Coming Home to Glendale Hall by Victoria Walters

Author:Victoria Walters [Walters, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781912973101
Publisher: Hera
Published: 2019-09-24T18:30:00+00:00

* * *

The fairy lights we had bought with Drew at the garden centre greeted us as I parked outside the farmhouse. We were the only car: Heather hadn’t arrived yet.

The earlier sunshine had faded away, and a cloudy afternoon had taken its place. Izzy jumped out of the car and raced to the door to ring the bell. I followed more slowly, feeling a little nervous. I had changed my outfit twice. I had settled on black jeans, my cashmere jumper, a pretty scarf and boots, and I had attempted to straighten my hair. Izzy had put on her green dress, and I had styled her hair into two plaits.

‘Hi, guys.’ Drew opened the door with a wide smile, and I felt slightly more at ease. He hugged Izzy and gave me a kiss on the cheek as we walked through into the house. He was wearing a dark shirt and jeans, and I tried not to drink in the smell of his musky aftershave. It was the one he had always worn and the familiarity of it was disconcerting.

‘Rory has gone to pick up Heather as her dad needed their car tonight,’ Drew explained. ‘They won’t be long.’

‘Something smells good,’ I said, as he led us through to the living room.

‘I’ve made my signature dish as promised,’ he said. ‘Let me get us some drinks. Take a seat, make yourselves at home.’

It was a simple sentence, but it still made my pulse speed up a little. I sat down on the sofa, and Izzy went over to look at his Christmas tree standing at the edge of the room. ‘Let’s put his present under here,’ she said. I took it out of her bag and passed it to her. ‘There are two here for us,’ she hissed at me. I was immediately curious as to what he could have got for me.

Drew returned with wine for the two of us and a Coke for Izzy, who stepped away from the tree quickly, and he turned on the radio softly. ‘Merry Christmas,’ he said, raising his glass. We returned the toast and took a sip of our drinks. ‘I’m glad we’re all here together,’ he added.

‘As we’re not seeing you on Christmas Day, maybe we should open our presents now,’ Izzy suggested, trying to look solemn as she said it.

Drew chuckled. ‘As we’re waiting for the others, I think that’s a good idea actually.’

‘Go on then,’ I said, smiling. I knew that Christmas to Izzy was really all about the presents: it was for us all when we were kids. And this was the first year she’d get one from her dad, so I couldn’t blame her for being eager to see it.

‘Open ours first!’ Izzy rushed over to the tree to grab it. She went to sit beside him on the sofa, and we watched as he unwrapped the silver paper and pulled out a photo album. ‘It was Mum’s idea,’ she said.

‘Well, I wanted you to have something that might fill in some of Izzy’s childhood for you.

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