Page 36 of Winter Magic on Railway Lane

‘Even when it’s this beautiful?’ he asked.

He had a point, she had to concede. From the large windows, she could see out across the fields, where the mist hung on to the cold ground and, in the distance, the hills rolled out to the horizon. The trees had begun to change to a kaleidoscope of golds, reds and orange as autumn went on.

Despite the many exotic places she had visited through her flight attendant job, nowhere had ever matched the beauty of her own village and surrounding area.

‘See?’ he said, in a smug tone.

‘Just get us out of here,’ she told him, not wanting to admit that he was right.

To her surprise, he walked over and sat next to her.

‘You do this every time,’ he said, his tone more serious. ‘Ever since I first met you, in fact. As soon as you’re in trouble, you isolate yourself away from your friends and don’t tell us anything.’

She frowned at him. ‘Us?’

He nodded. ‘Yeah. I was your friend too, remember? Not just the girls. So I know the signs that you’re struggling, Libby Jacobs.’

She shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to admit that he was right. ‘It’s always been a struggle,’ she muttered. ‘You know that.’ She paused before carrying on. ‘I only got through my childhood because of you.’

It was true. Ethan had always been there to cheer her up with some silly joke or to whisk her away into Cranbridge where they could spend hours messing about beside the river, being anywhere other than their unhappy homes.

‘Right back at you,’ he replied before he frowned. ‘At least you took care of your dad when he needed you,’ he carried on. ‘I’m the weak one. I’m the one who kept running, leaving Ryan to deal with everything this past year.’

‘You’re back here now,’ she said. ‘That’s the most important thing.’

‘Only for now,’ he reminded her. ‘My next job starts after Halloween so I’ll be gone again.’

She felt suddenly felt sad that she wouldn’t be seeing Ethan on a daily basis for much longer.

‘But I’m sure I can drive you mad whilst I’m still here,’ he told her with a smile. ‘As always.’

As usual, he was deflecting any sort of discussion about his own personal feelings with humour. He was the same, familiar Ethan that she had always known. The best friend that had been missing for so long in her life.

She gave a start as he covered her hand with his larger, warmer one and squeezed it. She blinked back the sudden tears that were pricking her eyes.

She couldn’t stop herself from blurting out, ‘I’m so glad we’re friends again.’

He gave her a long look. ‘Friends?’ he said, raising his eyebrows.

For a second she couldn’t breathe as she read the unspoken words in his eyes.

After a long pause, Ethan broke into a smile. ‘Okay. Friends it is,’ he said. ‘Unless you want to make me a partner in that profitable chocolate business of yours?’

‘The only thing I want you to do is stop this train,’ she replied, swiftly moving her hand away from his and getting up to look out of the window once more, hoping the cool air would help lessen the heat that had flared up in her cheeks.

What concerned her most at that moment, even more than the chocolate sitting unmade in the school kitchen, was what had happened to her the night before. She had probably needed to blow off a bit of steam, but surely she’d have done that with her friends rather than Ethan?

Of course, the two of them had been friends once. So many years ago, he had been her everything. He knew her inside out, but the years had passed and they had grown apart. Or so she had thought.

Now, when she had let her guard down, he had roared back into her life. She didn’t even know what they had talked about the previous evening. Apparently, she had slept in his arms too and she had absolutely no idea how she felt about that.

All she knew was that she was never drinking gin ever again.

22

Ethan had woken up feeling uncomfortable but happier than the first time in ages.

For a brief second, as he had realised where he was, he had relished having Libby in his arms. But then the train had begun moving and reality had brought them both down to earth with a large bump.