and Seb to go over in the morning and leave before I arrive so our paths don’t have to cross.’ He gave a grim smile. ‘Hardly sounds like an overdose of Christmas spirit, does it? Though until a few days ago, I’d decided I was staying at home with Trevor, a microwave meal, the TV unplugged to avoid anything remotely festive.’
She smiled. ‘Still feels like major progress to me.’
‘Well, I realised it isn’t fair to make my parents suffer any more, after the year we’ve put them through. They seemed so happy I was going for Christmas lunch. Mum nearly cried.’
Lottie had great trouble in not hugging Jay. However, she suspected he’d never been the hugging kind. She contented herself with a smile, and quiet hope that she’d had the tiniest hand in persuading him to be reconciled with his parents, at least.
‘Anyway, they’re stuck with me and Trevor now and I’m sure he’ll be delighted to partake of a turkey dinner, if my mum has her way … Oh, someone wants me on the radio. Sorry, I’ll have to take this.’
With that he left.
Lottie was kept busy for the next half an hour, dealing with one of Wilf Carman’s coach party who’d tripped over a tree stump while having a sneaky vape. It wasn’t one of the pensioners but the young warden and the residents had gone into action, looking after the man. Once she’d made sure the warden was OK apart from a bruised knee and she’d failed all attempts to get him to fill in an accident form, she snatched a couple of minutes to grab a hot drink and a pork roll from the hog roast. It was while she was finishing her ‘dinner’ in front of the carousel ride that Connor appeared.
Her heart sank. ‘Connor! What are you doing here?’
‘Keegan wanted to come to the event. I could hardly keep her away when the wedding’s happening here. I need to see you. We need to have a proper talk about the situation …’
‘Shh.’ Lottie glanced around her. ‘I think we’ve said everything there is to be said about …’ She was going to say ‘about us’ but she changed it to: ‘about the situation. I don’t see why we need to meet face to face.’
‘I have to talk to you. Since we met again, I’ve been thinking about how things ended between us. There’s so much I left unsaid. I want to explain.’
‘Fine but what if I don’t want to hear it?’
‘I promise I won’t hassle you but can I come round tomorrow?’
‘It’s my day off,’ Lottie said then kicked herself for admitting it. ‘I’d planned to see Steph.’
‘I thought she worked in a school?’
‘She does but I was going later in the day …’
‘OK, I’ll come round mid-morning while Keegan has a trial appointment with the hairdresser,’ he said sharply. ‘I don’t have many opportunities to get away from her.’
Charming, thought Lottie, but realised he wouldn’t go away until he’d said his piece. ‘If you absolutely can’t tell me what you want to say now, I can spare ten minutes tomorrow.’
‘Thanks. I owe you.’ Connor placed his hand on her arm. ‘I’ll always regret causing you so much pain.’
‘Hello, you two!’
Connor snatched his hand away and sprang apart when Keegan appeared from behind them. ‘Discussing plans for the wedding, are you?’
Lottie’s mood had been completely dampened. She should have known the evening had been going too well … Keegan could hardly have failed to see Connor and her deep in intimate conversation.
While Lottie felt guilty and annoyed at being put in this position, Keegan seemed happy enough and slipped her arm through Connor’s. ‘Anything I should know about or are you planning a special surprise?’ she asked silkily.
‘If I was, it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?’ Connor replied smoothly.
Keegan pouted. ‘I guess I’ll have to be patient then.’
Lottie had by now perfected The Smile so well that it set on her face like concrete every time Keegan materialised.
‘How are you enjoying the evening?’ she asked. ‘Have you been in the house yet?’
‘Yes, we have. We’ve just been on the tour. I kept wanting to tell everyone that we were having our wedding there.’
‘I don’t blame you. Even though I’m biased, I must admit it looks spectacular tonight.’
‘It does.’ Keegan studied her. ‘You know, Lottie, I’m not an easy woman to impress. I have very exacting standards.’
‘This is true,’ Connor said, smirking, and probably relieved not to have had more of a grilling from