Page 38 of So This is Christmas

JENNIE

‘I’m never eating again.’ Jennie slumped down on the sofa next to Sophie.

‘Same,’ she answered. ‘Although didn’t you say something similar after breakfast?’

‘I think I might have done.’ She chuckled, remembering it now. It was just the two of them. Nick had gone to see who had buzzed the apartment and Walter was in the bathroom. ‘I’ve been dying to ask, what did you and Nick chat about on the way over here? He said you walked and talked.’

‘We didn’t talk about much, really. You know, this and that.’

Jennie began to smile. ‘Walter has dropped a few hints that he could see you and Nick together.’

‘I did pick up on the odd thing he’s said along the way,’ said Sophie.

‘I can tell you like him.’ When Sophie’s head whipped round as if she’d been found out, she added, ‘And I know for a fact he likes you.’

‘He said something?’

‘Oh yes. He gave me a decent list of the things he likes about you. And Nick never tells me about the women he dates or wants to date. I think I know more about the way he feels about you than I know about his feelings for his ex-wife.’

‘He’s really nice.’

Nice? Jennie wondered if that meant Sophie was falling for him. And as Walter joined them she had to wonder, if it did, why didn’t Sophie look happier about it?

‘Lunch really was wonderful, Walter,’ said Sophie, clearly glad to take the focus off herself.

‘You’ve got the Greta special to come later,’ Jennie informed her.

‘What’s a Greta special?’

Walter smiled. ‘Sourdough bread, mixed salad leaves, turkey, cranberry sauce, brie, and salt and vinegar crisps.’

‘Crisps?’

‘You’ve never had crisps in your sandwich?’ Jennie asked.

‘Well, I have, but I thought that’s something only kids did.’

They were talking about what else the Wynters did with leftover turkey when Nick appeared in the living room and all heads turned in his direction because he wasn’t alone.

Who was the stranger standing behind him?

And why did Sophie suddenly look like she’d seen a ghost?

Jennie could kick herself. Had she got it so wrong about Sophie and Nick? Was this woman his date, a woman none of them had met, and on Christmas Day?

‘Hello, Sophie,’ the woman said in a haughty voice. She had a hand on her hip, a pout that would rival any Instagram influencer, and the way she looked at Sophie as she drummed red talons against her expensive coat sent shivers down Jennie’s spine.

Nick looked at Sophie and nobody else.

The newcomer went straight to Walter and thrust out a hand. Jennie hoped she wouldn’t inflict damage with those nails. ‘Delighted to meet you. You must be Walter,’ she said. ‘I’m Amber and I’m in charge of the Tapestry Lodge. In England. It is an honour to meet you, sir.’

Okay, steady on, he’s not royalty. Jennie looked at Sophie. What on earth was going on here?

Walter looked just as confused. ‘I’m not sure I understand.’

Sophie opened her mouth but nothing came out. Amber didn’t seem to have a problem taking the lead.

‘I think you all deserve an explanation.’ Her voice commanded authority and rose in volume to drown out Sophie when she tried to speak. ‘Sophie here was fired from the lodge. For gross misconduct.’

All eyes turned to Sophie.

It was Nick who asked, ‘Is that true?’

Sophie hung her head. ‘Yes, I was fired. But?—’

‘I had to come here today,’ Amber went on, ‘because I couldn’t in good conscience let you all be dragged into this game Sophie is playing. I don’t want her to steal from you too. She’s got a history you know, she?—’

Sophie stood up. ‘I wouldn’t?—’

‘She stole from our residents, several times over,’ Amber interrupted, undeterred by Sophie’s apparent attempt to explain.

‘She took money, valuables, jewellery.’ She gestured a hand in Sophie’s direction.

‘When Bea’s body was taken away her precious necklace was gone.

I can’t believe someone could be so cold as to remove an item of jewellery from a dead person’s body.

’ Her hand rested against her chest as if absorbing the shock of it all over again.

‘That’s not true!’ Sophie was shaking. She looked afraid, found out.

Jennie’s fingers traced the precious pendant of her own necklace. Could Sophie really have done something so cold-hearted?

Amber’s voice rose again to quash any chance of Sophie explaining.

‘Sophie has a bad track record. She was caught shoplifting and worse than that, she was involved in an accident that took a young man’s life.

’ She was on a roll now. ‘The accident that was kind of her fault. She told the driver to hurry up, she had somewhere to be. He drove recklessly, went through a give way sign and crashed into someone else.’

The room held an eerie silence. Amber’s words could’ve described any number of accidents but given the look on Sophie’s face, Jennie knew it was no random accident Amber was referring to. It was the one that killed her brother.

Sophie came closer to her, put a hand on her arm. ‘Jennie, please?—’

‘No!’ She ripped her arm away and began to take a few steps back. She wanted this to stop, all of it.

She felt Nick’s arms catch her from behind when she stumbled, she saw Walter look as though his world was ending with this truth.

‘Why did you come here?’ Jennie demanded fiercely in Sophie’s direction.

‘I came here to bring the letter, deliver the news about Bea, that was all. I can explain?—’

‘But you knew, didn’t you, about me?’ Nick still had his arms around her and she turned to him. She looked up at this man who was so kind and gentle and like a brother to her. ‘The accident she was in was the one that killed Donovan.’

‘Sophie?’ Nick didn’t seem like he wanted to believe it either. He was looking at Sophie, waiting for an explanation.

Jennie’s fists clenched at her sides and she rounded on Sophie. ‘How dare you come here. How dare you show up and worm your way into our lives. How dare you pretend to be my friend.’

Walter stood up. ‘Now, Jennie?—’

She cut him off. ‘No, she needs to leave. Now.’

Sophie looked like she would refuse for a moment but she kept her eyes downwards and walked across the room towards the door.

Run away, get away, leave us all alone! Jennie wanted to yell.

When Sophie reached the doorway she turned round but Jennie didn’t want to hear anything she had to say.

So before Sophie could speak she said, ‘You had the audacity to tell me to talk to Elliot, you told me I should be honest because the truth would be better coming from me. It’s a shame you couldn’t offer me the same courtesy.

’ And then she burst into tears. ‘I told you about my brother, you sat there and listened to me, and you knew. How could you do this to me?’

‘I didn’t know,’ said Sophie. ‘Not until that day.’

‘What, this was all some big coincidence?’ Her voice rose now. ‘I find that impossible to believe.’

Nick led her over to the sofa. Sophie was going. Amber was standing at the edge of the room like a statue watching them all.

Sophie came back into the room once she had her coat on.

‘I never knew who you were, Jennie. Not until I got here and you confided in me. That’s when I realised.

I’ll go now, and if you can’t forgive me for my part or for not admitting to you that I’d been in the car with someone whose behaviour I had no control over…

’ Her voice caught. ‘At least forgive yourself. You’re not to blame.

The only person who is, is the man who went to jail.

’ She waited but Jennie couldn’t reply, she was too stunned by all of this.

‘And the necklace? Bea left it to me. It was kept by a friend for her and passed on to me before I came here. She gave me a letter too, so I can prove I’m not lying.

’ She looked once more at Nick and then at Walter before she added, ‘It really hurts that you would doubt that.’

And the way Walter looked at Sophie made Jennie realise that he had already known the truth well before Amber showed up.