Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

‘Do you think he’s famous?’ Bobbi whispered. ‘He’s gorgeous.’

I sighed deeply, annoyed that my stomach had gone all fluttery at the sight of him. ‘No, that’s Anthony!’

‘Really?’ Bobbi’s jaw dropped just as Anthony looked up and saw us watching him. He smiled and raised a hand before returning to his conversation. Realising I was staring in much the same way as Bobbi, I took hold of her sleeve and dragged her back into the shop. ‘Oh my God! You didn’t tell me he looked like that, did you?’

‘I said he was handsome.’

‘Not that handsome. Not James Bond handsome!’

‘James Bond handsome?’ I gave Bobbi a look, starting to laugh. ‘You’re crazy, you know that?’

Bobbi laughed and pushed her fringe from her eyes. ‘What? He looks all smooth and sophisticated and handsome, but also like he could abseil down buildings and fight off baddies.’

‘And you can tell all that just by looking at him from a distance, can you?’

‘Well, you said he’s a detective, didn’t you? That’s a sexy job.’ She wiggled her eyebrows at me suggestively.

‘Is it?’ I raised an eyebrow. ‘Not if he works all the time, it isn’t.’

‘Hey, why are you so negative all of a sudden?’

‘I’m not negative. I’m just trying to be sensible, that’s all.’ I took a deep breath and hid my shaking hands behind my back. I was quite alarmed by my physical reaction to him.

Bobbi rolled her eyes. ‘Do you want a cup of tea? I’m a bit chilly from standing out there.’

‘Go on then. Thanks.’

She disappeared into the back of the shop just as the front door opened and Anthony walked in.

‘Good morning,’ he said, cheerfully.

‘Hi,’ I beamed at him, feeling my cheeks turn pink. ‘How are you today?’

‘I’m well, thank you.’ He walked towards the counter, his eyes on mine. He certainly looked very well in his silver-grey suit. Little sparks of electricity were flying around my body. ‘You were up early this morning. I noticed your car had gone when I went to work.’

‘Yes. I managed to wake up early despite your being such a bad influence on me.’

‘Ah, ha ha, yes,’ he said, without much humour. He cleared his throat, uncomfortably, and my stomach dropped. Was this where he said it was all a mistake?

Just then, Bobbi came out of the back carrying a cup of tea. ‘Hello!’ she said, beaming happily at Anthony. ‘I’m Anthony.’

‘No, you’re not, you’re Bobbi!’ I hissed.

‘Oh, yes!’ Bobbi jumped at her mistake and slopped tea onto the floor. ‘Sorry! Yes, I’m Bobbi and you’re Anthony. Der. I’ve heard lots about you already from Rachel.’

‘You have?’ Anthony’s eyebrows shot up. ‘All good, I hope?’

‘Of course.’ Bobbi beamed at him, skilfully ignoring the pointed look I was giving her. ‘Did you have a nice evening last night?’

‘Yes, thank you.’ He looked slightly uncomfortable but smiled kindly at her. ‘Listen, Bobbi, it’s lovely to meet you, but would you mind if I was terribly rude and borrowed Rachel for a minute. I just need a quiet word.’

‘Oh! Okay. Go in the back, I’ll do the shop.’ Bobbi winked at me and I rolled my eyes at her, bracing myself for bad news. He’d warned me he was no good at relationships, but I didn’t expect him to be this bad this soon. I led him through into the back room.

‘Have a seat,’ I said, pulling out a wooden chair from under the table.

‘No, I’ll stand, thank you.’ His eyes flickered across my face and then down to the floor. ‘Rachel, this is slightly awkward, but I’ve been talking to my colleagues at the station and they’ve given me a bit of a bollocking.’

‘What do you mean?’ Anxiety was zipping through my veins and I felt slightly sick.

‘I’m so sorry, let me explain. You may have noticed I asked quite a few questions about Patrick last night? We’re actually trying to find him at the moment as we’re investigating him on charges of fraud.’

My jaw dropped. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘I wanted to know if you were aware of anything or if you’d been in contact with him recently.’

‘I don’t know anything and I have no idea where he is.’

‘No, I believe you, I really do. But I was naïve in thinking that meant we could eliminate you from our enquiries. My chief inspector wants to keep all lines of enquiry open and that means you’re part of a live investigation.’

I crossed my arms in front of me, feeling suddenly cold and uncertain. ‘What does that mean?’

‘Not a great deal, but I would like to take a statement from you down at the station.’

‘But why? I don’t know anything.’

‘I know. You just have to confirm you don’t, that’s all.’ He smiled apologetically. ‘It won’t take long.’

‘You want me to come now?’ I blinked at him.

‘If possible. Can Bobbi mind the shop?’

‘Yes.’ I glanced at my watch. ‘I’ll be back before closing, won’t I?’

‘Of course. Like I said, it won’t take long. I’m parked out front if you’d like to come with me.’

I hesitated. ‘Would I have to sit in the back like a criminal?’

Anthony drew in a deep breath. ‘I’ll meet you down there, shall I? Say, twenty minutes?’

‘Fine.’

He touched my arm, gently, and gave me a reassuring smile. ‘Don’t worry. It will be okay.’

I nodded and looked at the floor. Tears burned behind my eyes. I felt so let down and disappointed. The realisation that he’d just been trying to gain information about Patrick was like a punch in the stomach. I thought he’d genuinely liked me. I was such a fool.

Anthony left and I took a moment to collect my thoughts. Bobbi came and leaned on the doorframe, raising her eyebrows enquiringly.

‘Can you mind the shop until I get back?’ I said, pulling on my coat.

‘Where are you going?’

‘Well, you know Anthony’s a detective? Apparently, he’s investigating Patrick and now he wants me to go to the station and make a statement.’ I pasted on a wry smile and rolled my eyes, trying to front it out.

‘Noooo!’ Bobbi looked outraged.

‘Yes. It seems he took me out last night to see what I knew.’

‘But he kissed you, didn’t he? He can’t kiss you if you’re part of a case, surely? And what happened to the police taking you to the station to ask questions? You should lodge a complaint against him.’

I sighed as I put my bag over my shoulder. ‘It doesn’t matter. We only had dinner. No big deal. Anyway, I shouldn’t be long. I’ll be back soon.’

I nipped out of the back door to where my car was parked in the courtyard behind. My hands were shaking as I climbed inside and stared at the steering wheel for a few moments, trying to grasp what I was supposed to be doing. I hadn’t even begun to process the fact that Patrick was wanted for fraud. I didn’t know what to think. He might not even be guilty. I hated the thought that I could have been engaged to a criminal. Was I really such a poor judge of character? I supposed I must be to have been taken in so thoroughly by Anthony too. I felt my composure start to crumble and briskly rubbed my face before starting the car. I needed to focus on getting to the police station and answering these questions. There was no way I was going to show up at the station tear-stained and blotchy. No, I was going to keep it together. Any emotional stuff could be dealt with later.

Anthony was behind the desk when I walked into the station ten minutes later. He looked up and smiled and indicated for me to follow him down the corridor into one of the interview rooms. I sat down on the plastic chair opposite him and blinked around at the plain white walls and grey carpet.

‘I know, it’s a bit joyless, isn’t it? Still, this won’t take long. Just a few questions, that’s all. My colleague, DC Harper, will be joining us shortly. Can I get you a drink of tea or coffee?’

I shook my head.

‘Water?’

‘Yes, please.’ He got up and filled a plastic cup from the water dispenser at the side of the room.

‘Thank you,’ I said, averting my gaze as he passed it to me. He was smiling too kindly. Too sympathetically. I didn’t want to get tangled up in his eyes and lose myself again. My defences were up and I needed to keep them that way. I stared at the desk, the fan, the notepad on the desk, anything but his lovely, handsome face. He picked up a pen and tapped it on the paper, and I found myself watching his fingers and remembering how they felt last night when they were wrapped around mine.

I looked away. At least I hadn’t slept with him.

‘Do you mind if we take some details down now?’ he asked, picking up the pen.

‘No, of course not.’

He started filling in a form with my personal details and then the door opened and the tall, dark-haired man I’d seen talking to him in the street earlier appeared. He smiled at me and took the seat next to Anthony. They proceeded to ask me most of the questions Anthony had asked last night. It was worse here, though, in this little room, with two of them watching me, judging me. In the months since I’d split from Patrick, I’d come to realise and accept that I’d never really known him, and the questions they were asking me only confirmed this. I felt stupid and clueless and almost wished I had had some idea about Patrick’s illegal dealings, if only to prove I wasn’t a complete idiot. To their credit, neither Anthony nor his colleague were looking particularly judgemental. They just looked a bit disappointed I wouldn’t be able to help them find Patrick. They’d been looking for him for more than a month now and, although they had arrested his associates, he seemed to have disappeared completely.

‘So, you don’t have his phone number any more? Do you have the same phone?’

‘No, I changed it.’ I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. ‘It’s in a drawer at home, actually. But I doubt it will do you any good. It’s a bit broken.’ I winced slightly, not liking to admit that I’d thrown it against the wall and stamped on it in a fit of anger.

‘Is the sim card still in it?’ Anthony suddenly looked interested.

‘Yes.’

‘Excellent! Can we have it to see if we can retrieve any useful information?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why do you still have it?’ DC Harper looked at me curiously.

‘I wasn’t sure what to do with it, really. You can’t just put them in the bin, can you? You have to recycle them and I just hadn’t got round to thinking about it. So, I just put it in a drawer and forgot about it.’

‘Would I be able to look at the engagement ring, too?’

‘If you like. Why? Do you think it’s stolen?’ I felt flat and emotionless all of a sudden, like my life was splayed out on the table we were sitting at for them to forensically examine.

‘Did you exchange any emails with Patrick?’

I shook my head. ‘No, it was always phone and text. I might have an email address for him somewhere but I doubt it’s anything you wouldn’t already have. It’s on a business card, I think.’

‘Have you got anything of his that he left behind?’

‘Not really. I have some tickets from places we went to.’ I sighed, not really wanting to own up to it, but seeing I didn’t have much choice. It seemed overly sentimental keeping such things, but for some reason, this seemed to interest them immensely.

‘You do? Could we see them? If we have a timeline of where he was and what he was doing, that might help us pin him down.’

I shrugged. ‘It’s a bit of a sporadic timeline, I’m afraid, but yes, you can have them. I might be able to make a list of dates of the weekends we spent together if that’s any use to you?’

‘Yes, definitely. How soon can you do that?’

‘I’m not sure. Tomorrow?’

‘Brilliant.’ Anthony sat back in his seat and smiled at me. ‘I think that’s all for now.’ He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. ‘Here’s my number if you think of anything else that might help.’

‘Okay.’ I took the card without looking at it, careful not to touch his fingers as I did so. To my shame, my hand was shaking. ‘Can I go now?’

‘Yes. Thank you so much for your time, Miss Jones. We really appreciate it.’

‘You’re welcome.’ I nodded politely and left the room, feeling physically and emotionally drained.

Chapter Three

‘So, let me get this straight,’ Elena said from the other end of the telephone. ‘Your parents’ sexy new tenant, the man you went out with last night and described as completely amazing, is actually a detective looking for Patrick?’

‘Yes.’ Lying back in the bath, I popped a bubble with my big toe and closed my eyes. Despite the warm water and flickering glow of scented candles, I was feeling far from relaxed. ‘It was a bit of a shock. To think I was so excited this morning. I thought he really liked me and instead he was just pumping me for information. I feel such an idiot, Elena.’

‘I’m sure he liked you, too. How could he not? I mean, he kissed you, didn’t he?’

I grunted miserably. The fact that I’d kissed him first had been playing on my mind rather a lot. Although he had kissed me back quite enthusiastically. ‘He wants my old phone and the engagement ring and I’m trying to make a timeline of weekends I spent with Patrick.’

‘Huh! That won’t take you long then.’

‘I know.’

‘So, what’s Patrick done?’

‘Fraud, apparently. I don’t know any more than that. I should have asked more questions, I suppose, but I’m not sure I really want to know. Patrick belongs in the past. I really don’t want to waste any more time on him. He made enough of a fool of me when we were together; I can’t believe it’s still going on four months after we split up.’

‘Did you ever suspect he might be dodgy?’

‘Not at all. Why would I?’

‘Well, I thought he sounded dodgy from what you told me.’

‘You thought he sounded married.’

‘That too. But didn’t your dad think he was a gangster?’

‘Only because of the size of the engagement ring,’ I scoffed. ‘Besides, no one’s saying he’s a gangster. At least, I hope they’re not! I think it’s probably dodgy business deals. Embezzlement and what have you.’

‘So, he’s not a bank robber or anything?’

‘I bloody well hope not.’ I sat up, sploshing water, and sighed unhappily.

‘Are you in the bath?’

‘Yes. What are you doing?’

‘Just waiting for Daniel to pick me up and take me to the house. It’s still like a building site but I love seeing it and imagining what all the rooms are going to be when it’s finished. Daniel’s been working so hard on it.’

‘When do you think you’ll be able to move in?’

‘In the summer, hopefully.’

‘Ooh, exciting!’

‘I know. I can’t wait. Oh, that’s him now. I’d better go.’

‘Okay. Bye.’

I climbed out of the bath and wrapped myself in a warm, fluffy towel before padding through to my bedroom. Sitting down on my bed, I reached for a pad of paper from my bedside table and started to write a list of places I’d been with Patrick. I’d been trying to push him to the back of my mind for the past few months so it was strange to be trying to think in detail about what we’d done together. Tears pricked my eyes as I remembered the good times we’d shared. Although he’d let me down badly in the end, I still had some very special memories of him. He had a huge personality and was funny and generous. Being with him was like walking in the sunshine. He’d made me happy for a short while. Even getting a phone call from him brightened my day.

Of course, the flipside was that not receiving a phone call from him plunged me into the depths of despair, and having such a great time when I was with him only served to make me miss him more when he wasn’t around. I still didn’t fully understand what had gone wrong, or why he’d stopped coming to see me. I knew he had to work, but surely no one had to work that much? He’d found the time when we first got together, so why had that changed? He’d even stopped phoning me regularly. I wasn’t sure what I’d done wrong or why he’d grown tired of me, but it hurt. It hurt a lot. And why wouldn’t he meet my family? It just didn’t make sense. I’d been furious when he’d phoned at the last minute to say he wouldn’t be able to make it. I’d been waiting for him to arrive at my door, all dressed up and ready to go to my mum’s sixtieth birthday party. It was being held in a function room at a local hotel, and most of our friends and family had been there. Uncles, aunties, cousins – all of them expecting to see my new fiancé. I could still see their faces when I’d walked in alone. Mum’s outraged disbelief, Dad’s quiet anger, Elena’s shock and Daniel’s discomfort. I saw, too, the smug, told-you-so smile of my cousin as she exchanged looks with my aunt. We’d never been particularly close, and I knew they thought I dressed too weirdly to ever get a man. My aunt had had words with my mum on several occasions over the years about my vintage clothes and bright red hair. ‘Why does she dress like she’s living in the 1940s?’ she’d say. ‘Can’t she tone down that hair?’

I’d never let it bother me until I walked into that party alone. I felt like I’d proved them all right. Maybe I was too weird and quirky to keep a man. Was that why Patrick hadn’t turned up to meet my family? Was that why I’d never met any of his friends or family? Was he ashamed of me? Maybe my novelty value had worn off.

I’d entertained those negative thoughts for a while before shrugging them off and moving on. I loved my clothes and I didn’t want to be anyone other than myself. If people didn’t like the way I dressed, that was their problem.

With a sigh, I wrote down the name of the cinema and a film we’d been to see, and the Disney on Ice show we’d taken his daughter to see back in April. She was such a lovely little girl, and I’d really enjoyed our day out together. I was sad I’d never got to see her again. I had all these plans for being a loving stepmother. It seemed ridiculous now.

The doorbell rang, and I groaned. Not again, Jenny! My next-door neighbour was lovely, but she was always forgetting her key when she went out. I kept her spare key so she could knock whenever she needed to get in. This would be the third time this week! Slipping my arms into my robe, I quickly ran downstairs and grabbed the key from the hook by the door. ‘Hiya!’ I said, breathlessly, holding the key out ready for her to take.

But it wasn’t Jenny standing on my doorstep. It was Anthony Bascombe. ‘Hello,’ he said, smiling down at me.

‘Oh! It’s you!’ I suddenly felt rather wobbly and breathless.

‘Yes, it’s me.’ His eyes twinkled as they fixed on mine. ‘I’m sorry to disturb you but I thought I’d drop by and pick up the phone.’

I hesitated. ‘But I’ve just got out of the bath. Can’t it wait until tomorrow?’

‘Well, I’m here now.’ He put his hand on the doorframe, still smiling. ‘And the sooner we have it to analyse, the better, really.’

His eyes dropped to my bathrobe and I glanced down to check it wasn’t gaping. The cold night air was making my nipples hard and I put my hand across my chest self-consciously. ‘I won’t take up much of your time.’ He took a step forward and I stepped back. Apparently taking this as an invitation to come inside, he walked past me with a polite thank you as I flattened myself against the door. Resigned, I shut the front door and followed him along the hall and into my lounge. Feeling the silky fabric of my robe begin to slip, I retied the belt firmly and watched Anthony worriedly. He stood in the centre of the lounge, staring around at my flowery wallpaper and bright-pink sofa. ‘Gosh, it’s bright in here, isn’t it?’

I shrugged. I was used to people looking surprised by how bright my house was and didn’t particularly care if they liked it or not. It was me who had to live here, not them. Plus, I still wasn’t sure how I felt about Anthony. The physical attraction was still there, but I was disappointed in him and sad he’d used me to extract information. ‘The phone’s in the kitchen. I’ll just get it for you.’

Anthony followed me in and stood with his hands in his pockets while I searched the drawer. It was towards the back, its screen cracked and the metal casing chipped and cracked. I handed it to him without looking at him, ashamed I’d behaved so childishly in smashing it up.

‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘Listen, about last night…’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ I interrupted ‘You wanted the engagement ring, didn’t you? I’ll just go and get it.’

‘Okay, but Rachel…’

I walked past him out of the kitchen and went upstairs.

‘Rachel, I want to apologise…’ he said, following me. ‘I know you’re angry with me.’

‘No, I’m not.’ I went into my bedroom and picked up the jewellery box from my dressing table.

‘You are. I know you are, and that’s perfectly understandable. I should have told you straight away that I was investigating Patrick.’

‘Why didn’t you?’

‘Because I wanted to make sure you were telling the truth about not being with him any more. I wanted to hear what you had to say about him without thinking it was some kind of police interview.’

‘It was, though, wasn’t it?’ I looked at him accusingly. ‘That’s exactly what it was: a police interview.’

‘Well, not really.’ He scratched his neck awkwardly.

I shook my head. ‘It would have saved a lot of bother to just ask me down to the police station to interview me there. I mean, I wouldn’t have thrown myself at you for a start.’

He tutted and looked down at the carpet. ‘You didn’t throw yourself at me. Don’t be silly.’

‘Silly? Yes, I suppose that sums me up nicely, doesn’t it?’ I snapped, thrusting the black-velvet box containing the engagement ring into his hand.

‘No, don’t say that. I didn’t mean it like that!’ he said, following me back out of the room and down the stairs. ‘I just meant… listen, Rachel…’ He caught my arm and turned me to look at him. ‘I really enjoyed your company last night and I’m more than a little disappointed you’re still part of this investigation. I would have loved to get to know you better.’

I looked away, unwilling to trust him.

‘Rachel, please… I’m sorry.’ He let go of my arm and sighed. ‘I know I haven’t behaved in the best possible way. If you want to make a formal complaint, I’ll completely understand.’

‘I don’t want to make a complaint. I’m not that vindictive.’

‘You’d be within your rights to do so.’

‘They know anyway, don’t they? I thought you’d told them this morning?’

He winced slightly. ‘Well, I err, kind of left out the bit where I kissed you.’

‘Technically, I kissed you first,’ I said, then promptly wanted to kick myself for reminding him. I closed my eyes and pushed a hand through my hair, digging my fingers into my scalp. ‘Look, let’s just forget last night happened, shall we? I don’t want it to be awkward between us and I’m sure you’re…’

The warm pressure of his lips on mine cut off the rest of my sentence and made my eyes flicker open. Butterflies swarmed in my belly.

‘Now we’re even,’ he said, his voice husky. He kept his head bent close to mine, our noses almost touching. ‘I wasn’t exactly fighting you off last night, was I? I’m pretty sure I did my fair share of kissing you too. How about we find Patrick so I can take you on a proper date?’

I looked up at him through my lashes, my heart thumping. My instinct was to grab him and kiss him passionately, but I didn’t completely trust that this wasn’t another trap. He seemed like a perfect gentleman, but I couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t be laughing about this tomorrow with his colleagues. I’d already proved myself to be a gullible fool where Patrick was concerned. I didn’t need to do it again with the detective who was investigating him.

‘Anyway,’ he said, clearing his throat and backing away a little. ‘I’ll probably see you tomorrow. Will you have made that list of dates and places by then?’

‘Yes, I should have.’ I followed him to the front door, knees slightly wobbly from the kiss.

‘Great!’ He turned and smiled. ‘Goodnight, Rachel.’

‘Goodnight.’

I watched him walk down the dark path to his car. Rain slanted sideways in the glow of the streetlamp, and he pulled up his collar as a gust of wind shook the bushes at the side of my garden. I told myself I was watching him leave out of politeness, but I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he unlocked his car door and climbed inside. He raised his hand and I shut the door, pressing my back to it and touching my lips, which still tingled from his kiss. Oh God, what was happening to me? What was I doing? I felt like a hormonal teenager with a raging crush. This wasn’t like me at all.