The Christmas Tea Shop at Rosewood by Darcie Boleyn

Author:Darcie Boleyn
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788631211
Publisher: Canelo
Published: 2019-10-03T16:00:00+00:00

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Fran had hurried away from Ethan and into the tea shop. It was quiet inside with just a few elderly people discussing the Christmas dinner the tea shop was going to offer and one of Audrey’s daughters serving behind the counter.

Fran considered asking for another mulled wine but couldn’t face the possibility that someone else would comment on her drinking during pregnancy. Besides which, she also had to drive home and wasn’t sure how strong the spiced beverage was. Instead, she grabbed a paper plate and got some more food then went to sit down.

As she chewed a cheese straw, savouring the strong cheddar and buttery pastry, she thought about what had just happened. Ethan had been expressing his concern for her unborn child. It had sent her hurtling through a range of emotions: pleasure at his concern, confusion at his interference and anger, first at him for thinking he could tell her how to live her life, then at herself for deceiving him in the first place. There was no baby, not in her belly at least, and she hated how this lie was continuing. It made her want to hide away at home until the new year when Holly would announce her pregnancy to the world and Fran would be free of the fake pregnancy that was causing her so much stress. And most of that stress was centred around Ethan because she found that it was his opinion that was bothering her most. She didn’t want him thinking she was pregnant and she certainly didn’t want to lie to him any more. That was why she’d walked away rather than discussing the drinking of mulled wine during pregnancy with him. She’d felt terrible leaving him there after he’d apologised but staying would have meant continuing the conversation and she just couldn’t face it. It was far too uncomfortable, far too painful and lying went against everything that she’d always thought she was.

Perhaps it was better that she avoided Ethan over the next few weeks so she didn’t have to lie to him again. That thought wasn’t pleasant, as she really liked him, but neither was the idea of continuing the deception and getting deeper and deeper into the lie while she got closer to the truth being revealed. Whatever would Ethan think about her then? Would he understand her motivations for pretending to be pregnant or would he be outraged at how deceitful she had been? Would he even care either way?

The whole situation was exhausting, so she’d head on home, take a bubble bath and get an early night. Hopefully things would seem clearer in the morning, although until she was free of the fake pregnancy, she couldn’t imagine how anything could possibly seem better.

When she headed back out to the yard, she paused in the doorway. Just around the corner from the tea shop were two figures – a tall one and a very short one. As the tall one turned slightly to gaze at the Christmas tree, she could see that it was Ethan.

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