Read Online Ivy Lane: Winter: by Cathy Bramley - Free Book Online Page B

me.’
    I scanned her face. She did look tired and, if I wasn’t mistaken, a bit tearful too.
    ‘Of course,’ I said, squeezing her arm. ‘Anything I can do, just ask.’
    ‘Thanks, Tilly, love. I’m sorry it didn’t work out with you and Aidan, but his loss is our gain. You’d be too busy to help me out if you were courting.’
    I watched her go, glanced down at the poster and exhaled.
    Great.
    At least my single status was useful to someone. I would probably end up alone, with no one but Cally’s offspring for company, but as long as there was someone to fiddle about with allotment posters, all was well with the world.
    Which reminded me, I really should make an appointment at the vet’s for him. I’d bottled out of taking him to have the snip so far because I’d felt sorry for him, but he’d had his fun and I needed to be sensible about it before he impregnated any more fertile felines.
    Poor Cally. I winced at the thought on his behalf. A life of celibacy probably wasn’t top of his Christmas list. I sighed and put the poster in my pocket.
    Quite frankly, it wasn’t at the top of mine either.

Chapter 8
    It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas. And despite being on my tiptoes on the top rung of a ladder on the porch of the pavilion, I had that warm tingling sensation in my stomach confirming that it was beginning to feel a lot like Christmas too. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, I had broken up from school for a fortnight and put all the frenetic activity of the end of term behind me. All I had to do now was finish off the pavilion decorations for tonight’s party and then I would switch to relaxation mode for a whole two weeks. Hurrah!
    I hummed happily to myself as I wound the last set of fairy lights along the edge of the porch. The pavilion was covered with the lights, which was as it should be. There’s no such thing as too many Christmas lights, as far as I’m concerned. I just hoped Nigel didn’t notice anything amiss with the electricity bill next month.
    ‘Right then . . .’ Right on cue Nigel appeared from the pavilion and tied a smart knot in his checked woollen scarf. His eyes lifted to all the fairy lights and I held my breath, wondering if he’d read my mind. ‘Oh, Tilly,’ he beamed, ‘this is going to be a marvellous Christmas party. I’ve never seen the place look so wonderful.’
    And I’d never seen him look so happy. ‘Thank you,’ I said, smiling as Liz joined us on the porch.
    ‘We’re all set inside,’ she said. ‘The mulled wine is in the urn on low, the glasses are all laid out and I think everything’s ready.’
    ‘We’ll get off then, Tilly, unless you’d like us to help you with the lights.’ Nigel slipped a proud arm around Liz’s shoulders and the pair of them grinned goofily at each other.
    Oh, that first flush of love. I remember it well. I blinked rapidly as unbidden tears popped into my eyes. Here we go again. That was possibly the only downside of Christmas; I lived on a permanent knife edge of emotional outpourings. Christmas carols were my absolute weakness; I’d yet to make it to the second verse of ‘Silent Night’ without my voice going all wobbly.
    I shook my head and smiled. ‘I’ll be fine, Nigel. You two go and get ready. Besides, I don’t want to turn the lights on until you’ve gone. Then it will be a surprise when you come back later.’
    I waved them off and reminded them to drive carefully on the snowy roads.
    We had had our first snowfall during the night and when I’d woken up this morning I’d been quite alarmed by the muffled silence in Wellington Street until delightful realization had dawned. I’d bounced out of bed to get my first glimpse of the Christmas-card beauty of my street and I’d been ridiculously excited ever since.
    The daylight had already faded and I had almost finished. Good job really, as I still had to dash home, change into something stunning and be back here for the festivities in little more than an