Read Online Baby It's Cold Outside by Kerry Barrett - Free Book Online Page B

down too, while Harry topped up all our glasses. I was beginning to relax for the first time all day and suddenly I thought it was all going to be okay.
    â€˜Basically, all the supplies we can sort,’ Harry said. ‘We just need to work out what’s here already and what we still need. We wouldn’t want to double up on bows for the backs of the chairs.’
    I stuck my tongue out at her cheerfully, so grateful for her help that her little digs all washed over me.
    â€˜Put down Lou and me for everything else, Auntie Tess,’ she said.
    Louise winked at me.
    â€˜We’ll have this wedding knocked into shape in no time,’ she said.
    â€˜What about the people,’ I asked. ‘What about Dad?’
    My dad lived down south in Cheltenham. I’d lived with him for a while when I was a teenager, running away from witchcraft. I abso-bloody-lutely adored him and my younger half brothers Mitchell and Mason. I couldn’t imagine getting married without him. Or, I grudgingly admitted to myself, without my step-mum Olivia. She may not have always been my biggest fan – I was a bit too haphazard for her pernickety tastes – but was still a part of my family.
    â€˜Where is he?’ Mum asked. I shrugged.
    â€˜He and Olivia were planning to visit a few places on their way up,’ I said. ‘I can’t remember where they were going first. Mitch is in Glasgow still so they’re picking him up on the way.’
    Mitch was a very talented musician who was studying at music college in Glasgow. Mason, who was two years younger, was more like my straight-laced RAF dad. He’d joined the army and was training at Sandhurst.
    â€˜I’ll ring Mitch,’ I said. ‘Find out who’s where.’
    â€˜What about the registrar?’ said Mum. ‘We can’t do much without one. Are they all outside Claddach I wonder…’
    Harry was looking thoughtful.
    â€˜We could use the Mountain Rescue helicopter,’ she said. ‘I could persuade that Willie to let us use it.’
    But Mum shook her head.
    â€˜We could,’ she said. ‘But when there are rock falls and avalanches happening all over the place, it wouldn’t be right. He’d do whatever we asked him at the expense of everyone else.’
    I shivered. I didn’t want any people missing or worse dead just so I could have the perfect wedding day.
    We all sat silently for a while, then I had an idea.
    â€˜We could enchant whoever’s working on clearing the road,’ I said. ‘Get them to do it faster. We could even draft in some extra volunteers.’
    This time Louise shook her head.
    â€˜They’re not doing anything,’ she said. ‘Penny explained it all to me. The mountain’s not stable, so they need to wait for it to start to thaw naturally.’
    â€˜That could be weeks from now,’ I said, shocked. Suddenly it wasn’t just my wedding that was at stake but my job, our honeymoon – would we be stuck in Claddach for much longer than we’d thought?
    â€˜They’re going to divert the road,’ Louise said. ‘About half a mile before the site of the avalanche, there’s a track across a field that goes into town.’
    Harry looked blank but I knew where Lou meant – I’d run along that track hundreds of times.
    â€˜They’re planning to bring in tons of grit to widen the track and have it as access only for now,’ Louise said. ‘But they can’t even do that until they know the mountain’s safe.’
    I felt tears fill my eyes again and my head began to throb.
    Once more I was struck by happy and excited I’d been just yesterday – was it really only yesterday – and now everything had fallen apart. I’d been so thrilled about having a beautiful winter wedding – now I’d be happy if I never saw snow again in my life. I wondered if it would be worth emigrating to Australia.