The outside of the market was almost as chaotic as the inside, but the sun was shining. Jules retrieved her sunglasses from the neck of her tank top and put them on. It’s summer. It’s hot. This is heaven.
Not for the first time, she wondered at the odd luck that had made her a Colorado native. She much preferred this warmer weather and she knew the winters were mild here. Maybe I was an Australian in a previous life, she thought, unlocking Chloe’s bike from the bike rack. I wonder what it would be like to actually live here, she mused.
Chapter 11
Lucy
Lucy woke abruptly and for a moment, she couldn’t remember where she was. Then the scent of Crabtree and Evelyn’s Noel brought her back to Colorado and she stretched luxuriously under the fluffy duvet. The only source of light was the glowing blue of the clock on the bedside table, the numbers reading 5:14am. Could she fall back asleep?
A quick calculation and she realised it was unlikely. It was after noon in London and her body was wide awake. Still, she’d managed seven hours of sleep, which was enough. Time to get up. She flicked on the bedside lamp and, bracing herself for the cold, flung back the duvet. Only, it wasn’t cold—it was toasty warm. She smiled.
Even in her London flat, she and her flatmate, Val, wouldn’t turn on the heat until they got up. And back home in Penham, her parents tended to treat heat as a luxury—the front room always stiflingly hot and everywhere else in the house, icy. She’d grown up thinking that chilblains were normal.
She wondered if having a shower would wake anyone, especially with Will sleeping right next door. Will. What in the world was she doing fantasising about Will? The last time she’d seen him, he was a little boy. “Definitely not a little boy anymore,” she whispered to herself, stifling a giggle.
Regardless, she didn’t want to wake him, especially as he’d had to do that long drive yesterday. She would shower later. She slid her feet into her Uggs and pulled on her fluffy dressing gown.
As she tugged the tie tight around her waist, she decided it would be extremely bad manners to have it off with the young man of the house, especially at Christmas. She’d just have to ignore how much she fancied him. But what if he flirted with her?
“Gah!” she chided herself, then went off in search of tea.
Fifteen minutes later, she was no closer to drinking tea and more than a little annoyed. She’d looked in every cupboard and in every drawer. Surely there was a kettle here somewhere? She eyed the obviously expensive coffee machine—a proper one like a barista would use—with derision. Useless thing. She hated coffee.
She’d just have to use the microwave to boil water, which everyone knew was a terrible way to make tea. As a frown settled onto her face, she paused. Was it jet lag? She hoped so, because getting cross over something as simple as tea wasn’t like her, and she wasn’t enjoying it one bit.
“Good morning.” The voice from behind made her start and her hand flew to her chest. “Sorry, honey, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Steph.
“Oh, you didn’t. Well, you did, but it’s not your fault. I think I’m just a little disorientated.”
“Oh, no problem.” Steph waved it off. “Coffee?”
“Actually, I was hoping for some tea.”
“Tea. Oh, of course. Hold on. I think Nate said something about that. He’s always good with that kind of thing.” Lucy watched Steph open several drawers. From one in the corner, a drawer Lucy was sure she had checked, Steph pulled out a shiny new powder-blue kettle. “Ah-hah! See?”
Lucy beamed, instantly forgetting her earlier annoyance. “He bought this for you. So thoughtful, that man.” Then why did you divorce him? Lucy clapped her hand over her mouth as though she’d said her thought aloud, but Steph didn’t appear to notice.
“And I imagine there are teabags …” Steph talked to herself as she moved boxes about in the drawer. “Black tea, right?” She threw a look over her shoulder and Lucy nodded. No potpourri tea for Lucy. She had no idea how people drank something that tasted like toilet freshener. She didn’t even like Earl Grey.
“Success!” Steph held aloft an unopened box of Tazo “Awake” tea, and Lucy felt her body relax. “I’m going to let you make it, though, Lucy. I am way out of my depth here.”
Not long after, they were seated on opposite ends of a sofa, each with a mug of something steaming and staring into the fireplace. It was one of those fires that turned on with a switch, which Lucy thought was very practical. Steph had been so welcoming the night before, but Lucy felt a little awkward sitting there in silence and scoured her mind for something to say.
“I think Will wanted to take you up the mountain today.”
Lucy spluttered a little and wiped tea from the side of her mouth. “Oh?”
“Uh-huh. You ski right?”
“Oh, uh, no, actually.”
“Snowboard?”
“It’s neither, I’m afraid.”
“Well, then he will absolutely want to get his hands on you.”
“Sorry, what?” This conversation certainly had her on the back foot. What in the world?
“Will. He’s a fantastic teacher.” Oh, right. “Skiing, snowboarding—he basically grew up on the snow. He was only three when we first put him on skis.” She laughed. “He was so fast. He took off right down the mountain and Nate had to go after him. From then on, he was hooked! Never wanted to come off the slopes, even when his lips turned blue. I think he’s mostly snowboarding now, but he’ll teach you how to ski if you prefer.”
Lucy’s stomach twisted at the thought of either.
“Um, I’m not really very athletic.” It was the polite way to say, “No thank you very much, please sod off.”
Steph waved
