A Casterglass Christmas by Kate Hewitt

Author:Kate Hewitt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
Publisher: The Tule Publishing Group, LLC
Published: 2021-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

The village of Casterglass was little more than a hamlet, a tiny square of green with a red pillar box opposite the place’s only pub and B&B, which was next to a post office shop. A dozen houses, a Victorian schoolhouse and a parish church with a squat Norman tower completed the small scene. If you drove through it in a car, it was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it kind of place, but as Althea walked up to the green, with its Christmas tree towering in the centre, she realised she held this little village in almost as much affection as the castle itself, never mind that she didn’t really know the residents.

Everyone had been amenable to the idea of coming to the village fete, save Poppy. When Althea had bearded the lioness in her den after her chat with Olivia last night, Poppy had been sulkily dismissive.

“Mum, please don’t try to bond with me, okay?” she’d said after Althea had attempted to ask about what was happening with her friends, and then sympathised about not being in Surrey for Christmas. “It’s so cringe.”

“Okay,” Althea had answered after a moment, doing her best not to feel stung. “Sorry.” She’d tiptoed away, determined to try later, but by the next evening as they’d headed into Casterglass, that moment had not come. At least Poppy had agreed to come along, even if she was determined to sulk the whole way.

Still, Althea did her best to be cheerful, for her own sake as well as everyone else’s. She had yet to open the envelope for Fotheringhay and Blackwood, or look at the PDF Edward’s secretary had sent, but she would. She wasn’t sticking her head in the sand anymore, just…waiting until she was ready. There was a difference.

In the meantime, she intended to enjoy the evening, and perhaps even meet a few new—or old—friends. There was a crowd of about thirty people on the village green, waiting for the lights to be turned on, and while Althea vaguely recognised some of them, she didn’t see either of the people she knew best, John or Jenna.

She hadn’t had any communication from Jenna since the sherry evening, which made sense because they hadn’t exchanged mobile numbers, but Althea had been hoping Jenna would make an appearance tonight so they could stay in touch. And, she knew, she wanted to see John, although she didn’t probe the why of it too deeply.

A little booth had been set up at the edge of the green, where a woman was doling out paper cups of mulled wine or hot chocolate. Someone else was setting up speakers to play Christmas music, and the overall feel was homegrown and friendly, without any of the expensive polish a similar event in Surrey would have. Althea liked it all the more for its lack of pretension.

“Shall we get a drink?” she suggested to her crew. Everyone from the castle had come, with Seph, Olivia and her parents piling into her father’s ancient Volvo estate

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