She nodded her reply to Will’s question and shared a quick smile with him. “She’s been wonderful, actually. Very helpful with the Angela situation.”
“Oh, that’s good. From what you’ve said, it’s not sustainable the way it is.”
“I think I have a viable solution. We’ll see in any case. And what about you and Jules?” Lucy had been dying to ask, but Christmas dinner was hardly a good time to bring it up.
“Oh, sorry, Lucy. I should have said. I got her voicemail. I’ll call her tomorrow.” Lucy felt the sting of disappointment. How unsettling to think of going to sleep on Christmas night with things still tense between her and Jules. Hopefully, they’d sort it all out and soon, but her stomach tightened when she remembered what Steph had said about being firm with Jules. This was new ground—both for Lucy and for her friendship with Jules—and she wasn’t sure if she could do that. What if it just drove a bigger wedge between them?
“Oh, my god,” Will said, his mouth full of Christmas cake. He gave her an incredulous look. “It’s even better,” he said after he swallowed.
“Than the one bite you had in the car?” Lucy teased, happy for the distraction from her Jules dilemma.
“Mmm-hmm.”
“It is quite magical, isn’t it? Proper British Christmas cake, all spicy and delicious.”
“You’re spicy and delicious.” She rolled her eyes and giggled. “Are you laughing at me?” he asked.
“Oh definitely. That line was terrible.”
“That’s fair, but in my defence, I am a little rusty.”
“At flirting?” she asked, surprised.
“Hell yeah. Didn’t you hear? I’ve practically been a monk for years now.” Lucy could hardly imagine that Will had been “monkish”. Single, yes, but celibate? Surely, he was joking. Well, if he wasn’t, she was quite happy to be the person to break his bout of celibacy. She giggled to herself, becoming aware that someone was calling her name—Briony. She was dealing out Cards Against Humanity and did Lucy want to play? She glanced at Will who shrugged.
“Oh, yes, I’ll play.” She popped the last of her Christmas cake into her mouth, then picked up each white card as it landed on the table in front of her. “Um, Will, I have no idea who this person is.” She stared at the card—“Vanna White”. Who in the world was Vanna White when she was at home?
“Oh, we have an unwritten rule. If you don’t know who someone is, or what something is, you can swap out the card. Here.” He held out his hand and took the card. “Really, you don’t know Vanna White?”
“Should I?”
“Wheel of Fortune?”
She stared at him blankly. “I think it’s a bit like if we were playing the British version and you drew Rachel Riley.”
“Who’s Rachel Riley?”
“Exactly.”
“Lucy’s swapping out a card—Vanna White,” he declared, placing Vanna on the bottom of the deck, and handing Lucy a card from the top.
She read it—“Steve Harvey”.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” she said, exasperated. “Who in the world is Steve Harvey?” The was a beat of silence before an eruption of laughter. Lucy joined in, happy to laugh at her own expense. There were two more swaps before she finally drew a card with something on it that she knew of. It was a particularly disgusting card, but she was certain it would win her a round. Now she just needed to wait for the right black card to be played.
Two hours later, Bridget was declared the winner with seven black cards. Lucy remembered what Jules had said about her cousin, that Bridget wasn’t as strait-laced as she seemed. Apparently not, especially considering that her winning card had involved a particularly graphic depiction of a sexual act that Lucy suspected was illegal in some countries. As Bridget raised her hand to claim the win, her cheeks had turned a lurid shade of pink.
Lucy leant back against the sofa, her eyes droopy. The Christmas cake had been eaten, they’d gone through two pots of coffee—she’d had tea—and between the large group, another three bottles of wine had been drunk. But, with her Christmas morning hangover still fresh enough in her mind, Lucy had declined the “incredible pinot from Oregon”.
“I’m absolutely shattered,” she said quietly to Will, as the others start to pack up around them.
“You should get some sleep. Big day tomorrow.”
She threw him a frown. “How so?”
“Didn’t anyone tell you?”
“Tell me what? Does your family have some sort of Boxing Day tradition?” Lucy wondered what it could possibly be and almost every thought seemed exhausting. Would it be awfully bad manners to sleep the day away?
“I’m not sure what Boxing Day is, but tomorrow, everyone clears out.”
“Sorry, what?” She shook her cloudy head, still frowning.
“Bob, Jackie, and the cousins fly out tomorrow night, so they’re driving back to Denver in the morning, and Mom and Joe will be gone by lunchtime. Dad’s staying a couple more days—there are a few maintenance jobs he wants to get done—but, as you’ve seen, he keeps to himself.”
“Hang on, do you mean that tomorrow all this hullabaloo goes away, and we’ll have some proper time together?”
“Exactly.” Lucy’s thoughts flew straight to her “snowed-in” fantasy, the one she’d been nurturing for several days now. “And I thought that once everyone’s gone, we could take the snowmobile out and go snowshoeing.”
Snowmobiling and snowshoeing? Outside? Away from the warmth of the cabin?
The fantasy crumbled. “Oh, right. That sounds lovely,” she lied.
Chapter 26
Jules
Jules’s ringtone surprised her, and it took a moment for it to register that it was her phone ringing. She saw her brother’s name on the screen and suddenly remembered that she’d missed a call from him the day before when they were driving down to Matt’s place. She smiled; a call with her brother was just what she needed to keep her from
