Page 14 of Winter Wishes at Pennycress Inn

‘I do. It’s gorgeous.’ Laura placed the Tupperware tub she was carrying on the small work surface space before circling the camper. She trailed her fingers across the patchwork sofa upholstery Scarlett had painstakingly handsewn and ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the multi-coloured tiles Scarlett had painted by hand to cover up the grease stains she hadn’t been able to shift after finding them in a skip.

‘Thanks. I’ve still got some bits I want to do to it. Like the front seats have a few marks on and I need to take a look at the water pressure for the shower as it comes out as a dribble.’ Scarlett waved her hand towards the back of the van.

‘You have a shower?’ Laura widened her eyes as she pivoted on the spot, her eyes searching for where Scarlett had hidden the shower.

Scarlett laughed as she took the few short steps towards the back of the van and pulled open the curtains covering the back doors and unhooked the showerhead to hold it up. ‘Here it is.’

Tilting her head, Laura frowned. ‘I’m so confused. You just shower in here, with everything like this? Doesn’t it all get wet?’

‘No, I open the back doors and pull a curtain around and shower out the back.’ Scarlett laughed as an expression of horror covered her cousin’s face. ‘No one can see anything.’

‘Right, okay.’ Perching on the edge of the sofa, Laura glanced around again. ‘You’ve taken this renovation seriously, haven’t you? I mean, someone could almost live in here long term quite comfortably.’

‘Yes.’ Scarlett nodded. She hadn’t planned on telling Laura she’d moved out of the flat to live in the van, but she seemed as though she’d understand. ‘It is. It’s super comfy.’

‘So you are living in here then.’ It wasn’t a question, it was a statement, almost as if Laura had known all along and had just been biding time until she could confirm her suspicions.

‘You knew?’ Sitting down beside her, Scarlett picked at the hem of her jumper. How had she guessed? Had it been because Scarlett told her she was going to stay in Meadowfield for the month, and she’d just assumed?

Nodding, Laura twisted on the sofa so she was facing her. ‘I had a call from Tyler this morning.’

‘Tyler?’ Scarlett widened her eyes. Why on earth would he be ringing Laura? How had he even got her phone number? He’d met her a couple of times over the years, but Scarlett hadn’t realised they’d exchanged numbers. ‘I didn’t even know he had your number.’

‘He said he found the wedding invitation in the flat. Why didn’t you tell me you had nowhere to go? You could have stayed with us, we could have block booked a room.’

Shifting position on the sofa, Scarlett looked at her. ‘I didn’t want to worry you.’

‘Have you been living in your van since you and he finished? Why wouldn’t you have lived at the flat until it had sold?’

‘It was always his flat. He paid for everything: the mortgage, the bills. It was never mine. I needed to move out.’ Scarlett swallowed, a lump forming in her throat. She couldn’t admit that if she’d stayed there, she’d been worried he would have spun more lies, made the whole situation sound all right somehow, or had her believe he’d left his wife. No, she couldn’t have. She couldn’t believe anyone any more. Not anyone. After all, she’d trusted Tyler, she’d hung on to his every word, and he’d been using her all along. He’d been seeing her behind his wife’s back all these years, and Scarlett hadn’t seen through him at all. She hadn’t noticed any cracks in his lies, any hint that he was leading a double life. She felt stupid. She was stupid.

‘Oh, the way he’d spoken, he sounded as though he’d have allowed you to carry on living there while you looked for somewhere else.’ Laura reached out and laid her hand on Scarlett’s arm.

Scarlett shook her head firmly. ‘No, I needed to get out. For me. Things didn’t end particularly amicably, and I can imagine how kind he sounded on the phone, but… no.’

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t realise. When me and Harry broke up, nobody could understand why I’d broken things off with him. You must remember my parents inviting him round to the house after I’d moved out here?’

Scarlett nodded.

‘I hated it. I hated the thought that he was still in their lives. It felt as though they were on his side somehow, as daft as I know that sounds.’ Laura gave a small smile. ‘Anyway, whatever happened between you and Tyler, I’ll always be Team Scarlett, just so you know.’

‘Thanks,’ Scarlett mumbled as she averted her eyes. The truth was, no one would be on Team Scarlett if they found out Tyler was married and had been throughout their three-year relationship. And it wouldn’t matter that she’d been oblivious to his other life because, well, it just sounded far-fetched, didn’t it? It just sounded like some unbelievably naïve and flaky character from a film or something. People would say there must have been signs, and she’d just chosen not to see what had been staring her in the face all those years. She’d even struggled to get Devon to believe that she hadn’t been privy to that side of Tyler’s life, and that was Devon, the guy with more of a colourful love life than most. No, she couldn’t, she wouldn’t risk people thinking differently of her, seeing her for the naïve person she was. ‘Umm, do you want a cuppa?’

‘Ooh, yes, please. I could just do with a tea.’ Laura began shrugging off her coat before pulling it quickly over her shoulders again. ‘Yikes, is it absolutely freezing in here or am I coming down with something? Please tell me you have heating.’

Standing up, Scarlett walked across to the tiny but well-equipped kitchen area and filled up the kettle. ‘It’s not you. It is cold. I’ve just realised the heater is broken, it’s usually super toasty in here.’

‘Oh no! Really?’ Laura stared at the heater as though willing it to work would fix the problem.

‘Yep. I’m hoping I’ll be able to fix it tomorrow, but I’ll likely need a part and the internet signal here is rubbish.’ After pouring the tea, Scarlett passed a mug to Laura before sitting back down.

‘You can’t stay here, not overnight. The temperature is supposed to dip even further. You’ll freeze to death.’ Laura shook her head. ‘Come and stay at the inn. We’re booked out, but Jackson will happily take the sofa.’

‘No. I’m not pushing Jackson out of his own bed.’ Scarlett lifted her mug to her lips. As much as she was tempted, she wasn’t about to evict Jackson from the owner’s suite so she could stay. ‘I might take you up on the offer of the sofa, though, if you really don’t mind? I can be up and out of the sitting room before your guests get up in the morning.’

‘Of course I don’t mind. In fact, you’ll be doing me a favour because I’ll only stay up worrying about you all night and…’ Screeching, Laura suddenly jumped up from the sofa, her hot tea spilling down the front of her coat and the rug on the floor. ‘There’s something in here. You’ve got rats.’

Placing her mug quickly on the side, Scarlett reached across and scooped up little Thelma, cradling her in her arms. ‘Thelma, meet Aunty Laura.’