The Cornish Cream Tea Christmas

by Cressida McLaughlin

  ‘Mum told me about your conversation in the car,’ he said. ‘That you thought I was with Beth. That night in the spa, when you said we couldn’t—’

  ‘I saw the photo of you together on your phone; you called her babe. I just assumed. It never occurred to me to ask you outright.’

  He shook his head. ‘And it never occurred to me to explain. These last couple of months haven’t been easy in so many ways, but then – I didn’t expect this.’ He gestured between them. ‘To feel the way I did about you, so soon afterwards. You thought I was with Beth when I kissed you?’

  Hannah shrugged hopelessly. It felt like a dream, because he was with her, wasn’t he? ‘I don’t know, Noah. None of this seems straightforward.’

  ‘Why not? Because you’re going home soon? I assumed that was why you backed off in the spa, why you said, outside The Ship, that we couldn’t do this.’

  Hannah shook her head. ‘I thought you weren’t free. You’re still not—’

  ‘What, Hannah?’ He ran a hand down the side of her face, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear. ‘You feel this too, don’t you? How could you not?’ His gaze searched hers, his touch like flames against her skin.

  She heard voices behind her, the others coming in from the garden.

  Noah took her hand and led her into the snug, weaving between the tables and chairs to the farthest corner, the bench that was partly hidden behind the curve of the bar.

  Hannah sat down and Noah slid in next to her, then turned to face her.

  ‘What’s that?’ she asked, pointing at a foil-covered parcel he’d put on the table.

  Noah dipped his head, and even in the dim light she saw his cheeks redden. ‘Chocolate and mallow log with bitter cherry sauce. All my own work, so I have no idea if it’s edible.’

  Hannah sat back. ‘You made this for tonight?’

  ‘You said someone else always brought the dessert, and I …’ His voice dropped as he leaned in closer. ‘When you talked about it that night, it made me … I wanted – want – to provoke that kind of reaction in you. I can’t stop thinking about you. When I found out why you’d backed off before, I had hope. Hope that you want this, too.’

  She swallowed. His face was so close to hers. She could see the different shades of blue in his eyes and smell coffee on his breath. She wanted to taste it on his lips.

  ‘I saw you,’ she said. ‘Yesterday. We were doing the Secret Santa Tour, and when we got to Mousehole a van-load of Christmas puddings had spilled in the road and caused a hold-up. I went to see what was going on, and I saw you. With Beth. You put your arms around each other, so I thought …’ She took a steadying breath. ‘I thought that you’d got back together.’

  Noah exhaled. ‘She was saying goodbye, before she left for London. We’ve been in touch over the last few weeks, while she’s been clearing her things out of the house, but that was a final goodbye. It’s over between us. It has been since November.’

  Hannah sighed; a giddy, untethered feeling worked its way through her.

  ‘Who spilled the Christmas puddings?’ Noah asked, a smile lifting his lips. ‘Not Charlie.’

  ‘No, it wasn’t Charlie.’ Hannah’s own smile broke through. Noah’s was irresistible; she couldn’t help but mirror it. ‘Why did we never talk about it, Noah? Why didn’t you say, I want to kiss you? Then I would have said you couldn’t, you were a bastard for even trying, and you could have told me you were single, and everything would have been cleared up.’

  ‘You didn’t say I want to kiss you either. I thought I’d taken it too far that night, that I was misreading the signs.’ He laughed, rubbed a hand down his face. ‘And I wasn’t sure if it was real, or if it was a rebound thing. It’s not, Hannah, you have to know that. The amount of time I’ve spent thinking about you.’

  ‘But even in Mousehole, when we spent the day together, you never said it outright. I bumbled my way through a ridiculous speech about how nothing could ever happen between us, and you didn’t ask me why.’

  ‘I’d convinced myself by then that you didn’t want anything more than friendship, but I still wanted to spend time with you. I couldn’t help it.’

  Hannah laughed, some of her giddiness escaping. ‘I couldn’t help it either. I wanted to be with you all the time.’

  He inched closer. ‘Do you think we should try that kiss again?’

  The words sent a thrill down Hannah’s spine. ‘I think we owe it to ourselves to see what it would have been like, if we hadn’t been holding back for entirely unnecessary reasons.’

  ‘Let’s never tell Gerald about our lack of communication skills.’ He was centimetres away, getting closer, but then his smile faltered. ‘Hannah, even now, I don’t know if this makes sense. You live in Edinburgh, we’re so far apart—’

  ‘Not right now, we aren’t.’ She cupped the back of his head and brought his face to hers, brushing her lips gently against his before taking full possession. This kiss, this real, proper kiss, had been a long time coming, but she knew without question, as his hands found her waist and he brought her body closer to his, until they were pressed against each other in the darkest corner of the Crystal Waters snug, that it had been entirely worth waiting for.

  Chapter Seven

  Hannah’s friends’ Christmas – with an entirely new set of friends – was even more celebratory than she had been expecting. When Noah and Hannah made it out of their hiding place in the snug, Daniel led them all through to the private dining room on the other side of the hotel.

  ‘Noah.’ Daniel slapped him on the back, then looked between him and Hannah, his eyes narrowing. ‘You’re too late to help us vanquish the ghosts, but you don’t look too disappointed.’

  ‘I’m glad your hotel is back to normal,’ Noah said, shaking Daniel’s proffered hand.

  Daniel exhaled. ‘Time to put the past behind us and look forward to Christmas. Speaking of which, Hannah, do you want to take the lead?’

  She shrugged off her coat and hung it on a hook in the corridor with the others. She had forgotten she was wearing Lila’s dress – at least she had done once she’d come in from the cold and her legs had defrosted – but when she stepped back into the room, Noah’s eyes widened in stunned appreciation. She smiled and told everyone to sit at the large round table that she and Charlie had decorated earlier that day.

  There were silver and blue crackers, and a central table display of mistletoe and herbs from the hotel gardens – rosemary and sage, and a red-berried plant whose name Hannah didn’t know but wasn’t holly, the foliage interspersed with twigs that had been spray-painted silver. It smelled heady and aromatic, and she hoped it would awaken everyone’s taste buds for the meal to come.

  She and Daniel opened bottles of champagne as everyone found seats. There were nine of them altogether – she had asked Hugh to join them – and it felt like a perfectly sized gathering. Noah gestured to the seat next to his, and she nodded before pointing at the corridor. ‘Back in a sec.’

  In the kitchen the mouthwatering smells were overpowering, and Levi assured her everything was on course. She checked the progress of the sauce, the cod about to go in the oven, the clean scallops waiting to be seared.

  ‘Everyone’s ready,’ she said, taking her apron off the hook on the wall.

  Levi put a hand on her arm. ‘We’re doing this. Your menu, your prep, our cooking. Go out and enjoy it.’

  ‘I can’t,’ Hannah replied. ‘I know what you said earlier, but I was the one who wanted to do this.’

  ‘And now you need to go and host it. You can’t be stuck out here with us, and definitely not in that dress. It’s my kitchen and these are my orders,’ he said firmly, then grinned at her.

  ‘But—’

  ‘No buts. Go.’ He flapped his hands until she’d put the apron back on the hook.

  ‘Thank you, Levi. You have no idea—’

  ‘Go, Hannah,’ he said, laughing.

  Hannah smoothed her hair away from her face,
walked back into the dining room and took her seat next to Noah. Daniel nodded at her, and she picked up her glass of champagne.

  ‘I wanted to thank you all for staying on after Audrey’s gathering this evening, to have this meal with me. The menu’s mine but I’ve had – am having – a lot of help with the cooking. Levi and his wonderful team of chefs and, also …’ She glanced at Noah. ‘It’s tradition for someone else to bring dessert to my friends’ Christmases, but I’ll get to that later. I have had the best time in Cornwall, and it’s been a lot more dramatic than I was expecting.’

  Everyone laughed, and it gave her the confidence to carry on. ‘So this is to say thank you for having me, for inviting me to stay and have Christmas with you, and for helping me discover that Porthgolow is as special, as meaningful – and magical – as I thought it was.’ She raised her glass. ‘To friends, and Christmas.’

  ‘To friends and Christmas,’ everyone echoed.

  ‘Cheers, Hannah.’

  ‘To the chef!’

  ‘I can’t imagine why you’re thanking us,’ Reenie said. ‘We’re the ones who get to eat the delicious food you’ve spent hours preparing. It should be the other way round.’

  ‘This is truly delightful,’ Audrey said, raising her glass so her champagne twinkled in the light.

  Waiters brought out the first course: scallops with crispy pancetta and pea purée, and a wild mushroom and asparagus tart for Lila. Everyone dug in, appreciative noises soon taking the place of conversation.

  Hannah felt Noah’s hand brush her knee, but so lightly it could have been one of the ghosts – if they hadn’t been sent on their way only an hour before.

  ‘This is amazing, Hannah,’ he said, his low voice vibrating through her.

  ‘I’m so glad everyone could come,’ she replied. ‘I do feel like a bit of a cheat, though, sitting here while Levi finishes and serves my dishes.’

  ‘You can’t be stuck in the kitchen tonight.’ He laughed gently. ‘You need to be out here. Mainly because I would miss you if you weren’t.’

  Hannah leaned closer to him, her scallops forgotten. She was still reeling. Noah wasn’t with Beth. He wanted her. She hadn’t mentioned the future beyond the next few days: it was too soon for that, and too complicated, and she planned on enjoying every moment of this evening.

  She picked up her glass, and realized that Noah didn’t have one. ‘You’ve missed out on the champagne. Why didn’t you say?’ She reached over for a spare glass, but he put his hand on her arm.

  ‘I have to drive back to Mousehole after this.’

  ‘What? You’re driving all the way to Mousehole tonight, then coming back again in the morning?’

  He frowned at her.

  ‘It’s Charlie’s last Christmas food market,’ she explained. ‘The last chance to pick up all the fudge, pigs in blankets and Christmas pudding you need for the big day, not to mention try one of Benji and Jonah’s festive Porthgolow Burgers.’

  ‘You want me to come to the food market with you?’

  ‘I’ll be going back to Edinburgh next week. I can’t live in Daniel’s hotel permanently, as glorious as that would be.’

  ‘That’s a real shame.’ Noah was matching her flippancy, but she could tell he meant it.

  ‘Which is why we have to make the most of the time we have.’

  ‘And I need to drive back to Porthgolow in the morning for the food market.’

  ‘Or,’ she said, lifting the champagne bottle out of its bucket and pouring some into the empty glass, ‘you could stay here. There’s plenty of room in my bed.’ She held out the glass to him.

  It was a second before he took it. Hannah’s whole body fizzed at the intensity of his gaze, then he gave her a heart-stopping smile, and she wondered if she would make it to his dessert. She was almost tempted to say goodnight to everyone that instant and drag Noah to her room.

  ‘What?’ she asked, when she’d composed herself. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’

  ‘Because firstly,’ he explained, ‘it’s quite difficult not to look at you when you’re so beautiful, and secondly, I am endlessly amazed at how straightforward you are. There’s no game playing, no teasing.’

  ‘I can do teasing,’ Hannah said coyly. ‘But what’s the point in not being straightforward? There is lots of room in my bed – I think it’s a king-size – and there are all sorts of reasons why it makes sense for you to stay in it tonight, but by far the most important one is that I really, really want you to.’

  ‘That’s good to know.’ He moved his face closer to hers, his voice dropping. ‘The feeling, by the way, is entirely mutual.’

  ‘That’s a relief,’ she whispered, her lips inches from his. ‘I’d hate to be talking at cross-purposes again.’

  ‘Sometimes talking at all is overrated,’ he said, and then he kissed her.

  Hannah surrendered to it, though a small part of her was aware that it was highly inappropriate at the table, and that the chatter around them had stopped. She usually hated being the centre of attention, and wasn’t entirely comfortable with PDAs, but with Noah it was different. She couldn’t get enough of him, and the fact that he wasn’t normally an extroverted person, that she knew he was also being ruled by his senses, made it even more electric. They felt the same. There was nothing holding them back, apart from a few hundred miles that she was determined not to think about tonight.

  They broke apart to silence and Hannah risked a glance at Charlie: she gave Hannah a knowing look, her lips flickering into a smile.

  ‘I’m not sure the mistletoe on the table warrants that kind of kiss,’ Reenie said, her eyes twinkling with mischief, ‘and you are supposed to be under it, but congratulations.’

  ‘This is a new thing?’ Lila asked. ‘A Christmas romance?’

  Noah cleared his throat. ‘It’s been a while coming. Ever since we met, actually, but we finally got our act together.’

  ‘You’re perfect together,’ Lila said.

  ‘Hear hear,’ Hugh echoed, raising his glass.

  Hannah blushed deeply, and was glad of Daniel’s interruption.

  ‘This calls for a top-up. I’ll get more champagne.’

  When she caught Audrey’s eye, the other woman gave her a warm smile.

  The glasses were refilled and empty plates were replaced by full ones smelling of herbs and the sea, and Hannah was relieved that her food was more tantalizing than her love life, at least to most people.

  Once the main course had been cleared away, Noah’s hand found hers. ‘You don’t have to serve my chocolate log, you know. It’s probably awful.’ He laughed, but she could tell he was nervous.

  ‘It’s going to be delicious,’ she said. ‘I can’t believe you went to all the trouble of making it. Did you find a recipe online?’

  ‘I couldn’t find one for exactly what you’d described, so I cobbled a couple together, which was probably a colossal mistake.’ He rubbed his forehead. ‘I think it’s actually—’

  ‘Shh.’ She put a finger to his lips. ‘Stop stressing. It doesn’t matter what it tastes like.’

  ‘There are seven other people round the table who might beg to differ.’

  ‘Then they can have something else, but I don’t think they’ll want to.’

  Noah’s pudding was brought to the table with a couple of sparklers stuck in the top, and everyone cheered its arrival. Hannah sliced it into equal parts and then took her time pouring the dark, glossy sauce over the top of each bowlful.

  She would remember this moment for ever, she thought. Being in Cornwall, its features in darkness just beyond the glass, her friends inside, her head and heart full of new experiences, pieces of her life that, in only a few weeks, had made her feel so much more complete.

  She handed out the bowls, catching Noah’s eye.

  Daniel was the first to have a mouthful, his eyes widening as it hit his taste buds. ‘Bloody hell,’ he murmured, and Hannah, unable to wait a moment longer, lifted her own spoonful to h
er lips.

  The sharp, sour cherry hit her first, quickly followed by the sweet ooze of chocolate and marshmallow, the crunchy biscuit pieces adding the texture that brought everything together.

  ‘Oh my God,’ she mumbled, turning to Noah, her words echoing those of others round the table.

  ‘Who made this, then?’ Audrey asked. ‘Because it is incredible.’

  ‘Noah made it,’ Hannah said. ‘He made it and brought it with him, and I didn’t even know about it until this evening.’

  ‘Noah.’ Sam nodded at him. ‘Great work. Seriously.’

  Hannah squeezed his hand under the table. ‘This is perfect,’ she whispered. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘It makes total sense,’ Charlie said, matter-of-factly.

  ‘Why’s that?’ Reenie asked, before putting a large spoonful in her mouth and closing her eyes in pleasure.

  Charlie caught her cousin’s eye and Lila laughed. ‘It’s one of Uncle Hal’s sayings,’ she explained. ‘Hal who left Gertie to Charlie in his will. He said the best food was made with love and extra calories.’

  ‘Love and extra calories,’ Noah repeated. ‘That sounds about right.’ He turned to look at Hannah, and she wondered if he could see how fast her heart was beating. ‘Though this particular cooking effort also included quite a lot of swearing.’

  ‘Love, swearing and extra calories,’ Charlie said, nodding. ‘That seems to sum up quite a lot of life, to be honest.’

  ‘Just as it should be,’ Daniel added.

  There were nods of agreement, and Hannah sat back in her chair, full in stomach and heart.

  After dinner was finished, and after being plied with extra champagne and a lot of flattery from his girlfriend, Sam took the small, maroon-covered hardback she had given him and went to stand by the window. Hannah watched him transform, his posture straightening, his shoulders squaring, and then he opened the book. He paused the perfect length of time as he looked at his audience, his eyes almost golden in the twinkling lights, then his gaze fell to the page.