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‘But what are you doing on the actual day?’
‘Eating said leftovers, watching TV and staying in my PJs. It’ll be great.’
Jago sat up and stared at her. ‘You can’t be on your own on Christmas Day!’
‘Of course I can. I’m looking forward to it actually. I need some chill time.’
‘Oh no.’ He shook his head. ‘I can’t have you eating cold ham and watching the terrible stuff that passes for television on Christmas Day. You must come to us.’
‘Oh, Jago, it’s really sweet but I couldn’t possibly intrude.’
‘How would you be intruding?’
‘It’s your family time.’
He took her hand. ‘I want you to become part of my family.’
Her breath hitched at his tender expression. ‘And I’m more than happy to be part of your family. I do sort of feel that already. Butthisparticular year, won’t it be difficult. Wouldn’t you rather just be in your own family unit?’
Jago blew out a breath. ‘Yeah, I can’t lie, Mum and I are dreading it. Itisgoing to be difficult. But I think having you there would help. We want to make it as different as possible. Make new traditions, new memories. We’re in a new town, a new house, we have Ivy the dog, not to mention Chestnut the hamster. If you were there too, it would be as different to how our Christmases used to be in London as could be. So,’ he grinned impishly, ‘you’d be doing us a service. In fact, you can’t refuse.’
‘Oh, why’s that?’
‘You’re honour bound, Honor.’
She groaned. She thought of the day in her flat, tiptoeing around so as not to annoy Frank in the flat below, having to have the television on extra quiet, not being able to sing loudly to the radio in the morning. Despite the obvious tensions that might arise at a Christmas Day with the Pengethleys, it was far more appealing than having to spend the day alone. ‘Let’s ask your mum first shall we, before I accept. You can’t just foist an extra guest to the table.’
He gave her an old-fashioned look. ‘Have you seen how much food my mother cooks? You mentioned a small battalion? I raise you a large army!’ He passed her wine over. ‘Cheers.’
Defeated, she clinked glasses with his. ‘Cheers!’
CHAPTER32
‘MERRY CHRISTMAS DARLING’ – THE CARPENTERS
Honor and Jago sat watching the flames lick at the glass of the wood burner, not saying much, listening to the Christmas music playing in the background.
Eventually Jago spoke. ‘Would you mind telling me about Gino?’ he asked.
Honor shifted. ‘I’m not sure I want to talk about him on such a romantic evening.’
‘No, perhaps not. I’m sorry.’ He grimaced. ‘You’re right. Let’s not spoil the mood.’
She eyed him surreptitiously. The lights from the tree were flashing on and off and lending an intermittent red light to his dark hair. She could see strain in the pucker worry lines around his eyes. He was a man who took his responsibilities seriously. One she could trust with everything she was. The music stopped and then started up again with The Carpenters’ ‘Merry Christmas Darling’. It was one of her favourite songs and now she might have someone to sing it to. He’d certainly be on her mind when she was away from him tomorrow. It was faintly ridiculous how her feelings for him had escalated so rapidly. She’d fought the attraction ever since meeting him and now she knew there was no barrier between them, she really thought she was falling in love with him. So he deserved the truth about Gino and about what had happened. Holding the angel pendant, she twisted to face him.
‘There’s not an awful lot to tell really. Gino and I began going out when we met at teacher training college. He was good-looking, charming and had this half-Italian vibe going on that I found irresistible. We both got teaching jobs straight after training in the same town. He was secondary languages, I was primary. It all seemed perfect, and I thought he was the one. We even found a flat together.’ She faltered. ‘I thought we were going to get married. He was my first serious boyfriend you see, so I wasn’t all that experienced. After the first term, I could tell he wasn’t happy but put it down to probationary nerves. That first year of teaching was pretty gruelling. Nothing they teach you in college properly prepares you for the realities of the job. We limped on past Christmas into Easter, and I put all our arguments down to exhaustion. I thought the long summer break would sort everything out. We’d planned to tour a bit of Europe. Then he announced he was really unhappy teaching in the UK and had been looking for posts in Italy. Before this he’d never mentioned it. I was flabbergasted and hurt, as you can imagine.’
‘And angry too, I should think.’ Jago frowned.
‘Funnily enough I wasn’t, not then, but I was deeply sad the future I saw happening between us had evaporated. Not long after his bombshell, he told me he’d secured a teaching post in the international school in Florence.’
‘Was there any discussion about how this affected you, whether you could go together?’
‘Not a great deal. I think he thought I was unadventurous wanting to stay in England, but I was settled and happy teaching in the school I was at. It was a primary school in a village not far from Worcester; I loved it there. I think I saw us staying together, buying a house, having children at some point.’ She gave a hard laugh. ‘I think I was rather naïve.’
‘No, just trusting.’ Jago smoothed back a strand of her hair tenderly.
‘To make things worse, he then explained he was going straight off to Italy as soon as the summer term ended. Said he needed to get an apartment sorted, get settled in. He was going to spend some time with family too. He has relatives in Rome,’ she added.
