the stairs two at a time when she nodded her assent, and she craned to watch him disappear up through the loft hatch on the upstairs landing.

Matt’s ’Okay’ came booming down the stairs and Beth twisted the stopcock, hearing the pipes gurgle and bang as water rushed through them. She held her breath, waiting for any signs of a leak. Jack capered at the bottom of the stairs and turned to her as she strained to hear Matt’s muffled voice.

‘Dad says that it’s all okay up there.’ Jack skipped over to her and flung his arms round her neck and Beth stood up, lifting Jack with her and swinging him around. Suddenly her little house was hers again. The unruly cascades of water were back under control and she could start to think about cleaning up properly. After the shock of last night, when it had felt as if her whole world was crumbling around her, this was a huge step.

Matt appeared, grinning at his success, and before she knew what she was doing, Beth had laid her free hand on his shoulder and stood on her toes to brush a brief kiss across his cheek. Remembering herself, she drew back suddenly and found that Matt’s hand had snaked around her, his palm on the small of her back. As quickly as she felt it there, he pulled away, almost as if she had burned him, and he took a step back.

‘Water’s back on.’ He was grinning sheepishly.

Beth pulled at the sleeve of her jumper, feeling as self-conscious as Matt looked. ‘Thank you.’

Now that a couple of feet separated them, he was more at ease. ‘A pleasure, ma’am. Now, lets see how much water has got into the electrics. If I can isolate the circuit for the heating, it would be good to get that working at least.’

Beth’s phone vibrated and she hastily put another couple of yards between her and Matt as she looked at the screen. Marcie had got her text from this morning and was on her way over with James and double-strength cappuccinos to inspect the damage.

Matt was tinkering with the light switches, opening them up and allowing the water to drain out of them, when Beth saw the silver SUV manoeuvre along the lane and draw up behind Matt’s Mercedes. Before Marcie or James had the opportunity to get out of the vehicle, she was jogging down the front path towards them.

Fortunately, little seemed to be able to penetrate their shared glow of good humour this morning. Beth’s sleeping arrangements last night and Matt’s presence here now were accepted without comment from Marcie and with an observation from James that he was glad she hadn’t been trying to deal with this all on her own.

Marcie plucked two of the cardboard cups from the holder on her lap and handed them through the open window with a grin. Since Beth had already been rescued and it was unlikely that any further rescuing was going to be needed for the next hour, they would go and fetch Josh and Anna straight away.

When Beth let herself back into the house, Matt was in the hallway, looking as if he might be doing something. ‘Was that Marcie?’

‘Yes, and James, her husband. Here, they brought coffee.’ She handed him one of the cups. ‘There’s sugar in the kitchen if you want it.’

‘No, this is fine, thanks.’ He wound his fingers around the tall cardboard cup, and Beth saw that they were red from the cold. He’d been working without gloves and although his down jacket was thick enough to keep him warm, his hands must be freezing.

‘They’re just going to pick the children up from Marcie’s parents, and then they’ll come back here. James said they’ll stop off and hire a couple of those industrial blow heaters on the way. They’ll be back in an hour.’

‘Great. Well, I should be able to isolate the power circuits from the lighting ones by then, and we’ll be able to get some heat in here.’ He seemed in no mood to hurry away. Pleasure at the reprieve sneaked up and stabbed Beth in the back, like a treacherous lover.

However much she wanted to, though, she couldn’t keep him there. ‘Look, you’ve already done too much. It’s not that I’m not grateful, Matt, but you must have a whole load of things to do. I’m okay, really.’

His eyes wandered around the wet hallway. ‘Yeah, I can see that.’ He lifted the lid of the cardboard cup and took a mouthful of the hot coffee. ‘Let’s just get on here. I’d be happier if we got the electricity back on. What do you think, Jack?’ He glanced down at Jack, who had been standing between them, following the conversation.

‘Yeah. We can’t leave you on your own. You need our help.’ Jack was obviously repeating his father’s words to her and they stung like crazy. Did she really appear that pathetic? Beth laid her coffee cup down on the hall table, and bent down to face him.

‘But it’s really cold here, Jack. Aren’t you getting cold?’ She pulled off his glove and felt his hand. It was as warm as toast.

‘No.’ There was obvious solidarity between father and son on this point.

‘And we’re new in town here, remember? We’re not exactly overwhelmed with places to go and people to see yet,’ Matt broke in.

‘In that case … . Well, if you’d really like to stay on and meet Marcie and James, that would be great. Marcie was going to take her two home for lunch and then to the cinema this afternoon to let James and I get on here. Perhaps Jack would like to go along with them.’

Matt looked at Jack for confirmation. ‘Would you like to go to the cinema with Marcie? I’ll stay here with Beth and pick you up afterwards.’ He might be perfectly capable of steam-rollering over Beth’s wishes, but at least he listened to those of his six-year-old.

‘Yeah, Dad.’ Jack was practically running on the spot in a little dance of excitement. ‘Is it the film about the fishes? Marcie and I drew some fishes on Mrs Green’s card yesterday.’

Beth nodded. ‘That’s the one. Afterwards, perhaps you and your dad will come with us for something to eat.’ Matt drew a breath to speak and Beth cut him short before he could say no. ‘There’s a new Italian restaurant in town. Meant to be very good and it’s family friendly.’

‘Well …’

‘I insist. My shout. It’s the least I can do. Josh and Anna are around Jack’s age, so we won’t be making a late night of it.’

‘I’m—’

‘Go on, Dad!’ Jack was tugging at his jacket. ‘We never go anywhere.’ Now Matt was on the end of Jack’s propensity to reveal the uncomfortable. He had clearly not been exaggerating when he had indicated that their social life wasn’t exactly glittering at the moment.

Matt held up his hands, laughing. ‘Hold on a minute!’ Beth wasn’t sure whether the instruction extended to her or not, but she fell silent anyway.

‘Thank you—yes, we’d love to come.’ He raised one eyebrow at Jack, who was too pleased with the acceptance to notice. Matt’s grin became broader and Beth took Jack’s lead and ignored him.

‘Good. In that case I’ll just be getting on with something.’ Anything to conceal her flustered delight. She took Jack’s hand and led him into the kitchen, wondering what on earth she had just let herself in for.