Christmas at the Little Village Bakery

by Tilly Tennant

  ‘Again with the car insults!’ Spencer said in a theatrical tone of deepest offence. ‘Unlike some, I don’t feel the need to demonstrate my manhood through the medium of my wheels.’

  ‘Alright,’ Jasmine smiled. ‘Your car is great, it’s just not big enough. We all know that size doesn’t matter… But sometimes it does.’

  Dylan laughed. Spencer laughed too, but he couldn’t help wondering if Dylan would be laughing quite so hard if he knew about the kissing incident earlier that night. Worse than Rich or Tori finding out would be Dylan discovering the secret. It had taken him a long time to trust Spencer again, and Spencer quite liked having him as friend rather than foe.

  The atmosphere was completely different on the drive back to Honeybourne, the tension between Spencer and Jasmine diluted by Dylan’s presence as he teased, cajoled and apologised in equal measure, his banter directed at both Jasmine and Spencer. Spencer had a feeling that there were many reasons for this: not only was it his default setting anyway, but Dylan was probably feeling more than a little bit silly that he had needed rescuing, and, in his own ham-fisted way, was also trying to cheer him up – he appreciated the gesture.

  It was a welcome distraction for Spencer, who had now started to worry just how he and Jasmine were going to be after tonight. The more he thought about the kiss, the more it posed a new question… Jasmine’s actions had been completely out of character, even for someone as free-spirited as her. Had her feelings for him suddenly become something more? Or had she simply been so angry and frustrated at Rich that she’d reacted impulsively, sought refuge in a man she had always known to have feelings for her and who would have given her anything?

  Would have, Spencer thought, because the kiss for him had been an unexpected epiphany. Just like the fairy stories, the spell had been broken by a kiss and Spencer was free. The only thing that wouldn’t follow was true love – at least not with Jasmine. He could move on, he hoped they both could, and they could be real friends at last without the emotional baggage of unrequited love. Now he just needed to fix things with Tori and he could get the future back on track. But he was afraid that was going to be a rather taller order.

  Once again, Tori found herself sitting in her parents’ suite at the Dog and Hare while Spencer was somewhere else. How did they keep getting to this place? With a nod of thanks, she took the coffee offered by her mother from the pot just brought up by Colleen.

  ‘Those people…’ Adrienne Dempsey folded her arms and pursed her lips so tightly it was quite possible they might never open again.

  ‘Please stop complaining about it, Mom. I don’t want to think about what happened tonight.’

  ‘But they’re so opinionated!’

  Tori glanced up at her. It would have been easy to point out that she and Todd weren’t so different from Lewis and Jenny Johns, but she was too heartsick and just too tired to care anymore.

  ‘Honey,’ Mrs Dempsey said, her tone softening, ‘your father and I love you very much, and we just want what’s best for you.’

  ‘What does that have to do with upsetting Lewis and Jenny?’

  ‘They’re upsetting us!’

  ‘Mom, there’s no point in going over it again. I’ll see Spencer in the morning and we’ll talk. I can’t do it now; I don’t have the strength.’

  ‘You want to see him? All the times he’s proved he’s not worthy of you and you still want to give him another chance?’

  ‘He hasn’t done anything wrong, Mom. We’ve had a disagreement.’

  ‘What about all the other women?’

  ‘Other women?’ Tori forced out a short laugh. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Have you been listening to Ruth’s gossip?’

  ‘There’s no smoke without fire,’ Mrs Dempsey replied primly.

  Tori looked over the rim of her coffee cup as she took a sip. ‘There was only one, and we got to the bottom of that. Spencer promised me there was nothing to worry about now.’

  ‘And you believe that?’

  ‘He has no reason to lie.’

  ‘He has a million reasons.’

  ‘I can’t help feeling this is about his parents, not Spencer and I…’

  ‘Nonsense!’ Mrs Dempsey scoffed. ‘I could give those two oddballs a run for their money any day when it comes to an intelligent debate.’

  ‘Just because you could, it doesn’t mean you should,’ Tori said, ‘and that’s the problem.’

  ‘The problem is that you’re throwing your life away on a man who isn’t good enough for you and it’s breaking my heart to see.’

  ‘You mean he’s not earning enough?’

  Adrienne clutched at her breast in a rather dramatic fashion. ‘You don’t know how your words cut me. Sometimes you can be so cruel and I don’t know where you get it from. I care about you and that’s why I feel so strongly.’

  ‘You also want me to have a husband you can present to the other country club members without having to apologise for the lack of zeros on his salary.’

  ‘Tori! You take that back this instant!’

  She let out a sigh. ‘I’m sorry, Mom. I know you mean well… I’m just tired and my head hurts. I want to go to sleep and make this go away. I want Christmas morning to arrive and be the happy day I’ve been looking forward to. Right now, everything is a mess.’

  ‘It doesn’t have to be, honey. We’ve always looked out for you and we can continue to do that if you’ll let us.’

  Tori opened her mouth to reply, but they were interrupted by her dad, who had just returned from the pub downstairs. ‘Colleen and Doug are going to bed now,’ he said. ‘I told them not to worry if we needed anything else, and that we’d go and get it ourselves.’

  ‘So we’re paying for accommodation and now we have to do our own chores?’ Adrienne asked, planting her hands on her hips.

  ‘Doug looked whacked. They’ve had a busy night, he’s still in a wheelchair and it’s Christmas Eve. Let’s give them a break, huh?’

  Adrienne offered no reply, and he turned to Tori. ‘How’s your head? Are you feeling better?’

  ‘Yes, thanks, Daddy. A little.’

  Adrienne looked down at her daughter. ‘I still say we ought to get on the next plane and go home. There’s time.’

  ‘I don’t want to go home,’ Tori said. ‘I’m going to call him—’

  ‘Are you crazy?’ Adrienne exclaimed. ‘That’s the last thing you should be doing!’

  ‘He’s already sent me a message to say he’s sorry.’

  ‘One measly text message – it means nothing. And he keeps saying he’s sorry! Which means he keeps stuffing up and that he keeps on needing to apologise for hurting you.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘You can’t seriously want all this heartbreak?’ Adrienne insisted. ‘Come home with us and at least think things over. If you still feel the same way once there’s some distance between you and Spencer, then you can try again with our blessing.’

  ‘I don’t want to go home,’ Tori repeated. ‘And I wouldn’t get your blessing because I know that once I’m home you’ll work on me.’

  ‘Work on you? I can’t make you do something you don’t want to, even if I know it’s the right thing. I think we’ve seen plenty of evidence of that over the last few days.’

  ‘I doubt we’d get a flight on Christmas Day anyway,’ Todd said.

  ‘That’s not helpful,’ Adrienne shot back.

  ‘But true.’

  ‘London then? There must be plenty of hotels in London? Let’s go and see the sights, have Christmas dinner somewhere with a bit of class and leave this terrible village. We can still make our original flight back after a mini vacation in London.’

  ‘Mom! I don’t want to go to London and I don’t want to go home! I just want to work things out with Spencer and you’re not helping!’

  ‘If he’s worth it, then where is he now? We’ve been back for an hour and he hasn’t called.’

  ‘But he sent me a message—’ Tori began.

/>   Adrienne cut her off. ‘That’s easy – it’s just words. He hasn’t come here begging for forgiveness. What does that tell you? Maybe he doesn’t care about the relationship quite as much as you think. Maybe he’s already found comfort in the arms of that… Petal, or whatever her name is.’

  ‘Jasmine,’ Tori corrected. ‘And he would never do that.’

  ‘Where is he then? He may not be with her but that doesn’t change the fact that he isn’t with you either.’

  Tori chewed on her lip. She didn’t know why Spencer hadn’t come. It wasn’t like him. Perhaps he’d been driven to the point where he felt as stubborn about making the first move as she did, but she missed him like hell and if he’d suddenly found a set of balls she wished he’d lose them again and go back to being the kind and understanding guy she fell in love with. She’d never backed down in the rare arguments they’d had because she’d never had to. What if this one was the last, the one they couldn’t come back from? What if he’d decided to give up on them? What if he had sought solace in the arms of Jasmine…? She pushed the last thought away. He had told her that his feelings for Jasmine were in the past and she wanted to believe him. She wanted him to come over now and take her in his arms and tell her everything was ok, that he loved her and not Jasmine, but he hadn’t, and she didn’t know what to do. Maybe everything really wasn’t ok after all. Maybe it would never be ok again.

  Adrienne sat down next to Tori, her tone softer now. ‘You don’t belong here. I know that you don’t want to have anything to do with Hunter, and if this is some sort of rebellion against that, then it can stop. Come back home with us and forget about this village and Spencer. We won’t push anymore suitors on you and we’ll wait for you to find the right man by yourself… But trust me, honey, this one is not it.’

  ‘Spencer is the right man!’ Tori squeaked, tears strangling the words as they came out. She had said it, so why didn’t she feel it? Why did it feel as if her world was about to implode? Adrienne pulled her into an embrace. It felt good – safe and right. Hadn’t her parents always looked out for her? Weren’t they the people above all others who had her best interests at heart? What if they were right about Spencer and she just couldn’t see it?

  Chapter 10

  Spencer could hear his mum laughing downstairs, and the deep tones of his dad as he teased her. It was a strange thing to wake up to after all these years of living without them, and it catapulted him back to the Christmas mornings of his childhood. They used to keep him up as long as possible on Christmas Eve just to make sure he slept in a few hours the following morning. The plan worked so well that they would usually be up before him no matter how excited he had been the night before and how hard he tried to get up early for his presents. He smiled for a moment, until the crushing realisation came back that Tori had spent the night with her parents again. As if that wasn’t bad enough, this time he hadn’t been able to talk to her, what with all the drama over Dylan the previous night. He leaned over to the bedside table and picked up his phone. Tori had sent one message in reply to the one he had sent apologising, right before the call he then made to Millie.

  ‘We need to talk. Call me.’

  He hadn’t seen it until the early hours and she probably would have been asleep by then, so he had left it, too afraid to call her at such a late hour and too tired to worry any longer. What would she have made of his non-response? Had she been awake all night dwelling on what had happened between them? He cursed himself for being so stupid. Why hadn’t he called her straight away or gone over to the pub? He should have climbed the guttering, broken in, done whatever it took to see her, no matter the hour. She mattered more than anything else, and in the cold light of day he could see that more clearly than ever. Without a second thought he dialled her number and waited. Her phone went straight to voicemail, which meant it was probably switched off. That didn’t sound good. They had a Christmas dinner date with Millie – did Tori plan to turn up for that? Was she ever planning to see him again or would she and her parents be on the first plane back to Colorado?

  Pulling his jeans and sweatshirt on, he thundered downstairs to tell his parents he was going to the pub to sort things out. As soon as he entered the living room their laughter stopped.

  ‘Happy Christmas,’ Jenny greeted him, though her tone was subdued.

  Lewis was less subtle, and expressed what must have been on both their minds as they watched their son walk into the room. ‘How are you feeling?’

  ‘You mean about last night?’ Spencer said. ‘Hollow… That’s the only word I can find to describe it. I feel as if someone has scooped me out.’

  ‘I meant are you tired?’ Lewis said. ‘Going out to pick up Dylan so late.’

  Spencer frowned. ‘That wasn’t the most pressing problem of the night, as I recall.’

  Lewis looked to his wife, who simply threw him an exasperated look and then turned to Spencer. ‘You’re going to talk to Tori?’

  ‘When I’ve pulled myself together and decided what to say. I don’t know that I’ve done myself any favours and she probably doesn’t want to listen, but I have to try.’

  ‘Spencer,’ Lewis began, ‘for what it’s worth your mum and I are sorry. You’re right – we were out of order and we should have tried harder. We’ve never had to curb our natural tendencies to be opinionated before and we’ve always dealt with people who were open to debate, but Tori’s parents… well, you tried to explain it to us and we feel really bad that we didn’t get it. We were selfish and thoughtless for what it would do to you, and if we can make it up in any way we will.’

  ‘I appreciate that, Dad. I’m not sure what I’m going to do but if Tori and I can put this behind us one more time, I’d like to think that at least for the very rare occasions you might have to deal with the Dempseys you’ll be able to keep it civil.’

  ‘We’ll do our best,’ Lewis said.

  ‘I know.’ Spencer took the few steps across the room to hug him before hugging his mum too. ‘But first I’ve got to talk to her.’

  ‘Want us to come?’ Jenny asked.

  Spencer shook his head. Taking them with him was quite probably the very worst thing he could do right now. ‘It has to be me. You might as well enjoy your Christmas morning and get ready for dinner at Millie’s later.’

  ‘Will that still go ahead?’ Jenny frowned. ‘In light of last night’s events?’

  Spencer gave a half smile. ‘If I know Millie it will take a lot more than a late night and family feuding to stop her filling the bakery with guests. I’ll call her but I don’t imagine for a minute she’ll be cancelling.’

  ‘She’s lovely,’ Jenny said.

  ‘She is,’ Spencer agreed, wondering if she wished he was dating Millie instead of an awkward American girl with the parents from hell.

  ‘Why don’t I make you a coffee before you leave?’ Lewis said. ‘You might as well call ahead first to make sure they’re up before you go dashing off.’

  Spencer nodded shortly and his dad went off to the kitchen. Jenny followed him, presumably to talk about the situation some more in private, but whatever they were saying, Spencer couldn’t worry about it right now. He dialled the number of the Dog and Hare. After enough rings to almost have him hanging up, Colleen answered. She sounded flustered.

  ‘Dog and Hare.’

  ‘Colleen, it’s Spencer. Can I just check, are Tori and her parents up and about?’

  ‘They are,’ Colleen replied sounding very unhappy about it. ‘But they won’t be here for much longer.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘They woke me up at the crack of dawn demanding breakfast in the room. They’re checking out as soon as they’ve packed.’

  ‘Where are they going?’ Spencer asked in a strangled voice. ‘I mean,’ he added, trying to calm himself, ‘it’s Christmas Day. Where can they go on Christmas Day?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Spencer got the distinct impression that she wanted to add and I don’t care. ‘
They seem to know what they’re doing so who am I to argue?’

  He took a deep breath. ‘So it’s Mr and Mrs Dempsey leaving Honeybourne? Not Tori?’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Colleen replied uncertainly.

  Spencer keenly felt the awkward position she was being put in but he had to know.

  ‘I got the impression they were all going. I heard them say they would get the taxi to come and fetch her things from your house before they went on.’

  Spencer ended the call and shoved the phone in his pocket. He ran into the hallway and ripped a jacket from the coat rail. ‘I’ve got to go!’ he shouted.

  The sound of footsteps followed him, and he heard his father call him back, but Spencer had already slammed the front door shut. Whatever his dad had to say, it couldn’t be as important as stopping Tori from leaving. He knew now that he needed her, whatever that took – whether he had to kiss her parents’ feet or move to the moon. Whatever she wanted, he would do it, just to have her love him again. He knew now that he was walking away from the one, the love of his life, and he had been stupid to let all his doubts and fears turn into mistakes that would drive her away from him. He had one last chance to make it right, and he couldn’t screw up this time.

  As he put the car into gear and took off the handbrake, the wheels spun on the now compacted snow, but the vehicle didn’t move. He applied pressure to the accelerator again, with more violence this time, and the car shot forwards, sliding sideways on the ice and slamming into his gatepost.

  Spencer threw his foot on the accelerator again, trying to stay calm and keep his mind on the driving, but all he could think about was reaching Tori before she left, and if that meant totalling his car he didn’t really care. He was even less concerned about totalling himself; being alive at the end of the journey would mean nothing without Tori.

  As the car left the drive, he spotted his mum and dad through the rear-view mirror, out on the doorstep, watching him tear off. He owed them a Christmas Day too, but it would have to wait.