Page 33 of Winter Magic on Railway Lane

‘Yeah, you wouldn’t want to be drunk in charge of a steam engine,’ laughed Del.

Ethan also settled for a Coke Zero at the bar instead of another pint of beer.

When the evening was over and they had all wandered back along the path to Cranfield, he saw his dad safely home but almost bumped into Libby, Katy and Flora as he began to walk along the platform to the old school.

‘Good evening,’ he said to them all.

‘For some of us,’ said Katy, with a roll of her eyes.

She and Flora were holding up Libby in between them. She was swaying from side to side and looking quite drunk.

‘Had a good evening, have we?’ asked Ethan, with a grin.

‘Too good,’ replied Flora. ‘She finished off most of the gin bottle, I reckon.’

Libby broke free of her friends’ arms and staggered away to twirl and dance to some imaginary song.

When she nearly twirled over and onto the railway track, Ethan leapt forward to steady her.

‘Hello,’ she said, looking up at him with a wide smile. But her eyes were glassy with alcohol, he realised.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen her that drunk.

‘Hello yourself,’ he told her. ‘I think it’s time we got you home.’

Luckily, her cottage was only a few short steps away.

But Libby went off in the other direction, running down the platform towards the station.

Ethan, Katy and Flora caught up with her as she crashed to a halt to stare up at the steam engine. It was all ready for its test run with the carriages, and apparently Dodgy Del too, the following morning.

‘Show me your train!’ said Libby imperiously to Ethan, as she spun back around again. ‘I’ve not had time to see it yet.’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ he replied.

Ethan exchanged a look with Katy and Flora, who merely smiled at him and said their goodnights before walking away.

Once they were alone on the platform, Libby took off her coat and flung her handbag onto a nearby bench before giving another little twirl. Then she walked over to stand in front of Ethan.

‘Show me the driving seat,’ said Libby, almost tripping over her feet.

‘You’ll lose your licence in this state,’ he replied, ushering her towards the driver’s cab.

She struggled on the steps and almost fell backwards onto him. ‘Whoops,’ she said, laughing.

Finally they made it inside, where she stood very close and his senses reeled from the soft aroma of the cocoa that she spent all her time around. She tried to take in what he was saying about the various levers, but in the end, Ethan gave up as he could see that she really wasn’t paying attention.

‘Can I blow the whistle?’ she said, reaching up to the cord.

‘Not if you want to wake up the whole of Cranfield,’ he said, grabbing her hand just in time. ‘Come on. It’s time for you to head home.’

But she began to shake her head. ‘I don’t want to,’ she replied. ‘I’ve let him down again.’

‘Him?’ Ethan wondered if she was talking about her dad.

He was so worried about her falling down the steps that he went first and lifted her down.

‘So you don’t want to go home? What do you want to do?’ he asked. ‘Make more chocolate?’