Escape To Christmas at Corner Cottage

by Sarah Hope

  ‘You think they’ll let us take a hamster in too?’ Now that she had a proper plan in place, she felt calmer. Things would be ok. The worst-case scenario would be that Mr Lowen would refuse to make good the repairs. She just wouldn’t let herself think about what might happen to them if he decided it was too much bother and terminated the tenancy. But he couldn’t do that legally, could he? Chrissy was sure he couldn’t. It would be fine.

  Chapter 3

  ‘Hey, hey. Chrissy, stop!’

  Lifting her knee up, Chrissy rested her foot on the trailer’s tyre, bearing the brunt of the chest of drawers on her hip. She twisted her body to see who was in such a hurry to speak to her. ‘Luke. What’s the matter?’

  ‘That’s the matter.’ As he jogged towards her, he pointed to the chest of drawers. ‘Here, let me help. You’ll give yourself an injury.’

  ‘I’m fine. Honest.’ Or she would be if she could just get on with it. The wood was digging into her hip.

  ‘Let me help.’ Gripping hold of the chest of drawers, he lifted it away from Chrissy’s hip bone. ‘You grab the other end.’

  ‘Yes, sir!’ As Luke slowly backed away, pulling the chest of drawers towards him, Chrissy grabbed the other end and pulled it out of the trailer.

  ‘No need to be sarcastic, I’m only helping you.’

  ‘Umm.’ Shaking her head, she reminded herself that this was Luke, a virtual stranger, trying to be nice. It wasn’t Andrew who had always insisted on ‘helping’ her and doing things for her, rendering her incapable or at least believing she, herself, was incapable. ‘Sorry, thank you.’

  ‘Have you heard back from Mr Lowen?’

  ‘Yes, I got a curt email back basically saying I could either sort it all out myself or find somewhere else but he would keep my money regardless. I signed the contract, didn’t I? It was my fault for not insisting on viewing the place. Plus, nowhere else would take me on anyway, so it’s all immaterial. Sorry, your plans are well and truly scuppered.’

  ‘No worries. I’m sure I can talk him into selling it to me at a later date.’

  Backing into the cottage, Chrissy noticed Luke’s muscles flexing under his jumper.

  ‘I need to go to the gym more.’ Luke laughed and lifted his end of the chest of drawers up and down impersonating a weightlifter.

  ‘You look fine as you are.’ She averted her eyes quickly, she hadn’t meant for it to come out like that. Feeling the heat of a blush rapidly racing across her cheeks, she jerked her head trying to flick her hair across her face to cover it. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. I meant...’

  ‘It’s ok, I’m happy to take a compliment.’ Luke laughed, seemingly revelling in her discomfort. ‘Is this going upstairs?’

  ‘Yes, I can manage myself though, if you need to get off?’

  ‘What are you going to do? Pull it up the stairs?’

  ‘I could do.’

  ‘You could. Or you could just let me help. I figure I probably owe you a couple of hours’ hard graft after the way I tried to make you homeless yesterday.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Chrissy allowed him to shepherd her up the stairs first, him taking the majority of the weight at the bottom.

  ‘RIGHT, IS THAT THE last of it? I think I’ve racked up more than a few days off from the gym with all the lifting.’ Flexing his arms, his muscles strained at the thin maroon wool of his jumper.

  ‘Yes, that’s it and thank you again. I owe you big time.’ Looking sideways at him she added, ‘But that doesn’t mean I’m going to move out so you can make your fortune.’

  ‘Good, I don’t want you to move out for a very long time, not if I have to help you carry everything back out again anyway. Now, surely I’ve at least earned a coffee.’

  ‘Of course.’ Leading the way into the small kitchen, Chrissy switched the kettle on as Luke leant against the work surface.

  ‘I’d forgotten how good this place can look. It looks like a home again now you’ve got all your things in.’

  ‘I like it. Here you go, one coffee and you can help yourself to a biscuit too, if you like?’

  ‘I am spoilt.’ Luke took the packet of digestives from Chrissy’s hand, his skin brushing hers.

  ‘Take a seat.’ In the living room, Chrissy indicated a furry pink bean bag.

  ‘I’m too old for this.’ Lowering himself down, Luke held his coffee away from him, taking care not to spill it. ‘It’s comfy at least. Haven’t you got a sofa?’

  ‘Yep, our sofa and beds are currently in a van sat in my ex’s work carpark. They wouldn’t fit in the trailer, so he managed to borrow a van from his work. He’s bringing them on Saturday when he picks the twins up. So it’s not long we’ve got to cope on bean bags and airbeds.’ Squatting down, she sank in Sophia’s fluffy beanbag.

  ‘You stink!’ Luke scrunched his nose up and laughed.

  ‘Sorry, I probably do. Sweat mixed with bleach, by any chance?’ Chrissy shuffled to the edge of the bean bag, her coffee sloshing precariously close to the rim of her mug, she was glad she hadn’t filled it to the brim.

  ‘The bleach is quite overpowering, I must say.’

  ‘Yes, well, have you noticed the wall over there?’ She pointed to where the mould used to smother the whitewashed wall.

  ‘Wow! You have been busy! You’d never know it was covered in mould yesterday.’

  ‘It took me a good hour to clean though, and my arms feel like they’re going to drop off.’ Chrissy rubbed her upper arms. She’d done it though, despite the fact that getting the cottage clean and liveable had seemed like an impossible task, she’d won. She’d scrubbed every wall with a bleach solution, mouldy or not, and washed the floorboards, twice. And with the amount of bleach she’d used on the kitchen work surfaces, she’d feel happy eating dinner off of them.

  ‘I bet they do.’ Placing his coffee mug on the floor, Luke shimmied to the edge of the bean bag, leant forward and began to massage Chrissy’s shoulders. ‘How’s that?’

  ‘Absolutely divine.’ Chrissy closed her eyes and smiled. Luke’s fingers working into her taut muscles were strong and confident. Andrew would never even have thought to give her a massage.

  ‘What’s happening about that broken window? It’s cold enough in here already and it’s only going to get colder.’

  ‘Just having the wood across it has made a heck of a difference.’ Chrissy glanced across at the thin piece of plywood she’d found in the shed outside. She wouldn’t mention it was stuck to the window frame with some ancient wood glue she’d also unearthed in the shed. ‘I’ll email Mr Lowen again later and see if I can get him to agree to fix it. I need to badger him to fix the oven door too.’

  ‘Have you got any wood for the wood burner?’ Luke nodded towards the fireplace. ‘It’s surprising how much heat they can pump out.’

  ‘Not yet. I’ll have to pop somewhere tomorrow.’ She twisted around to face him. ‘As lovely as this is, I need to jump in the shower before I pick the girls up.’

  JOGGING THE LAST FEW metres to the school gates, Chrissy bundled her wet hair up into a messy bun before slowing down and rounding the corner into the playground.

  ‘Hello, I haven’t seen you here before. You must be mum to the twin girls, is that right?’

  ‘Hi, yes I am. We just moved here yesterday.’

  ‘Oh, lovely. Nice to meet you, I’m Natalie. I didn’t know there was a place up for sale in the village? Or are you commuting from someplace else?’ A small baby began to squirm in the red pram she was holding on to. ‘It’s ok, princess. It’s not your feed time yet.’ Leaning over the pram, Natalie’s wavy, blonde hair fanned across the pink blanket covering the baby.

  ‘Good to meet you too, I’m Chrissy. We’ve moved into Corner Cottage, it’s just off the High Street.’

  ‘Corner Cottage?’ Natalie stood up, tucking her hair behind her ears. ‘Wow. I mean, I assumed Mr Lowen had given up on trying to rent that place out.’

  Chrissy pulled the strap of her handbag higher up her
shoulder and bit her bottom lip.

  ‘I’m so sorry. That must have sounded really rude. I just meant that it hasn’t been lived in for so long, I just assumed he wasn’t renting it out anymore.’

  ‘It’s ok. I think, well, actually I know, I was pretty naive when I signed up for it. It turns out the photos he sent me were from years ago and I was daft enough to sign the tenancy without seeing it.’ Chrissy smiled. ‘It’s my own fault. It’s the first time I’ve ever rented on my own, so it was all quite new to me.’

  ‘I’m sure it will be fine once you’ve settled your things in. It used to be a lovely cosy place once. It just needs someone like you to give it some TLC and return it to its former glory.’

  ‘I hope so. Now I’ve cleaned it up a bit and put our things in its looking better already.’

  ‘Natalie, hi. Have you managed to get your parents to babysit for next weekend yet? You’re not going to back out on this are you?’ A professional looking woman with a black bob bustled up, her hand on her slightly rounded belly.

  ‘Yes, it’s all sorted. Please stop panicking, you’re starting to make me worry.’

  ‘It’s a good job one of us is panicking or you won’t even have a wedding. Oh, sorry. Hello, I’m Gina. ‘

  ‘I’m Chrissy, nice to meet you.’ Taking Gina’s hand, Chrissy smiled.

  ‘This one here is getting married, on Christmas Eve of all days, so you can just imagine how hectic that’s going to be.’

  ‘Christmas Eve? That’ll be lovely.’

  ‘It will be, if she starts organising things.’

  ‘Most of it’s organised. Plus, as long as I get to marry Graham and I have my family and friends there, I don’t really care about the details.’

  ‘You should do. This is your big day. Goodness knows you’ve waited long enough.’ Gina rolled her eyes at Chrissy. ‘It took her Graham fourteen years to pop the question.’

  ‘Congratulations.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  ‘Oh, Sophia. What’s happened?’ Chrissy watched as Sophia and Evie strolled out of class, Sophia’s skirt clearly ripped across the front.

  ‘She did it on the climbing frame.’ Evie looked across at her sister and then back at Chrissy.

  ‘Are you ok? Did you hurt yourself?’ Chrissy rubbed Sophia’s shoulder.

  ‘No, I just got something caught on my skirt, no big deal.’ Recoiling at Chrissy’s touch, Sophia pulled away, looking around the playground.

  ‘Well, at least you’re ok, that’s the main thing. It’s a shame I can’t say the same about your skirt, though. I can’t believe you’ve managed to rip it like that the first time you’ve worn it.’ Bending down, Chrissy picked at the torn fabric. ‘At least it’s on the seam, I suppose.’

  ‘Leave it, please, Mum.’ Taking a few steps back, Sophia smoothed her skirt down. ‘I’ll just wear another one tomorrow.’

  ‘Umm, you haven’t got another one, sweetheart. I could only manage to get one each in your sizes, remember?’

  ‘Oh, yes, because we have to wear stupid navy at this stupid school. If you’d let us stay at our old school, I’d have had tonnes of skirts. I had three grey ones, but, no, you had to make us move here.’

  ‘Sophia, don’t. Not here.’ Thankfully Natalie seemed to be preoccupied balancing lunch boxes and book bags on the pram and Gina had disappeared. ‘So, how was your first day then, girls?’

  ‘It was ok. There’s this girl I sit next to who’s got the longest hair you’ve ever seen, longer than Rapunzel’s even. Mum, look, she’s over there playing on the tyres. Her hair’s really long, isn’t it?’ Evie pointed across to a girl jumping from tyre to tyre, her black plated hair springing up every time she jumped.

  ‘Wow, yes, it is really long. Have you made friends with her then?’

  ‘No, she’s really annoying. She keeps shouting the answers out in class instead of putting her hand up.’

  ‘That’s not really a reason not to be friends with her though, is it?’ Evie had always set her standards high when making new friends. She’d once told Chrissy her list of traits she looked out for in potential friends and Chrissy was sure, if she’d been the same age, Evie would have bypassed her as unsuitable friend material.

  ‘She’s said she doesn’t want to be friends with her, so just drop it, Mum. We’re not desperate.’

  ‘I didn’t say you were. So, did you make any friends, Sophia?’ Holding her breath, she waited for the backchat.

  Sophia crossed her arms, dipping her head to her shoes.

  ‘You ok, Sophia?’

  ‘I just want to go...’ Raising her hand to her mouth, she began biting her nail. ‘Away from school.’

  ‘Come on then, let’s get back to our new home. I’ve spent the day scrubbing and cleaning the cottage and it actually looks quite nice now.’ Placing her arms across Sophia and Evie’s shoulders, Chrissy began leading the way out of the playground. ‘See you tomorrow, Natalie.’

  ‘Bye, Chrissy. Hope you girls had a good first day?’ Natalie looked up and waved. ‘Oh dear, someone’s going to be going shopping tonight.’ Frowning, she looked at Sophia’s skirt.

  ‘It’s only a tear, I’ll soon get that fixed.’ Chrissy grinned, even if she’d had the spare cash, she certainly didn’t want to spend their first evening living here, driving around looking for shops.

  ‘Where’s the car?’

  ‘We’re walking, Sophia. The cottage is only two minutes away. So, girls, how was it really? Can you see yourselves being happy here?’

  ‘It was ok, Mum.’ Evie took Chrissy’s hand and looked up at her. ‘Our teacher seems nice, a bit strict but that’s a good thing because there’s this boy, Oliver, who is a bit naughty. Isn’t he, Sophia?’

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘Oliver, he’s a bit naughty, isn’t he? He pushed someone at break-time. So, I think I like the fact that Mrs Chambers is a bit strict, because I don’t want him pushing me or disrupting the class when we’re trying to learn.’

  ‘Mum doesn’t really care about how school was, Evie.’ Sophia kicked a stone with the tip of her newly polished shoe.

  ‘Of course, I do! I care a lot about how you both got on today. I’ve been looking forward to picking you up and finding out all about your day.’

  ‘Don’t lie. If you cared about us, even just a tiny bit, then you wouldn’t have made us move schools in the first place.’

  ‘We’ve spoken about this already, Sophia.’ Wiping her gloved hand across her forehead, Chrissy hoped this wouldn’t be the start of another headache.

  ‘She does care, she’s told us that we had to move because of selling the house.’

  ‘And whose fault’s that?’

  ‘Don’t please.’ Too late, Sophia had already begun walking ahead, her hands covering her ears. They’d never forgive her for making them move.

  WITH HER EAR AGAINST the kitchen door, Chrissy listened as Sophia and Evie said their goodbyes to their dad and hung up the phone before she ventured into the living room. ‘Everything ok, sweethearts? Has your dad settled into his new home?’

  ‘Yes. He says we can decorate our bedrooms however we like.’ Evie reached up from her position curled up on her beanbag and gave Chrissy her mobile.

  ‘Thanks. That’s good then. Here, I’ve made us all a hot chocolate. Budge up and I’ll sit in the middle.’ Chrissy placed their mugs on the coffee table before throwing down a cushion in the middle of the two fluffy beanbags. ‘Shall we watch a film before bedtime?’ Lowering herself down, Chrissy squeezed between Sophia and Evie and pulled a throw over their knees.

  ‘Ok.’ Sophia hugged her mug and leant her head against Chrissy’s shoulder.

  ‘Love you, Sophia. You too, Evie.’ Chrissy kissed the top of Sophia’s head. ‘Things will get better, I promise. We’ve just got to get used to our new life, that’s all.’ Taking a deep breath in, she hoped they could.

  ‘You never know, Dad might be lonely and decide to come and live with us again.’ Evie looked acros
s at Chrissy, hope etched in her eyes.

  ‘Evie, you know that’s not likely to happen, but we can be happy here, by ourselves. And we will be, we’ve just got to accept it and make the most of it. I think it will be lovely living here, in this small village. I was looking at the noticeboard outside the school today and there was a poster saying they have a village Christmas Carol Service at the beginning of December. It sounds as though the whole village meet up on the green and the school join in too.’

  ‘Ooh, that sounds nice.’

  ‘It does, doesn’t it? Here, shall we watch The Santa Clause film and get into the Christmas spirit? It’s only a month and a half away.’ Chrissy scrolled to their recorded films, ignoring Sophia’s huffing and eye rolling. Yes, this would be their first Christmas, just the three of them, but she was determined that they’d have a good one. She had already started a list of new traditions she thought the girls would enjoy.

  Chapter 4

  ‘Come on, up you get. We don’t want to be late for your second day at school.’ Chrissy called up the stairs for the third time in the past ten minutes before returning to the kitchen to finish the packed lunches.

  ‘Mum, you’ve remembered I don’t want ham in my sandwiches again, haven’t you?’ Evie came into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes.

  ‘Drat, no I hadn’t. Don’t worry, I’ll redo them. Do you want cheese instead?’ Unzipping Evie’s pink butterfly covered lunch box, she took out the sandwiches.

  ‘Yes, please.’

  ‘Ok. Grab yourself some cereal then.’ Unwanted sandwiches in hand, Chrissy poked her head around the door and called again, ‘Sophia! Please tell me you’re getting dressed!’

  ‘She was cleaning her teeth when I came down.’ Shaking out the chocolate flakes into her bowl, Evie looked up.

  ‘At least she’s awake then. Now, do you want mayo with your cheese or just butter?’

  ‘MORNING CHRISSY. YOU managed to get a new skirt then?’ Natalie joined them on the playground.