Page 61 of A Merry Little Christmas

‘Poor Olek.’

‘It’s a shame I can’t just use your sperm and—’

Woody spat out his vodka. ‘What!’

Nell giggled. ‘Well, I could, couldn’t I? You could get me pregnant. No one would ever suspect.’

Woody went pink. ‘Um, Nell …’

She waved a hand at him and laughed. ‘Don’t worry, I’m only—’

Downstairs, a door slammed. Nell and Woody jumped out of their skins.

‘What was that?’ Nell hissed.

‘We’re being broken in to.’ Woody set his glass down on the coffee table with a trembling hand. ‘We’re in the middle of a robbery.’

They clutched at each other and strained to listen. Nell held her breath; her heart was pounding so loudly in her ears, she couldn’t hear a thing.

There was silence from downstairs. Which might mean that whoever it was wasn’t on their way in but on their way out.

She ran to the window and peered down to the car parking space behind the shop and her heart almost burst out of her chest as she watched with horror the lights of Olek’s van come on and the van accelerate away into the darkness.

‘Oh shit. It wasn’t a burglar, it was my husband.’ She squeezed her eyes shut as a wave of nausea rose to her throat. Oh, darling, I’m so, so sorry, she murmured under her breath.

‘Ooh, shall I go and let him in?’ Woody rubbed his hands together.

Nell shook her head. ‘He’s already gone. He must have heard what I just said. Oh god, this is a disaster.’

But how much had he heard? That she’d lied to him, or just the joke about using Woody’s sperm? Her heart thudded as she ran downstairs to fetch her phone. She had to call him, get him to come back, at least let her try to explain that she’d only lied because she loved him.

Where was her phone? She frantically searched both pockets in her coat, tipped out the contents of her handbag to try to locate it, but it wasn’t there. She’d thought that today couldn’t get any worse; turned out she was wrong. And this time she couldn’t see how to make it right. How was she going to get out of this one?

Chapter 22

Merry

It was late evening when Merry knocked on Olek and Nell’s door. She was physically exhausted and wrung out from all her crying. But despite being desperate to collapse into bed, she couldn’t go straight home from Springwood House without calling in on Nell to tell her the news of Ray’s passing. Every time she’d called her number this evening, it had gone to voicemail. Merry didn’t blame Nell for not wanting to take her call, not after the way she’d yelled at her in the shop earlier. She’d thought about sending her a message, but letting her best friend know that her dad had died was far too important to convey by text; besides, what she really needed from Nell was a hug, so here she was to deliver the news in person.

No one came to the door, and now Merry looked through the glass panel, she noticed that there were no lights on inside. She checked the time; it was only 9 p.m., too early for bed. She knocked again a little louder and waited.

After saying a final goodbye to her dad, she and Cole had spent an hour at Springwood House dealing with the immediate affairs which followed a death. It was a new experience for her, never having had close relatives until recently. For Cole, it was a reminder of the hours and days following his mother’s death several years ago. It wasn’t a pleasant experience for either of them, but Merry had never been more grateful that he’d been there to support her. Emily had been joined by Will during the last few minutes of their FaceTime call, and the four of them had discussed funeral arrangements. Emily wasn’t going to rush straight over now, there wasn’t much point, but she and Will were going to come over as soon as they’d fixed a date for the service and stay with Emily’s parents right through until the New Year.

Merry was about to give up and drive off when the door opened, and Olek appeared.

‘Sorry,’ he muttered, running a hand distractedly across his stubbly jaw. ‘I wasn’t going to come to the door at all until I realised it was you.’

‘Is everything OK?’ she asked.

He looked as bad as she felt and if she didn’t know him better, she’d guess he’d been crying. Olek never cried.

‘Why wouldn’t it be?’ His blue eyes were trained on hers as if she’d asked him a trick question. Perhaps Nell had already told him how badly she’d behaved earlier in the shop. Her cheeks flamed with shame.

‘I can’t speak for you,’ she swallowed, attempting to blink away the image of her dad’s final breaths. ‘But it’s been a tough day. Is Nell in?’

He shook his head. ‘Still at work. It was your shopping event, wasn’t it? I guess she’s clearing up after that.’

‘Oh, bless her.’ Merry felt a bolt of love for her best friend.