Page 49 of Winter Wishes at Pennycress Inn

‘I’m here. What’s happened? Please tell me Jackson managed to get you flights?’ Placing the mug on the work surface, Scarlett crossed her fingers.

‘Hey, Scarlett.’ Jackson’s voice boomed down the phone. ‘We didn’t but we’re being put up in a nice hotel for the night and hopefully we’ll either get one tomorrow or on Boxing Day.’

‘Oh really?’ Scarlett couldn’t keep the disappointment out of her voice. She needed Laura here, not over in a random airport in Italy.

‘Yep. I’m off to get some supplies before the coach takes us so I’ll see you soon. Hopefully.’

‘Bye, Jackson.’

‘You know what I’m going to ask you now, don’t you? Or I bet you can guess, at least,’ Laura asked.

‘You want me to stay on and look after Pennycress?’

‘Would you mind? I feel really bad,’ Laura groaned.

‘No, I don’t mind at all.’ Scarlett winced. ‘Although Nicola said there are a few people coming over for Christmas dinner. Will I have to cook it all?’

‘Haha, no. My mum will probably take over, to be honest, and Charlie is a mean cook so I’m sure he’ll be in his element too. And Vivienne, Nicola’s mum, of course.’ Laura laughed. ‘There’s a food delivery booked in for this evening with everything you’ll need. I booked the last spot of the night because of the carol service. Oh, would you be able to cover that too? It’s just serving hot chocolate and cake.’

‘Of course, we’ve got the boxes packed already.’ Scarlett looked across to the half-filled boxes of supplies. This was really happening, wasn’t it? Laura and Jackson were going to be stranded for Christmas Day. ‘You don’t sound particularly upset?’

‘Well, it’s just one of those things, isn’t it? Besides, it might be quite the adventure, spending Christmas just the two of us.’

‘Yes, I guess it might.’ Scarlett grabbed a spoon from the drawer just as she yawned. She really did need that caffeine.

‘I’m sorry, I’ve been babbling, and I’ve not even asked how everything is back there.’

‘Everything’s fine. The guests seem to be enjoying themselves.’ She omitted the incident of the fallen Christmas tree. That was a tale she could tell once Laura was home and could see everything really was okay again.

‘And how about you? You sound down.’ Laura’s voice filled with concern.

Scarlett picked up the bag of coffee grounds ready to spoon them into the cafetiere and slumped her shoulders. Rowan had brought these round and it may have just been a couple of days, but it was beginning to feel as though she hadn’t seen him in forever. ‘I’m okay.’

‘Uh-huh and I’m the Queen of Sheba. What’s happened? Tyler hasn’t been in touch again, has he?’

Scarlett shook more than enough grounds into the cafetiere. ‘He has but it’s not that, it’s…’

‘It’s what?’

‘Nothing.’ Scarlett turned down the open corner of the bag and pushed it to the back of the work surface. She wasn’t about to burden Laura with her problems. Not right now. Not whilst she was stranded away from home. ‘Honestly, I’m fine. Everything is good.’

‘Scarlett Wynters, this is your cousin you’re speaking to. Spill.’ Laura huffed. ‘And don’t you dare give me that “I’m fine” rubbish again.’

Scarlett turned her back on the work surface. She should have known Laura would work out something was wrong. She bit down on her cuticle.

‘Scarlett… Don’t make me flag down a pilot and force them to take me home in the snowstorm.’

‘Okay, okay.’ Scarlett sighed. Was she really going to tell Laura what had happened between her and Rowan? She didn’t really have a choice, did she? ‘You were right about the coffee cart incident being mine and Rowan’s meet-cute…’

‘Aww, I knew it! That’s so sweet! I knew you’d make a lovely couple.’

Scarlett waited until Laura had stopped gushing before continuing. ‘We’re not together any more.’

‘What? Wait. So you were a couple for how long? A few days? A week or so? What happened?’ The excitement in her voice had been replaced with concern. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Not really. I thought we had a decent chance, you know? He’s a lovely guy and I thought we worked well together but…’ She shifted the phone to the other ear. What was she supposed to say? She couldn’t – no, wouldn’t tell Laura about everything that had happened with Tyler. Not now, not whilst she was in a different country. She’d tell her when she could see her reaction, when she had the time to explain properly. ‘…there was a misunderstanding, and he doesn’t want to know me any more.’

‘Seriously? What do you mean? That’s a pretty strong reaction over a misunderstanding.’ Laura’s voice hitched an octave.