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

by Martin, Holly

  ‘I’ll do better next time.’

  ‘I should hope so, because that was over way too quick for my liking.’

  Henry continued to scowl all the way home.

  They pulled up on the drive and Henry gave her a quick kiss goodnight, round the side of the house where they couldn’t be spotted by Daisy, if she was still awake. Then he disappeared into his house.

  Penny let herself in through her back door and Bernard gave her a cursory wag of the tail, before trotting out into the garden to relieve himself.

  She saw the light go off in Henry’s lounge and watched as his dark shadow disappeared upstairs.

  It had been a wonderful night. With Henry’s tactility over dinner, she had caught a fleeting glimpse at what life would be like when they were properly together and she liked the look of it a lot. But beyond that the humorous side of their relationship was something she had never expected when she first met him.

  Bernard came back in and threw himself down on the sofa. Penny locked the door and stalled when she saw two plates of cake crumbs and two glasses on the kitchen table. She had said to Daisy that she was welcome to sit with Bernard and watch TV in front of the fire, and to help herself to cake as there was still loads of it, but that didn’t explain why there were two plates instead of one. Had Daisy had a friend round? Feeling slightly confused, she went to bed.

  She lay in her room staring at the ceiling, letting her eyes become accustomed to the dark, when suddenly there was a shadow in the room with her.

  Her heart leapt into her throat for a brief second before she recognised the sheer bulk of Henry, getting undressed.

  ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘Finishing what we started. Daisy’s fast asleep, nothing will wake her when she’s that deeply asleep,’ Henry said, as he lifted the duvet and climbed in next to her. He was already deliciously naked and she delighted in running her hands over his velvety skin as he quickly undressed her. ‘Besides, I still have that condom we tried to use earlier, I reckon it’s still good.’

  Penny burst out laughing, so loud and so hard that she was sure she might wake Daisy up next door. Henry moved on top of her and she could feel his body shaking as he laughed too, though the laugh quickly turned into a groan of pleasure with what he did next.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Henry was just sitting down to breakfast when Daisy emerged. She was up much earlier than normal but he knew she was a bit nervous about popping into her new school later that afternoon. Her theory was that everyone was breaking up for Christmas and would be in a good mood and probably much more open to having a new girl appear amongst them.

  ‘Good night last night?’ Daisy asked.

  He smiled as he remembered the disaster which was the car sex. ‘Yes, it was fun.’

  Daisy sat down and frowned and he wondered what was bothering her. ‘Do you like Penny?’

  Oh crap. He didn’t want to lie to her but he didn’t want to allude to anything either.

  ‘Yes I do.’

  ‘I don’t know whether I should tell you this or not but I think you should know. I think her date with Fabio last night went very well.’

  Henry frowned in confusion and then remembered that Daisy genuinely believed that that was where Penny had gone the night before. He would just tell her they were joking around and that he’d had dinner with her and Maggie and Daniel.

  ‘I heard her when she came in.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, I heard you come back and go to your room and shortly after she must have come back, with Fabio.’

  Henry felt himself go very still.

  ‘What did you hear?’

  ‘Dad, I heard her having sex. It was so embarrassing, but it was very obvious she was enjoying herself. And Fabio was grunting away and moaning too.’

  Henry stared at her in shock. There had never been a time in his life that he had been more embarrassed than he was now. He had no words with which to fill the silence, there was nothing he could say at all.

  ‘They were at it for ages and then when they stopped, they started again half hour later, the man has amazing stamina. He clearly is an Italian stallion.’

  It couldn’t get any worse. His daughter had heard him having sex. She had heard him groaning, moaning, panting and shouting out when he had orgasmed. Twice.

  He stood up and moved to the toaster, putting in her favourite crumpets and then flicking on the kettle so she wouldn’t have to see his face which he was sure was burning red.

  ‘I’m sorry, Dad.’

  Henry shrugged, still with no words to say.

  ‘Do you want jam on your crumpets?’ he finally said, hoping with everything he had that would be the end of it.

  * * *

  Penny knocked softly on the connecting door, which felt a bit weird considering what she had got up to the night before with her friendly neighbour. There was no answer so she popped her head around the door. There was a noise in the kitchen so she followed it. She smiled when she saw Daisy dancing around as she tidied up, listening to her iPod and singing along, by the sounds of it, to Ed Sheeran.

  She walked in and tapped her on the shoulder. Daisy smiled at her and removed her headphones.

  ‘Hey, I just wanted to wish you good luck today at school. They are going to love you, I promise you that.’

  ‘Aw thanks,’ Daisy said, throwing her arms around her and hugging her tight. Penny smiled with love for her and hugged her back. ‘I am a bit nervous, but I’m only there for a few hours. I think the worst day will be the first one after Christmas, when they’ll all be staring at me like I’m an animal in a zoo.’

  ‘You should totally learn to balance a ball on your nose then, that will give them something to talk about.’

  Daisy laughed. ‘I’m so excited that Mr Cartwright is going to be my form teacher too, he is so cool.’

  ‘You will love him, but I bet all the children are going to be cool too.’

  Daisy moved back to the table as she wiped it down with a cloth, capturing the crumbs with her hand.

  ‘So… good date last night?’

  Penny stared at her in confusion for a second before she realised what Daisy meant. She felt bad for leading her to believe she was going out with Fabio when she had only been joking with Henry about going out with him.

  ‘Oh honey, I was only messing around. I didn’t really go out with Fabio. I went for dinner round my friend Maggie’s place. Weirdly, her husband Daniel had invited your dad too and we didn’t know the other was going…’ She trailed off as Henry appeared in the doorway behind Daisy and started gesturing frantically.

  ‘You went to dinner with Dad?’ Daisy asked in confusion.

  Henry was still waving his arms around but Penny had no idea what he was trying to say. ‘Erm, yes.’

  ‘He didn’t say when I saw him this morning.’

  ‘Maybe your dad thought that you might think it was a double date, when it definitely wasn’t. It was just weird that Maggie invited me and Daniel invited your dad and they didn’t know.’

  ‘But… I heard you last night.’

  ‘You heard me?’

  Daisy blushed. ‘Having sex.’

  Oh god. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no.

  ‘I told Dad I heard you and Fabio… at it last night and he seemed really upset.’

  Henry had given up gesturing now.

  What could she say to rescue this scenario? That Fabio had come round for a late-night booty call? That she’d had incredible sex with Daisy’s dad and all the grunts and moans were in fact him? There was nothing that she could say that would make this horrible situation any better. Suddenly she had a brainwave. It wasn’t the best idea, hell it was probably the worst idea in the history of all ideas, but it was the only thing she had.

  ‘I wasn’t having sex, Daisy.’

  ‘But I heard you.’

  Penny worked her tongue around her mouth trying to create some moisture. ‘I was watching porn.�
��

  Daisy stared at her in horror. Henry stumbled out of the room, backwards, gripping his mouth really hard so Daisy wouldn’t hear him laugh. The clock ticked on the kitchen wall and no one said anything. Penny hadn’t wanted Daisy to think that she was sleeping around, especially if she and Henry were going to come out the couple closet in a week or so. She wanted Daisy to know that she was serious about her dad and that he wasn’t just a fling to her. But surely this was worse than Fabio coming round for a late-night booty call and now any respect that Daisy had for her had gone.

  ‘You were watching porn?’

  ‘Well no, not really. I put the telly on in the bedroom and fell asleep. I woke up an hour later and this couple were at it like rabbits on the screen, shouting and moaning and he was grabbing her breasts. They were sweaty and oily and…’ Oh god, she was talking about porn with a sixteen year old. ‘It was quite disgusting.’ No, not disgusting, she didn’t want Daisy to think that there was anything wrong or dirty about sex. ‘I mean, not disgusting, sex isn’t disgusting with two people that love each other, it’s beautiful.’ Penny heard a whimper of laughter from the other room. ‘But the oily couples were a bit disgusting, couple, just one couple, it wasn’t an orgy. Porn films always seem to grease their couples up to make them look all shiny, I don’t know how sex is possible when they are so slippery, surely the man would just slip straight off the woman and the sheets must be covered in it afterwards. The oil I mean not…it.’ She had to stop talking but the nerves had completely disengaged her mouth from her brain now. ‘I just don’t get why porn films think that’s attractive but they all seem to have these glossed, shiny bodies. Not that I’ve watched a lot of porn, you understand. I mean I haven’t watched any. I never watch it. But I’ve seen it. Accidentally. Late at night it’s been on. The soft stuff, not hard core porn obviously. Just, you know, a lot of moaning and repair men turning up to fix a leaky washing machine and the couple end up doing it on the kitchen floor. That kind of stuff. That I never watch. Ever. But yes, it was on when I woke up and I turned it off immediately because it was disgusting, erm, the oiliness that is.’

  Silence again, punctuated by tiny whimpers coming from the other room.

  ‘So, I need to go and walk Bernard.’

  Daisy nodded, numbly.

  ‘Good luck for, erm…later.’

  Still no words from Daisy and Henry clearly wasn’t going to help her out.

  ‘I thought perhaps we could go Christmas tree shopping later, you guys need a tree and we could go and pick one and then you and your dad can decorate it.’

  Daisy nodded again and Penny walked out, flashing an evil glare at Henry as she left who was biting into a cushion to try to stop the laughter from spilling out.

  * * *

  Penny saw Henry pull back up onto the drive later, after he had dropped Daisy off at school. She hadn’t seen him all morning, which she was thankful for. She had never been more embarrassed in her life.

  He walked round the back of the house and grinned when he saw her, letting himself into her kitchen.

  ‘Hi,’ he said.

  ‘I hate you.’

  He burst out laughing. ‘What did you want me to do?’

  ‘You could have helped me.’

  ‘You were doing fine on your own.’

  She laughed with embarrassment. ‘I talked to your daughter about porn.’

  ‘Well yes, probably not your finest moment, but I haven’t laughed like that in forever.’

  ‘I’ve probably scarred her for life.’

  ‘I doubt it, she’s a hardy sort. Besides, she does know about sex, it’s not like she leads a sheltered existence. I’ve made sure I’ve talked to her about all that. I don’t want her to end up pregnant at sixteen like her mum did.’

  ‘She thinks I watch porn.’

  ‘Oh no, I think she’s very clear that you find porn disgusting.’

  She couldn’t stop laughing. ‘Did she say anything to you after?’

  ‘No, she was probably too traumatised to say anything.’

  Penny took a swipe at him and he ducked out the way, laughing loudly.

  ‘It’s not funny.’

  ‘It really is.’ He caught her by the waist and tried to kiss her on the forehead but he was laughing too much.

  ‘Stop laughing.’ Though Penny was laughing so hard, tears were running down her cheeks. ‘You do realise we’ll never be able to have sex again whilst she’s in the house.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know about that, you’re just going to have to work really hard at being extra quiet.’

  ‘Me?’ Penny laughed incredulously. ‘You’re very vocal. You shout a lot.’

  ‘You scream, that’s probably scarred her more than anything.’

  ‘Oh god. We can do it quietly, can’t we?’

  ‘Yes, I’m sure we can and there’ll be times when she isn’t here and we can be as noisy as we like. So let’s make the most of it now.’

  She laughed.

  He shuffled her back against the table and kissed her hard. She quickly realised he wasn’t joking as he lifted her onto the table and attacked her clothes with great relish.

  Suddenly a movement caught her eye over his shoulder and Penny stared in horror into the eyes of another woman.

  ‘Henry, stop.’

  ‘Not likely.’

  ‘There’s someone outside.’

  Henry whirled around, protecting her half-naked body from view. Thankfully it was only the top half that was undressed and she still had her bra on but it was quite obvious this woman had seen what they were doing.

  Henry laughed nervously. ‘That’s my sister, Anna.’

  ‘Shit.’

  Anna was frozen to the spot, staring at them both.

  Henry looked back at Penny and smiled shyly. ‘Why don’t you put your clothes back on and meet us next door for a coffee? I’m sure she will be delighted to meet you at last. Daisy has told her all about you.’

  Henry turned back to Anna, still protecting Penny from being seen and pointed to his house. Anna walked off, clearly not happy.

  ‘She doesn’t look delighted to meet me,’ Penny said.

  ‘Anna’s lovely. I love her to bits and she’s helped out so much with Daisy over the years. But occasionally she can be a right judgemental pain in the ass.’

  ‘Well, as first impressions go, this isn’t a good one,’ Penny muttered, yanking her top back over her head. ‘Coupled with what Daisy will undoubtedly tell her about me watching porn, I’m going to go down a storm at family events.’

  Henry kissed her briefly on the lips. ‘She will love you, just like I do.’

  He ran off through the connecting door before Penny could say anything. She stared at the door as it closed.

  Did he just say he loved her?

  Chapter Eighteen

  ‘I just thought I’d come round and see your new place, I didn’t realise I’d be interrupting anything,’ Anna said, slamming her bag down on the counter and standing with her hands on her hips.

  Henry sighed. It was clear that today was judgemental ass day.

  He heard the connecting door open and he hated that Penny was going to get a mouthful of abuse too.

  Penny came into the kitchen slowly and he reached out a hand for her. Pulling her into his side, he wrapped his arm round her waist and placed a kiss on her forehead.

  ‘Penny, this is my sister Anna. Anna, this is my girlfriend Penny.’

  Penny smiled. ‘Hi.’

  ‘Girlfriend?’ Anna deliberately ignored Penny. ‘You’ve known her less than a week. What kind of example is that to set to Daisy?’

  ‘Daisy doesn’t know,’ Henry said quietly and he watched Anna’s face turn from indignation to anger.

  ‘She doesn’t know? You’re sneaking around behind her back, lying to her?’

  Henry bit his lip. He hated lying to Daisy and he questioned himself every day over that decision. But he could hardly tell Daisy that he had jumped into bed with his
neighbour just two days after she had specifically asked him not to date her. She was happy now and he wanted to keep her that way at least until Christmas. Was that so bad? He hadn’t come to White Cliff Bay looking for a serious relationship, in fact any kind of relationship was supposed to be off the table. But then he had met Penny and everything had changed. Nothing seemed to make sense about Penny, he had fallen hard very quickly and nothing had ever felt like this before.

  ‘It’s just for a few days, until she’s more settled and gets used to seeing us together, at least platonically. We’ll tell her then.’

  Penny leaned into him and he held her tighter, but surprisingly she was stroking his back trying to offer him support when really he thought it should be the other way round.

  ‘It didn’t take you long to get settled. You’ve been here just a few days and you’re sleeping together already.’ Anna turned her attention to Penny. ‘Did you just open your legs to him on the first night?’

  ‘Anna!’ Henry said, forcefully. There was no way he was standing for that. ‘I won’t let you speak to Penny like that.’

  ‘It’s OK,’ Penny said. ‘I know how it looks, neither of us expected it to happen. But we have something really special.’

  ‘Please! This isn’t serious for Henry, this is all about his inability to keep it in his pants. He has never been in love, never had a girlfriend that lasted longer than a few months. You’ll be no different. Why do you think he hasn’t told Daisy yet? Because he knows that it’s not going to last.’

  ‘This is serious.’ He could feel himself getting really angry and Penny’s hand squeezed his, probably to try to get him to calm down. God, the last thing he wanted was for Anna to give Penny reason to doubt their relationship. ‘I am very serious about Penny. I adore her and Daisy does too. I’m not keeping it a secret from Daisy because I don’t think it will last. I just didn’t want to upset her.’

  ‘Then why do it at all? You promised me and her that you wouldn’t be getting involved with anyone ever again.’