I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day - Milly Johnson Page 0,31

it appeared.

‘Let’s try round the other side,’ said Luke, holding out his hand to pull Jack up. An unbidden picture flashed in his mind of holding his hand out to the woman sprawled in the snow, a woman with red Rapunzel hair and a green coat, her hand small and cold. What if he’d been steps in front of her instead of behind and never saw her fall, never stopped to help? He’d wondered that so many times over the years, how his destiny had been altered by a mere few yards, a few seconds.

They both strode around to the back where the silence seemed more pronounced and reverent in a graveyard that stretched as far as their eyes could see, looking eerily beautiful with all the snow-dusted crosses and stones. There was a smaller door at the bottom of the tower, the wood peeling and long stripped of its varnish, and banging on that yielded no response either. There remained only the row of cottages to try.

‘Can I ask what we’re actually going to do if we do find someone in?’ said Jack. ‘Apart from enquiring if their phone is working?’

Luke’s pace slowed as he pondered an answer. It was a fair question. They had food, warmth and shelter over at the inn. They were in more of a position to give than to receive.

‘I have no idea,’ he said eventually. ‘Let’s just see if there’s anyone around first and then when someone throws open their door and invites us inside, I’m sure we’ll think of something to ask them. Like, do you happen to have a spare snow plough or are you okay for mince pies because we happen to have plenty?’

There wasn’t a single occupant in the cottages though, just as Bridge said. Peering into windows revealed either empty or sparingly furnished rooms. The cottages, it seemed, were abandoned for the winter, awaiting the summer season. There was no one in Figgy Hollow but them. Luke drew in a deep breath before he took his first step back in the direction of the inn, as he imagined the smug, told-you-so look on Bridge’s face.

‘Well, Bridge was right,’ said Jack, which did nothing to help.

‘For once,’ said Luke with a humph. ‘She does love a gloat.’

‘Can I take it that you aren’t divorcing on the best of terms?’ Jack dared to ask. ‘Just a vibe I picked up, despite the banter between you.’

‘That’s an understatement and a half. It’s been an uphill slog to get where we are and I’m still not convinced that she won’t refuse at the last fence. Oh bollocks.’ Luke stood on a patch of ice that gave way and freezing water gushed over the top of his Timberland boot. Every mention of Bridge brought a small curse with it, like a free gift. ‘You ever been married, Jack?’

‘God no,’ said Jack, toppling against Luke as a gust of wind surprised him from the side. ‘I don’t seem to be able to find anyone who’s my type.’

‘Ah, beware of holding out for “the type”,’ said Luke. ‘If I’d have held out for Heidi Klum I’d have missed all the happiness that I’ve found with Carmen and yes, I’ll admit it, the wild and wonderful years I had with Bridge. Two very different women, neither of them “ideal-type-Heidi”. There are plenty of soulmates out there waiting for you, Jack. Don’t paint yourself into a corner waiting for “the type”.’

Jack had no idea what Carmen was like, but Bridge was tiny with hair that could probably be seen from Mars and, give or take the common numbers of head, arms and legs, about as far away physically from Heidi Klum as it was possible to get. She was also, he suspected, quite terrifying if provoked, not the sort of woman he would match with the laid-back Luke. Or himself, for that matter. Small, dark-haired and scary was how he remembered his mother being, although the image he had of her was probably coloured by the portrait his father had painted of her over many years.

Sometimes Jack wondered if he’d ever find this mysterious creature: the soulmate. Looking at the weather, worsening by the second again, he had more chance of finding Bigfoot.

Chapter 11

Bridge stood at the window watching Luke and Jack heading back. She decided she would try her very best not to gloat, mainly because Luke would expect her to. The snow had definitely increased in droppage from when they set off across the way