An Unexpected Christmas (3 page)

April

I pulled the door closed, then
wandered down the hallway looking for Ella. I heard movement in one of the
rooms and when I got close enough I saw Ella pottering about and so stepped
into the room. 'Is it not weird being back in your old bedroom?'

Ella turned at my voice and
smiled at me. 'Not really. Well apart from the bad poster choices,' she
gestured to a poster of some pop star I vaguely remember from when I was about
thirteen. 'I really should take that down.' She laughed and turned away from
it. 'Are you settled in alright?'

'I am thanks. Your Mum's guest
room is amazing.' I wandered over to her bed and sat down on the end of it;
Ella moved to sit next to me and sent me a small smile.

'I may have forgotten to mention
who my brother actually was,' she confessed, sheepishly and I smiled at her.

'It's okay. I was a little
shocked; you don't expect to see a movie star when you walk into your friend's
Mother's house.'

'I’m sorry. You know, I forget
the whole superstar thing when I see him. He is so far from that, superstar
stereotype, it seems ridiculous.' She smiled.

'I may have eventually figured it
out but you don't have the same surname.'

'Yes well when mum and dad
divorced mum went back to her maiden name Lawson and as I moved here with her
she wanted me to change my name too. Nate stayed with dad to finish school and
it was just simpler for him to stay as Hamilton.' She shifted to face me better
and even though her smile was genuine there was a sense of importance in what
she was about to say; 'He's my big brother, he's the one who looks after me but
when I can return the favour I have to do it.'

 She looked down as if what she
wanted to say seemed difficult. I placed my hand on her arm; we hadn't known
each other that long but we had gotten close, close enough to tell each other
anything. I sent her a reassuring smile, 'Ella, whatever you need to say to me,
just say it.'

She returned my smile. 'Nate likes
his privacy, especially when it comes to family. If you can just hold off from
Facebooking or Tweeting anything I would be grateful.'

'Of course.' If I was honest the
thought of announcing who I would be spending Christmas with hadn't crossed my
mind. I was still trying to process the idea myself. 'You invited me to spend
time with your family and I won't do anything you don't want me to do.'

Ella's smile widened. 'I knew you
would understand.' She leaned over and hugged me. 'Are you hungry? I'm hungry.'

'I am.' I thought for a moment.
'Didn't you say you were going to go and help your mum out with lunch?'

Ella giggled. 'Oh yeah, whoops.
Better head down then.'

I laughed at her but nodded, and
we both headed back downstairs. As we walked into the kitchen I was instantly
hit with an amazing aroma; Maggie stood by the cooker and was stirring whatever
was making that delicious smell.

'Have you girls settled in?'
Maggie turned from the cooker and smiled at us. Ella nodded and hauled herself
up onto the counter that stood in the middle of the room.

'Yes thank you,' I pushed my
hands into the back pockets of my jeans. 'You have a beautiful home. I may
never want to leave.'

'Well you are welcome to stay as
long as you wish.'

I looked around the kitchen, 'Is
there anything I can help with?'

Maggie shook her head. 'Oh no
dear, Ella can help me; you just make yourself at home. Nate is in the living
room, probably with his nose in a book.' I glanced over at Ella who sent me a
quick smile then hopped off the counter and set about pulling bowls from a
cupboard.

I took a deep breath then walked
slowly over to the door that led to the living room. Nate was sitting on the
sofa and, as Maggie had said, he had his head in a book; he was so engrossed he
hadn't even noticed me stopping in the doorway so I took a moment to take him
in.

His long legs were stretched out
in front of him; a dog resting it’s head on each of his feet and he was relaxed
into the back of the sofa in a state I hadn't seen before. It was true that I
had only seen him in character or answering questions about his latest movie
but there was something about his relaxed position that had me smiling; I
wanted to curl up next to him and listen as he read the words of his book out
loud, to close my eyes and let his deep tones wash over me and sink into my
head and my heart. It was silly but it didn't make it any less true. He must
have sensed me in the doorway because he lifted his head and when our eyes met
he smiled.

I stepped into the room. 'Don't
let me bother you,' I said, and walked over to the chair by the fireplace to
sit down.

'You're not bothering me.' He
slipped in his bookmark and tossed his book onto the coffee table in front of
him.

I leaned back into the plush
cushion of the chair trying to force myself to relax around him. We were silent
for a moment and I could feel my nerves building up and I needed to do
something to stop them; 'Can I ask what you're reading?'

'A Christmas Carol.' He paused,
and smiled, but didn't take his eyes off me, 'I try and read it every
Christmas, get's me into the spirit of things.'

He put a little emphasis on the
word 'spirit' and chuckled at his own joke.             My smile broadened at
his awful humour and I shook my head a little, 'I haven't read it. I tend to
just watch the Muppets version, you know, for the songs.'

He nodded. 'So what sort of
things do you read?'

'My choice in literature isn't
quite everyone's cup of tea and I have been mocked on a number of occasions for
it.’ I confessed, but I loved that he had just assumed that I did read, like
the thought of anyone who didn't was unheard of.

He leaned forward, resting his
forearms on his thighs and managing not to disturb the sleeping dogs on his
feet. His eyes were bright and he genuinely looked interested, 'Now I'm intrigued.'

'Well, romance. I am a sucker for
a romantic novel and I will read any type, contemporary, historical, cowboy.' I
giggled then I bit my bottom lip and waited for his reaction and sent up a
little prayer that he wouldn't tease me about it.

'Can I ask what it is about them
you like so much?'

I thought for a moment. 'It's
simple really - they all have happy endings. There are so many terrible and
tragic things that happen in this world but I know that when I pick up a
romance novel that no matter what the characters go through there is always a
happy ending. The guy always gets the girl and that fills me with hope which I
think may be a little lacking in a lot of people's lives.' It was the first
time that anyone had asked why I only really read romance, and I hoped my
answer didn’t sound too ridiculous. I licked my bottom lip to sooth where my
teeth had sunk into it and noticed his eyes flit to my lips then back to my
eyes.

I watched him look away and into
the fire still burning in the grate. I knew from the internet, and also from
Ella, that his parents split when he was in his early teens but for him
personally I didn't know much about his romantic life, it was something that he
had hid well from the media with only a couple of pictures of him with his last
girlfriend, an actress called Olivia Reed, making their way into magazines but
I guessed that the more popular he became the more people would want to know.

He looked back at me and smiled;
'Putting it into those words makes me wonder why anyone would read anything
else.'

He still had a serious air about
him and I itched to bring the conversation back to a more carefree place. 'It
also doesn't hurt that they are smutty and filled with sex,’ I grinned at him
and it seemed to work; he let out a laugh causing the dogs to lift their heads
and look up at him.

He leaned back into the sofa. 'Do
you have a favourite book?'

I nodded. 'I do. I always find
myself re-reading Persuasion by Jane Austen every couple of years.'

'It's not really known for its
smut,' he joked.

I laughed. 'Not really, but it is
probably one of the most romantic novels ever written and the letter from
Captain Wentworth to Anne is...' I couldn't think of the words, 'have you ever
read something that just makes you tingle all over? It's like that.'

'What are you two talking about?'
Ella asked as she walked into the room, and I tore my eyes from where he was
grinning at me.

'Books!' We responded at the same
time and when I looked over at him he wore a matching smile on his face.

Ella rolled her eyes but let out
a little laugh, 'Well lunch is ready.'

She waited as I stood and then
followed her into the kitchen, Nate following so close behind I got another
whiff of his aftershave and it sent a fluttering sensation straight to my
stomach. We each took a seat around the kitchen table and tucked into the soup
and what looked to be homemade bread rolls.

'How's work?' Maggie looked over
to Ella who swallowed what was in her mouth before replying.

'It's going okay. We have been
really busy getting everything that needed done before the Christmas break.'
She looked over at me. 'Luckily I had April to help me otherwise I would
probably still be stuck under a pile of paperwork.'

Technically Ella was my boss but
she never acted like it, treating everyone in her team as an equal which earned
her a high level of respect and also meant that when she needed anything done
everyone was willing to put in the effort.

'Well, we all wanted everything
sorted and Ella is a great boss.' I smiled across the table at her and saw her
blush at the compliment. She may be modest when it came to herself but she
beamed with pride when she spoke of others, she really was a wonderful person
and I loved working with her.

Nate grabbed a bread roll and
broke it in half with his fingers. 'So you work in logistics too?' He lifted
his gaze to me.

'I do. It wasn't something I had
considered doing until a couple of years ago but I have always been incredibly
organised and I really liked finding solutions to things so it seemed the logical
choice of career.' He nodded and I wanted to ask him about his work as an actor
but I didn't know how he would react. I was sure he had answered that question
hundreds of times in interviews, which I had seen numerous of but thought it
would be different getting to ask the question myself. Perhaps I will wait a
couple of days and get to know him a little first. He might not want to talk
about his work while he was here with his family

'Can I ask what it was you did
before?' He looked up when he asked and seemed genuinely interested.

'I used to work in retail and I
realised one day that I didn't get any satisfaction from it. It wasn't
challenging and I wasn't really going anywhere so I started looking at courses
in anything that might interest me.'

'That's brave. I think a lot of
people would just shrug it off and continue in a job they weren't satisfied
with rather than take the risk of trying something else. It's good that you
have found something that fits you better.'

'And she is brilliant at it.' Ella
added and it was my turn to blush. Luckily the topic of conversation turned
away from me.

'Are we still going to the carol
service on Thursday?' Nate asked his mother through a mouthful of bread and I
saw her send him a slightly scolding look at his manners.

'We are. I have to get there
early to help set things up so you kids will have to make your own way there.
It starts at six and I don't want you sneaking in at ten past like last year.
As if I didn't know you went to the pub before and lost track of time.'

Nate smiled at his Mother and
finished the last couple of spoonfuls of soup before placing his spoon in his
empty bowl leaned back looking satisfied. That was a look that sent another
flutter to my stomach and I quickly looked away.

'You know it was Nate's fault, he
insisted on another drink, said it would help with his singing.' Nate glared at
his sister for dropping him in it and she responded by scrunching her nose up
at him. I got a little pang of homesickness then thinking about how my sister and
I would tease each other across the dinner table and how my parents would
reprimand us for it. I thought I would be okay spending Christmas away from
them and hadn't realised that I would miss them quite so much.

'April, are you okay?' I lifted
my eyes to Nate's question and saw the concern in his eyes and quickly put a
smile on my face.

'Yes, just a little full I
think.' I turned to Maggie, 'The soup was delicious by the way, thank you.'

'You are very welcome.' She
looked at her children, and in a mock forlorn voice said, 'I'm glad
someone
appreciates my cooking.'

Nate stood and placed a kiss on
top of her head. 'We love your cooking Mum but if we told you every time how
great it was you might not put in as much effort.' She swatted him away but I
saw the smile on her face. 'Right, I best feed those dogs and take them for a
walk.'

I looked over at Maggie, 'Can I
help clean up?'

'Ella can help me.'

'What?' Ella had been slipping
scraps of bread to Milly but her head snapped up at her mother's words.

Maggie ignored her daughter and
continued 'Why don't you go for a little walk with Nate. It will help shake
your lunch down.' She stood from the table and began to gather the dishes.

I looked over to where Nate had
stopped what he was doing and glanced from his mother to me. 'Is that alright?'
I wondered whether he would want me to join him.

'Sure. I would like the company.'
He smiled then turned back to pick up the two dog bowls and when he turned back
around Toby and Milly were dancing around his legs in anticipation.

'I will go and grab my coat.' I
knew if the dogs were anything like my parents dogs then it wouldn't take the
two retrievers long to lick their bowls clean.