Page 8 of The Perfect Gift

That stupid twinge of guilt pinched at Frankie again. ‘Is he all right?’

‘God, don’t worry about Ed, he got exactly what he deserved! Serves him right for not bothering to let any of us know he was planning on coming home for Christmas, doesn’t it?’

‘I still don’t understand why he came here, though,’ Frankie said. ‘He was very insistent that he lived here.’

‘Oh, well, he and Matt used to share the cottage before he went travelling, but circumstances changed while Ed was away.’ Kat sounded a bit evasive, which wasn’t like her at all and Frankie found herself wondering if there was more to the explanation than the vague gloss Kat was applying. Before she could probe further, Kat spoke again. ‘Look, if you’re sure you’re going to be okay on your own then I think we’d both better get to bed and try and get some sleep, or we’ll be fit for nothing tomorrow.’

The last of the adrenaline from her encounter with Ed must’ve worn off just then because Frankie was overwhelmed with tiredness and all she wanted to do was drag herself back upstairs and curl up under the covers. ‘I’m fine. Thanks again for calling to check on me.’

‘As if I was going to leave you on your own without making sure you’re all right. Meet me for breakfast tomorrow?’

‘So you can make sure I’m okay, Mother Hen?’ Frankie asked with a laugh.

‘I know I’m a fusspot, but indulge me!’ Kat pleaded through her own laughter.

‘I’ll be in The Cosy Coffee Pot at the usual time,’ Frankie told her.

‘Great, I’ll see you then. Night, Frankie, and you know where we are if you need us.’

‘Go away!’ Frankie said in mock-exasperation.

‘I’m going, I’m going!’ Kat was laughing as she hung up.

Frankie tucked the phone into her hoodie pocket and looked around the small sitting room. She considered turning the lights off, but decided against it. As she wearily climbed the stairs, she crossed an arm over her belly, holding in the warmth there that someone in the world cared enough to check up on her. She crawled under the duvet, still bundled up in her hoodie, and was asleep almost before her head touched the pillow.

* * *

It was really nice to have friends.

When she walked into the café the next morning, Frankie was faced with a full welcoming committee. Kat must’ve rallied the troops early because not only was she waiting at Frankie’s usual corner table, but Anya, the other woman who made up their friendship quartet, was waiting beside her. Frankie had taken less than half a dozen steps from the door when the bell above it rang and she glanced behind her to find a breathless Chloe letting herself in. Her hair was still wet and her face was bare of make-up. ‘There you are!’ She grabbed Frankie in a tight hug before stepping back to examine her. ‘Are you okay? When Kat told us all what happened I was ready to hunt Ed down and skin him alive! What the hell did he think he was playing at, scaring you half to death? Bloody idiot.’

Frankie bit her lip to hold in a smile. With the way her eyes were blazing with promised retribution, Frankie didn’t fancy being in Ed’s shoes when Chloe did catch up with him. ‘I’m fine, Chloe, I promise. He just caught me by surprise, that’s all.’ She looked around at the gathered women. ‘You didn’t have to get up early on a Saturday morning just to check on me.’

‘It’s not early when you’ve got a small child,’ Anya told her with a laugh before she glanced over at Chloe. ‘And besides, we’ve got work to do this weekend if we want to have enough stock made for our stall at the Christmas Fayre next Saturday.’

‘Don’t remind me!’ Chloe said with a groan. ‘I still can’t believe I let you talk me into doing it.’

‘Rick’s worked really hard organising the fayre so the least we can do is support him,’ Anya retorted, her tone unusually sharp.

Chloe held her hands up, her expression immediately contrite. ‘I know, I know, I’m just grumpy being up so early.’ She and Anya exchanged smiles and the moment of tension was over. Chloe nudged Frankie’s elbow, her familiar grin back in place. ‘And it was worth it to see Harry’s photo of your handiwork in the family WhatsApp this morning!’

‘Oh, God, yes, you really left your mark, Frankie!’ Issy said as she circled around the serving counter to come and hug her. Amusement danced in her eyes as she continued. ‘Liam woke me up, he was laughing so hard when he saw the photo!’

‘What photo?’

Quick as a flash, Chloe whipped out her phone and began to scroll through her messaging app. ‘Ha ha, Ma’s seen it and she’s demanding to know what’s going on. Ed is never going to live this down.’

A sense of dread was already filling Frankie’s stomach when Chloe handed the phone over to her. The dread turned to something different as she took in the image of Ed, naked from the waist up, only a towel sinched around his slim hips to preserve his modesty. He must’ve only just stepped out of the shower from the water glistening across his tanned, sculpted chest and shoulders. It took Frankie far longer than it should’ve done to notice the source of everyone’s amusement. The bottom half of Ed’s slicked-back dark hair was stained a nasty orange-red shade that reminded her of rusty metal. The can had promised the dye was permanent, but Frankie hadn’t really expected it to work.

Finding her attention straying back to Ed’s semi-naked torso, Frankie forced her eyes to skip lower to the string of messages beneath the photo. The text directly below the photo said, ‘Luk hu’s hume’. The responses below were a variety of laughing emojis, bright red exclamation marks and WTF demands for details. There was then a short paragraph of text from Kat providing a brief explanation of what had happened followed by another string of replies, all aimed at Ed himself and none of them polite.

Frankie cringed as she handed the phone back to Chloe. ‘My God, does the whole village know already?’

As she sensed her discomfort, Chloe’s eyes widened. ‘No, of course not! This is strictly family only.’

‘So only a quarter of the village, then,’ Frankie observed in a tone as dry as the Sahara.

‘There are rather a lot of us,’ Chloe conceded with a grin before her expression grew serious. ‘Honestly, Frankie, this won’t go any further. We’re not gossips and we’d never put you in an embarrassing situation.’