A Surprise Christmas Wedding - Phillipa Ashley Page 0,30

flat, which was a massive relief because Trevor had already been abandoned at a rescue centre by one family who couldn’t cope with him. He was still boisterous, but with a lot of patience, Jay had managed to curb the worst of his unruly behaviour. Firholme was the perfect home for him, with lots of space for walks literally on the doorstep.

Lottie clearly liked Trevor too, which was a big plus in Jay’s book … in fact, when it came to Lottie, he could think of an awful lot of plusses.

He’d been feeling guilty about his curt dismissal of her question about him having a Christmas tree and his comments about not feeling like joining in with the celebrations. Not that he blamed Lottie for wanting to make the most of Christmas after what she and her family had been through. No wonder they wanted to celebrate, but he was filled with dread at the coming season.

The prospect of spending Christmas Day with his family knotted his stomach. In fact, he didn’t think he could even set foot in his parents’ house if his brother was going to be within a mile of the place. He’d flung so many insults the last time he’d seen him, and so many cruel and harsh words. At first, he didn’t regret a single one but over the past few months, he was wishing he hadn’t reacted so wildly.

Lottie had, however, reminded him that he hadn’t been as responsive as she, or some of his co-workers, deserved … She and Kerr had both tried to invite him to the pub, after all, and he’d been non-committal so far.

‘Trevor!’

Seeing a couple walking along the path towards him, Jay tried to bring his dog to heel. He was surprised to see people on a dull November day in the middle of the week. They weren’t dressed like ramblers either. The woman was in a smart pale blue coat and knee-high Uggs, while the guy wore a Barbour.

Clearly, Trevor found their presence far too exciting to ignore and raced towards them like a Grand National winner.

‘Trevor! Heel!’ Jay shouted, running after him before he decided to give the woman a ‘friendly’ greeting probably involving a lot of slobber – or worse, tried to jump up. Not everyone liked dogs and there was no excuse for letting one run out of control.

Luckily, Trevor sensed that Jay meant business and he ran back to his side. ‘Sorry, boy, but you’ll have to go on your lead for a little while. I’m not sure these people will appreciate one of your special greetings.’

The couple had stopped next to a rowan tree, loaded with crimson berries. They didn’t appear to have seen Jay yet, because they seemed to be having an argument. He caught snatches of raised voices on the wind.

‘Wait …’ he said in a low voice to Trevor. Crouching down, he stroked the dog’s head. The couple were talking animatedly. He thought he saw the woman give the man a push before she walked away from him and away from Jay. The man called after her.

‘Keegan!’ he shouted. Or something like it. It was an unusual name so caught his attention.

Keegan took a small path down the fellside. It was steep and she almost slipped. Jay was a little worried about her in those furry boots. The fellside was muddy.

‘Grow up!’ the man shouted and let out a groan of annoyance that made Trevor’s ears twitch.

‘Stay, boy. I don’t think they want company,’ he said. Jay certainly didn’t want to intrude on their tiff.

The man followed Keegan down the fell, almost losing his own footing. Keegan had made it to a lower path and was marching along. Her partner caught her up so Jay waited a moment to make sure she was happy that he’d followed her. She rounded on him but after a minute or two, she let the man embrace her and after that they strolled back in the direction of Firholme arm in arm.

Jay let Trevor off the lead and continued towards the opposite end of the lake to Firholme. He didn’t want to risk bumping into the couple again – or anyone if he could avoid it.

Nonetheless with her talk of how close her family were, Lottie had reminded him that it was a lonely existence. Perhaps it was time to engage with the world again – just not at Christmas, yet he still felt the old Jay, trusting, loving his family, the centre of