I’m hopeless when it comes to interiors. I seriously need some help.’
Molly sucked in a breath.
‘I won’t argue with that. But what I meant was, I was rather hoping for a bed. Or at least a blow-up mattress. Am I going to have to sleep on the floor?’
Chance looked confused before suddenly bursting out laughing and shaking his head more vigorously.
‘I wouldn’t ask you to do that, Molly. I still remember the night we went camping. You, me and Terry, in the garden at your parents’ house. You adamantly refused to sleep on the ground. Even in a sleeping bag. “It’s hard”, you said. Nothing we could say or do would persuade you and you went back inside to your comfy bed.’
How had he remembered that?
She cleared her throat and threw him a sarcastic smile.
‘In my defence, I was only about five at the time. And I loved that bed. It was in the shape of a fairy-tale castle and the mattress was as soft as a cloud. I thought the grass would be softer, like it is in summer. Besides, it wasn’t a great idea to camp out in the middle of December. I don’t know why Mum and Dad allowed it.’
Chance grinned. ‘It was Christmas Eve. And I think they allowed it because they knew none of us would stay out there for long. It was absolutely freezing. But you’re forgetting it was your suggestion.’
‘It was? I don’t remember that.’
He shook his head again, still grinning. ‘Selective memory, I think that’s called. You wanted to see Father Christmas in his sleigh, racing across the night sky with his reindeer. We made a make-shift tent out of some old blankets, and a huge piece of plastic sheeting from the rolls that my dad used on his building sites. We sellotaped it to the blankets with your Fairy Princess tape, but that didn’t work so your dad stapled the plastic to the blankets. He made a wooden frame and voilà! One tent. We’d have got soaked if it had rained, and buried if it had snowed, but you went back indoors after five minutes and said you’d watch for Santa from the window. Terry and I lasted for about an hour. Your mum called us in for hot chocolate before you went to bed, and we caved.’
Molly laughed. ‘Wow! I can’t believe you remember all that. Although you were four years older, so maybe it had more of an impact on your memory than it did on mine.’
‘I remember a lot from those days. You were really bossy, I remember that.’
‘I was not!’
He raised his brows and chuckled. ‘The lady doth protest too much. You were, Molly, and you know it. The term, ‘high-maintenance’ was coined for you. You made Terry and me do all sorts of crazy things for you. And we did them. Willingly. You had special powers, obviously. You could get us to do whatever you wanted.’
‘I wish I had those powers now.’
Rats! She hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
He tipped his head to one side. ‘Don’t you?’
‘Nope. I can’t get anyone to do anything I want these days.’ She saw an odd look in his eyes and changed the subject slightly. ‘I still miss Mum and Dad. We both do. Mum always made Christmas magical.’
‘She did.’ Chance’s voice held a note of tenderness. ‘I truly loved your parents and I envied you and Terry. I don’t know if I ever told you that after your parents died.’
Molly shook her head. ‘No. But I knew you were almost as upset as we were. The first few years were the worst, of course, but time’s a great healer and they’ve been gone for more than half my life. Now when I think of them, it’s with happy thoughts and only the occasional tear. I know your parents made your life difficult when you were young, but you’re lucky to have them both.’ She gave a cough. ‘But back to the point in question. If there isn’t any furniture but you’re not going to ask me to sleep on the floor, where, exactly, will I be sleeping?’
Chance was giving her another very strange look. This time as if he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure if he should.
‘Didn’t I say? I thought I had. At Mum’s. Don’t look so worried. I know I should’ve checked with her before I made the offer, but I did call and ask her while you went upstairs to get your things,