Christmas at Lilac Cottage: (#1 White Cliff Bay)

by Martin, Holly

  ‘OK.’

  She wasn’t exactly being coherent and sparkling company at the moment. Her heart was pounding, she was shaking, all thoughts seemed to have gone out of her head completely.

  He smiled at her stunned appearance. He ran his hand up her arm and cupped the back of her head. Moving in slowly, he kissed her again, with the same consideration and tenderness as he had the night before, as if she was someone to be cherished and adored. She ran her hands into the stubble at the back of his neck as he moved his hands down to cup her waist, pulling her against him. God, the feel of him was too much, the emotions for him slamming through her hard and fast.

  He pulled back slightly, breathing heavily. ‘OK?’

  She nodded and he pulled away.

  ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

  She smiled as he walked away, glancing over his shoulder at her as he closed the door. She was going on a date and she knew that tonight, for the first time in a very long time, she would be going to sleep with a smile on her face.

  Chapter Eleven

  Penny was shaken gently awake the next morning and opened her eyes to see Henry standing by the side of the bed.

  Oh god, she knew her hair was everywhere, she probably had pillow face and she most certainly had morning breath. And he was offering out a mug of tea with a big smile on his face, looking at her as if she was the most beautiful woman in the world. He was dressed in his robe and didn’t seem to be wearing a lot underneath.

  ‘I, erm…’ Great, the ability to make sparkling conversation was back.

  ‘I thought you might want a cup of tea and I made you breakfast in bed.’ He indicated the bowl of cereal on the small chest of drawers next to her and she laughed.

  ‘Wow, a lot of time and effort went into that breakfast, didn’t it?’

  ‘I’ll have you know those cereal boxes are quite heavy.’ He put the mug down next to the cereal.

  ‘What’s the weather doing out there?’ Penny asked and he turned away to look out the window for a moment, giving her the perfect chance to grab some mints from her handbag and run her fingers through her hair.

  ‘It snowed again last night. Not heavily, but Daisy is hopeful we might get a white Christmas.’

  ‘This is very sweet, thank you, but you didn’t have to do this.’

  He turned back and moved back to the bed. ‘I’m trying to score all the good boyfriend points now because I’m sure I’ll be losing them soon enough.’

  ‘Why do you say that?’

  ‘Because I’m rubbish with women, despite having spent the last sixteen years raising one. I don’t know the first thing about romance. You may have to point me in the right direction now and again. Budge over.’

  He must have caught the look of horror on her face and he laughed. ‘I promise not to jump on you. But we can have a cuddle, can’t we?’

  She hesitated and then shuffled over.

  He slid into bed next to her and pulled her onto his chest, wrapping his arms round her. It was such a comfortable gesture, as if they had known each other for years as opposed to just a few days. She couldn’t help smiling.

  ‘What?’ he said, smiling too.

  ‘This. It’s nice. You’re doing a good job so far at the romance stuff.’

  He kissed her sweetly on the forehead, his tenderness was so endearing.

  ‘Well, Daisy has gone to the big mall in the next town with Anna for some last-minute Christmas shopping, so we could stay here all day if you want.’

  ‘That sounds lovely, but I’m meeting Maggie for lunch.’

  ‘Damn it. Well, Daisy’s staying over at Anna’s tonight, so… if you want you could… stay over with me.’

  A million excuses and reasons ran through her mind. She wasn’t ready, she wouldn’t be very good, she’d disappoint him, her bikini line was probably a bit of a state.

  He must have seen all of that running across her face. ‘I promise, we don’t have to do anything, we can just do this. I like this. I like the idea of falling asleep with you in my arms again. I get the impression there hasn’t been anyone for you since Chris?’

  She flushed with embarrassment. ‘No, for one reason or another, there hasn’t been anyone for eight years. He was my first boyfriend too.’

  She thought he might laugh at this. She was nearly thirty and had only ever been with one man, whereas Henry had probably been with lots of women, whether they were serious or not. But he didn’t laugh at all.

  ‘So we’re going to take this really slow, we won’t do anything until you’re ready. We can date and get to know each other and I promise I won’t try to take it any further. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to want lots of kisses though.’

  She smiled with love for him. This wasn’t real, men weren’t patient when it came to sex, well, Chris never had been. Someone like Henry could have any woman he wanted, if the reactions of Jade, Beth and Clara had been anything to go by. So why would he waste his time waiting for her when he could have a quick shag with any single woman in the town, especially as when he arrived in White Cliff Bay he wasn’t even looking for a serious relationship.

  ‘I want this to work,’ he said softly, obviously having a knack for reading her mind.

  She reached up and kissed him softly, hoping the mint had done a good enough job. He pulled her tighter against him, deepening the kiss.

  He pulled back slightly, his eyes alight with mischief. ‘Or you know, if you didn’t want to wait, we could get down to the hot, passionate sex now.’

  He quickly rolled on top of her, pinning her with his weight and tickled her.

  ‘NO!’ she squealed, trying to escape from his merciless hands.

  ‘Come on, give me all the sex.’

  She laughed. ‘No, you’re not having it, never.’

  She wriggled from his grasp, quickly climbed out of bed and ran laughing from the room but he was hot on her heels. He caught her by the waist and pinned her up against the wall, kissing her again as he tried to suppress his laughter. As he kissed her, his tongue sliding slowly into her mouth, his hands skimming her sides, her body humming at his touch, she wondered why she was holding back. Would it be so wrong to go back to bed with him now and discover how deep this spark between them actually ran? She barely knew him, but everything about this man, his kiss, his touch, just screamed that he was perfect for her in every single way. She was falling for him, she knew that. She just had to hope he felt the same.

  He pulled back slightly and frowned. ‘What time are you meeting Maggie?’

  ‘Maggie?’

  He smiled. ‘Your friend?’

  ‘Oh, erm, twelve.’

  ‘Pity, it’s half eleven now.’

  Her eyes widened as the fog cleared. ‘What? How is it so late?’

  ‘Well, if you were anything like me, I spent most of the night lying awake thinking about our date.’

  She smiled. ‘I did too.’

  He pulled back, reluctantly. ‘Go and get ready and I’ll see you tonight. You’ll stay with me, right?’

  She nodded and he walked down the stairs, leaving her alone. Her face was aching from smiling so much. Renting out the annexe was the best decision she had ever made.

  * * *

  Penny burst into the bakery and looked around. She was ten minutes late but it seemed she had still managed to beat Maggie. She walked up to the counter and joined the short queue. It seemed busier than usual for a Tuesday and Linda seemed a bit stressed out by the additional customers.

  Tilly suddenly came running up to Penny, chocolate round her face coupled with a huge grin.

  Penny crouched down and carefully signed. ‘Hello, what are you doing here, has your school closed for the holidays already?’

  Tilly nodded excitedly and then signed back. ‘The heating has broken so the school is closed. It probably won’t be fixed before Friday.’

  Well, that explained the extra customers and probably why Maggie was late if she was looking after her two boys.


  ‘How cool, you get an extra long break. Are you helping your mummy and nanny today?’

  ‘I’ve been making mince pies, do you want one?’

  ‘That would be lovely.’

  Tilly ran off and Penny stepped forward to place her order of a cheese sandwich for her and a bacon sandwich for Maggie. She was surprised when Linda handed her over two doughnuts as well as the sandwiches.

  ‘You need to keep your energy up,’ Linda winked and her daughter Polly, standing next to her, giggled.

  Confused slightly, she found a table just as a young couple were leaving and a moment later Maggie burst into the bakery.

  ‘I’m so sorry.’ Maggie took an appreciative bite out of her bacon sandwich, moaning with pleasure. ‘The kids are off from school and I’ve been trying to keep them entertained all morning as I finish off the preparations for the ball. Seven days and I’m starting to panic that I’ve forgotten something big, the pregnancy is playing havoc with my brain.’

  ‘I’m sure you have everything planned to the finest detail. Is there anything I can help you with?’

  ‘No, I think we’re nearly there. The marquee arrives tomorrow, which is being used for the gingerbread house competition on Saturday and your workshop on Sunday, then everything else is arriving on Tuesday, the day of the ball,’ Maggie rattled off her mental list of preparations from her head. ‘Anyway, my mum has the boys for an hour, I told her I had an emergency lunch meeting with you.’

  Penny blinked. ‘What’s the emergency?’

  ‘Your big date tonight.’

  She felt her eyes widen. ‘How do you know about that?’

  ‘Well, Jade was quite vocal about it in the pub on Saturday night after she had been spectacularly rejected by Henry, although she obviously didn’t put it like that, and it’s been quite the talk of the town ever since.’

  ‘The talk of the town?’ Penny suddenly felt cold at the thought of everyone talking about her. She knew that the town thrived on gossip and poking their nose into other people’s business but she had never been the subject of it before, her life was way too dull for that. She thought back to the time of her miscarriage and how everyone must have talked about her then, but she had been too far removed from it, closeted in her home up on the hill.

  ‘Everyone is happy for you, they’re all very excited,’ Maggie soothed, though Penny could find nothing in these words to calm her down. How embarrassing. She and Henry were still trying to get to know each other, they didn’t need the whole of White Cliff Bay digging their noses in before their relationship had even got off the ground. Plus the fact that Daisy wasn’t supposed to know.

  ‘We’ve had a meeting and—’

  ‘A meeting? Who’s “we”?’ Penny squeaked, wanting suddenly to run back to her house and hide.

  ‘The book club,’ Maggie said, talking of the little group of mothers who would escape their families once a week to go round each other’s houses, get drunk and let their hair down. No actual reading or discussions of books ever went on in their club meetings if the drunken photos on Facebook were anything to go by.

  ‘I was the subject of a book club meeting.’

  ‘Yes, now, the girls have all agreed to help. Natalie is going to do your hair and then Christine has you booked in for an all-over wax. Monica wants you to come to Silk & Lace afterwards and she’s going to help you pick out some sexy underwear, I know you don’t possess such things and all your bras and knickers are grey with holes in, that’s not the look we need tonight and…’

  ‘Wait, I’m not sleeping with him,’ Penny shrieked and the bakery went quiet, all eyes swivelling in their direction.

  ‘Sshhh, you don’t want the whole town to know,’ Maggie said as people resumed their conversations.

  ‘I think the whole town does know. Did a message get put out on the town’s emergency text system?’

  ‘Look, everyone cares, this is the first date that you’ve had in eight years, we all want it to go well.’

  ‘Can I not just screw it up on my own? Whether it does or doesn’t go well is not going to depend on my hair or whether I have smooth legs or sexy underwear.’

  ‘But those things will certainly help.’

  ‘Maggie, I love you, but butt out.’

  ‘Nonsense. If you loved me, you’d let me help you. Now eat up, your hair appointment is in fifteen minutes.’

  ‘I’m not having my hair done.’

  Why was Penny arguing against having her hair done? She’d been meaning to have it cut for ages.

  ‘Come on, just a little trim. A cut and blow-dry. It’s free,’ Maggie wheedled.

  ‘Fine, but I’m not having a wax or buying sexy underwear.’

  ‘Well, see how you feel after your hair appointment.’

  Penny sighed as she finished off her sandwich and then Maggie bustled her out the door, almost frogmarching her along the high street.

  ‘I need to stop at the chemist first, I need a new toothbrush. I won’t be a minute,’ Penny said, abandoning Maggie outside.

  ‘Don’t think you can escape out the back door, Penny Meadows,’ Maggie called after her as she sat down on the bench. ‘I have spies everywhere.’

  Penny didn’t doubt it. She hurried along the aisles until she found the toothbrushes and was just trying to decide which one to buy when a lady came running up and perused the shelves next to her.

  ‘It’s so hard to know what to get, isn’t it,’ the lady said.

  ‘I know,’ Penny smiled politely. A firm toothbrush seemed a bit scary but soft probably wouldn’t do the job properly.

  ‘I like the ribbed ones though.’ The lady winked at her and grabbed a box off the nearby shelf and ran off towards the tills.

  Penny glanced at the shelf next to the toothbrushes in confusion and realised she was staring at a huge range of condoms. Words like Excite, Tickle, Pleasure, Extra Safe, Mutual Pleasure, Ultra Thin, Latex Free, Extra Large and Intimate Feel leapt out at her from the shelves in an array of multi-coloured boxes. There were also different lubricants that were flavoured, warming or tingling and one that promised to be orgasm-enhancing. Sex had moved on a long way since the quick shags she’d had with Chris. He always handled the contraception side of things, until that one drunken night when he obviously hadn’t.

  Suzanna, the old lady who ran the pharmacy, came bustling over and Penny quickly tried to look away from the condoms before Suzanna saw her, but she was too late.

  ‘It’s tricky, isn’t it, dear, but if I were you I’d get the extra-large, that Henry looks like he’s hung like a horse.’

  Penny felt her cheeks flush blood red. ‘I was looking at toothbrushes.’

  ‘Of course you were, dear.’ Suzanna picked a big box of extra-large condoms off the shelf and pressed them into Penny’s hands, then escorted her to the tills. ‘I have a load of free condoms from the family planning clinic we’re supposed to give to the teenagers if they come asking for advice or any of that sort of thing. Why don’t I give you a few of those too?’

  Suzanna opened a drawer near the till and grabbed a huge handful of different condoms, shoving them into a paper bag. ‘There’s the extra safe ones in there and some of the thinner ones, plus some flavoured ones too. The strawberry isn’t very nice but the chocolate is lovely, tastes almost like the real thing. These are all in date, dear, so you don’t need to worry about that.’

  She grabbed another huge handful and that went into the bag too.

  Penny looked around at the other shoppers who were watching the exchange in interest. She couldn’t find any words at all to get out of this situation or laugh it away.

  ‘Here, you put those extra-large ones in here, they’re on the house,’ Suzanna said, taking the box off her and putting it into the now bulging paper bag.

  ‘I… it’s only our first date, I wasn’t planning on…’

  ‘Of course not, dear, but you know, maybe the second date or the third. Don’t keep him waiting too long though, dear, poor love
will have testicles the size of watermelons otherwise.’

  Penny grabbed her bag and ran out. Maggie hauled herself off the bench and waddled over.

  ‘Took you long enough, what did you get?’ Maggie eyed the bulging bag.

  ‘Suzanna made me get some condoms and if you say one word about that I swear I’ll pin you down and shave your eyebrows, pregnant or not, Maggie Stone.’

  Maggie made a zipping her lips shut gesture, but Penny could see she was trying really hard not to laugh.

  ‘Come on, Natalie will be waiting,’ Maggie said, nobly.

  Still dying with embarrassment, Penny thought it couldn’t possibly get worse than that.

  Chapter Twelve

  Henry strode around the back of the house, whistling to himself. He had never looked forward to a date before as much as he was looking forward to his night with Penny. And it came with an almost guarantee of no sex, unlike his other dates which were almost always guaranteed to end there. Bizarrely, he didn’t care. He wanted to make love to Penny, he couldn’t deny that, but it wasn’t the end goal as it had been with other women. With Penny he wanted to get to know her more than anything, he wanted to spend time with her and make her laugh like she’d laughed that morning. He wanted to share himself with her, the good stuff and the bad, the small and the big. He’d bumped into an old man in town and had an interesting chat with him and Henry wanted to tell her about that too.

  He peered through her back door to see if she was around and was surprised to see her pacing nervously around the kitchen. Maybe she was just nervous about the date. She had really big hair too, as if she had been in a wind tunnel but on closer inspection it appeared it had been specifically styled that way.

  He opened the door and let himself in. She looked at him with a terrified expression on her face. Was she having second thoughts about their date? He decided to ignore the big hair, as he certainly didn’t want her to feel self-conscious about it, and just start a casual conversation with her to try to distract her from her nerves.