A Tale of Three Christmases by Eva Scott

Author:Eva Scott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mira
Published: 2020-09-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Lexie let out a big breath as soon as she hit the kitchen. Nothing about tonight resembled anything she’d imagined. Ripping open her standard nibbles, a bag of mixed nuts, she wished she’d opted for something more sophisticated.

Her mind buzzed with the problem of hors d’oeuvres, anything to avoid analysing even a tiny bit of tonight’s conversation. She rattled around in the cupboard for a suitable bowl for the nuts, suspecting that the two Scotches she’d had might prove to be two too many.

She upended the nuts into the orange glass bowl she’d found, the one her mother-in-law had given to her one birthday, which she’d never used.

The inescapable feeling of having revealed too much hovered over her as she picked out the Brazil nuts. There were only ever three or four in any packet. She popped them in her mouth one at a time and chewed them thoughtfully, playing for time.

She’d had no intention of confessing her heart’s secrets to Geoff tonight, or any other night for that matter. They’d escaped her without her permission, eager to be free the minute he’d laid his soul out on the table. Poor man. She knew how it felt to be somehow left behind, your partner going on without you. Their situations might be wildly different, yet abandonment was a universal feeling.

There he was, with his business and city life, and here she was, with her farm and her memories, both without their partners and the children they’d hoped for. Life had manoeuvred them down twists and turns, leading them to share this Christmas together. Maybe Bea had a point. Why not indulge in a romantic moment as a kind of Christmas present to herself? It would be nice to feel something positive again.

Picking up the bowl, she stopped to watch him through the window. He had a sexy way of messing up his hair, unconsciously running his hands through it when something touched a nerve. And the way his face relaxed into sheer handsomeness when he laughed sent little spirals of giddiness through her.

To rest her head on those broad shoulders, to lie in the haven of those arms … The thought generated a longing and loneliness in her, cavernous in its yearning. That was it! Decision made. If Geoff made a move tonight she’d follow his lead, no matter how terrifying the thought of intimacy with a man who was not Malcolm might be. She’d feel the fear and do it anyway.

Shaking off the cliché of a self-help book, Lexie stepped out onto the veranda with the nuts and a renewed sense of courage. Maybe things would work out, and maybe they wouldn’t. Either way she’d have an adventure, her very first proper affair, which she may or may not tell Bea about. Her sister didn’t have to know everything, even if she was very good at guessing.

He caught sight of her and smiled, not the usual nice-to-see-you smile, but a smile of genuine delight that made her heart rattle around in her chest.

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