Just for Christmas - Emily Harvale Page 0,7

relationship was going. She never made demands. She always looked incredible. And the sex was pretty good. Not mind-blowing, exactly, but sex wasn’t everything, was it? He thought it could be better, but they could work on that. He was fairly sure he loved her. He definitely liked her a lot.

Chance sighed softly and shrugged.

‘As certain as I can be. We’ve been together for over a year now, and it works. We’re comfortable with one another.’

‘Comfortable?’ Vicky looked horrified. ‘Oh dear, darling. Love should be so much more than that.’

‘It is. I’m just not very good at explaining it.’

‘Hmm. Your father was the same. Until he fell head over heels in love with someone else. He managed to explain that pretty well.’ Vicky sighed. ‘But I don’t blame him. I was awful to him. And to you. I’ll never forgive myself for that.’

‘There’s nothing to forgive, Mum. You were ill. You didn’t really know what you were doing. And you got the help you needed.’

‘Eventually. But far too late. I ruined everything.’

‘That’s in the past. Even Dad admits that it wasn’t entirely your fault. He spent too many hours chasing his career. He didn’t see the signs. He didn’t talk to you about how you were feeling. But you survived. That’s what’s important. You beat alcohol addiction and you can beat this cancer. I know it in my heart.’

She stopped and turned to face him, brushing a lock of his chestnut brown hair behind his ear. He took her hand in his, and kissed it.

Vicky gave a tiny cough. ‘You need a haircut, darling.’

He grinned. ‘It’s on my list. But it’s not that near the top. When the rest of the guys start wolf-whistling at me, I’ll know it’s time to make it a priority.’

She shook her head and laughed. ‘It’s been a long time since anyone wolf-whistled at me.’ She sucked in a breath. ‘You’re right, darling. I can beat this cancer. And now that you’re going to be living just around the corner from Beauty and me, I couldn’t ask for anything more.’ She glanced down at the four-year-old, Olde English Sheepdog standing patiently beside her and patted the dog’s mass of white and grey fur. ‘Let’s go home and get Beauty in the warm. We can have a mug of hot chocolate. And maybe a mince pie. An alcohol-free one for me, of course.’

Three

Terry sounded both surprised and pleased as he opened the front door. And so was Molly when she heard the hint of an English-American accent.

‘Is that Chance?’ she mouthed across the room to Sarah, whose eyes were getting more watery by the minute, in spite of both Molly and Miracle sitting as far away from her as possible.

Sarah sneezed loudly before nodding. ‘Sounds like it.’

‘Hey!’ Chance was saying. ‘I hope it’s okay for me to drop by.’

‘Of course it is. Come in. Sarah? Molly? Chance is here.’

Molly grinned at Sarah and jumped to her feet. Sarah hauled herself off the sofa, sneezed like a foghorn, and dropped back onto the cushion.

‘Sorry to intrude, Sarah,’ Chance began, but as he caught sight of Sarah, he stopped talking and stood still, furrowing his dark brows. ‘Are you okay? Have you got a cold or something?’ He shot a brief glance in Molly’s direction, looked surprised, but smiled awkwardly and returned his attention to Sarah.

‘Allergies,’ Sarah croaked and pointed towards Miracle who sat at Molly’s feet, apparently oblivious to the distress he was causing.

‘Oh yeah. You’re allergic to dogs I seem to recall.’

‘Glad someone remembered.’ Terry glowered at Molly.

‘I said I’m sorry.’ Molly threw her brother a sulky glare. ‘Hi Chance. It’s lovely to see you again. As you can tell, I’ve brought a dog with me and Sarah is slowly and very bravely, dying.’ A thought occurred to her. ‘Your mum’s got a dog, hasn’t she? I don’t suppose she’d be interested in looking after Miracle here, would she? Just for tonight. Or even better, just until I can find somewhere else for him to stay. All the shelters were full and I couldn’t leave him by the road, could I?’

Chance was clearly confused as his gaze shot between her, her brother, and Sarah, whose eyes were now streaming.

He was also twice as gorgeous as he had been the last time Molly had seen him.

His chestnut hair was longer, curling over his blue scarf towards his coat collar giving him a more laid-back look than before. His eyes were a slightly deeper blue. Or perhaps Molly