‘Wait!’ Oliver cried, but she ignored him, slamming the handle of the umbrella against the tiny metal lock.
Nothing happened.
‘Yeah, I could have told you that wasn’t going to work,’ Oliver said, and Daisy felt the anger and frustration rising through her body at his words.
‘That’s so incredibly helpful,’ she ground out, between her clenched teeth. ‘And I suppose you have the answers to all our problems, right? I suppose you can get us back home through some sort of teleportation device, saving Claude from being alone on Christmas Eve, and us from having to spend Christmas in my parents’ crumbling chateau?’ Jay wailed in the back seat at the reminder of Claude, and Daisy’s jaw tightened painfully at the noise.
Why was everything she planned always such a disaster?
‘I just wanted to say that there has to be a better way to get into that case,’ Oliver snapped back. ‘And if you hadn’t locked my phone in there in the first place—’
‘Because of course this is all my fault,’ Daisy interrupted, even though she had a sneaking suspicion it might be.
‘If you hadn’t locked the phones in there at least we’d have the sat nav and we wouldn’t be lost in the middle of sodding France!’ Oliver finished.
‘Language!’ Daisy yelled, as the twins began to cry again.
‘Oh for God’s sake.’ Bella clambered forward, between the twins’ car seats and grabbed the vanity case. ‘Let me have a go.’ She pulled a hair grip from her messy bun and jammed it into the lock, twisting it round a few times until the lid popped open.
Daisy and Oliver stared.
‘Do I want to know where you learned how to do that?’ Daisy asked, pretty sure she didn’t.
Bella shrugged. ‘YouTube.’
‘Right.’
Grabbing her phone from the pile, and tossing Jay his tablet, Bella clambered back. ‘Okay, we’ve got a message on the Find Claude page.’
Daisy’s heart jumped. Had someone found him? Was he safe and warm inside somewhere cosy and welcoming? ‘And?’
‘Hang on …’ Bella’s fingers swiped across the screen as she accessed the message. ‘Okay, it’s from the same girl – Jessica, at number 3. She’s back from shopping and watching out, but no sign of Claude yet.’ Daisy’s heart sank back down to its usual position. ‘Oh, this is good – she’s shared the page with all her friends, and they’re sharing it too. Someone will spot him soon, for sure.’ She spoke the last to Jay, who snuggled against her side in response.
‘I hope so,’ Daisy murmured. Poor Claude.
Bella wrapped one arm around Jay, and kept the other on her phone. ‘Hey, want me to check if there’s anywhere to eat around here? I’m starving.’
‘That would be … remarkably helpful,’ Daisy admitted. They all needed something to eat.
Oliver, meanwhile, had retrieved his phone and gone back to sulking in the passenger seat. With a sigh, Daisy picked hers up too. Three missed calls – all from Mum, earlier in the day, before she’d phoned her from Caen. Nothing from anyone else – certainly nobody who might know where Claude was.
She was going to have to call Mrs Templeton, that much was clear. Even if Bella’s Find Claude campaign worked, it was irresponsible not to use every possible avenue to get Claude somewhere safe. But maybe it could wait until after they’d all had something to eat. Claude would understand that, Daisy was sure. The dog did always think with his stomach, after all.
‘Okay, it looks like we’re about ten miles off the main road we’re supposed to be on,’ Oliver said, swiping along the map on his phone.
‘There’s a McDonald’s about a mile away, or a small town that might have restaurants a bit further along,’ Bella added.
Jay, meanwhile, had started up the lullaby app on his tablet, which had finally persuaded the twins to stop screaming.
Daisy tried to ignore how much easier her life had just become with the addition of technology, and focused on the important things.
‘Town,’ she decided. ‘I want a proper meal, in a proper restaurant. And I am going to have a very large glass of wine with it.’ Oliver raised his eyebrows, and she added, ‘Because you are driving the rest of the way. I am done.’
Sensibly, Oliver chose not to argue.
Maybe it was the mulled wine and the Christmas music playing softly in the background that made Jack look even more attractive in the subdued under-cabinet lighting of her kitchen, but Holly doubted it. She had a feeling he’d always been this good looking and she just hadn’t let herself notice it.
Or maybe it was just that any man who was as passionate and engaged in his Christmas planning couldn’t help but look gorgeous. Especially when he was doing a good deed.
‘So, she’s all alone for Christmas too?’ Holly asked, as Jack finished his summary of his and Claude’s visit next door. Holly had exchanged the odd hello or how are you with Kathleen since she moved in, but that was about all. The older woman usually seemed to be busy bustling about on errands or catching the bus somewhere on the weekends, and Holly was usually rushing to get to work during the week, so their paths rarely crossed for more than a few moments every morning. Plus there was always the fear that Kathleen Nordmann might be another curtain twitcher like Mrs Templeton.
But from Jack’s description, Kathleen sounded far more like someone Holly should get to know. And if she wasn’t mistaken, Jack’s idea was going to involve her doing just that.
‘Yeah. Her daughter and son can’t make it over, and I think all her other friends are miles away. I guess she’s a bit lonely, to be honest, from the way she welcomed Claude and me in.’ He tilted his head slightly, obviously remembering the experience. ‘More than a bit, in fact. She wanted us to stay. As it is, I promised I’d go back soon because she’s very, very alone.’
‘It does sound like it.’ Guilt gnawed at Holly’s insides. Had she been so wrapped up in her own dramas that she’d totally failed to notice that the woman next door – the one she saw almost every day – needed a friend? Maybe even as much as Holly did. Jack had noticed, though, and he was planning to do something about it. The least she could do was help.
‘Anyway, I just thought that maybe, if you had the time, we could do something for her? To brighten up her Christmas?’ Jack phrased it as a question, but to Holly it was already a definite plan. They needed to do this.
And if it gave her an excuse to spend rather more time in the company of the cute postman than she normally would, well, that could only be a Christmas bonus, right?
‘Like a surprise? We absolutely should,’ she said, firmly. ‘What were you thinking of?’
Jack pulled a face and shrugged. ‘To be honest, that’s pretty much as far as I’d got. I figured you might have some ideas?’ He waved a hand over her parade of Christmas crafts. ‘I mean, you seem to have this Christmas thing pretty much nailed.’
Holly felt an emptiness opening up inside her chest, one that she’d been avoiding all day. ‘Christmas is my favourite time of the year,’ she admitted.
‘I kind of got that.’ Jack gave her a fond smile, not unlike the
one he’d given Claude when the little dog had dozed off right next to Perdita’s food bowl a few moments ago. Holly bristled a little inside. She didn’t want him to see her as a cute, fluffy thing. But then, she’d not really given him any reason to see anything more, had she?
Maybe she needed to work on that.
‘I’m sorry,’ Jack said. ‘You’ve probably got loads of Christmas plans already, and no time to help me out with this, and you’re just too polite to say.’ He raised his glass of mulled wine to his lips and took a big gulp. ‘I should get out of your way.’
‘No!’ Holly said, loud enough to make Claude stir in his sleep. ‘No, really,’ she went on, a little quieter, her hand on his arm for emphasis. ‘I’m glad you suggested it. It sounds like a really kind, thoughtful idea, and I’d love to be involved.’
‘Really?’ Jack looked down at her hand, and Holly resisted the urge to pull it away in embarrassment. If she wanted him to see her as more than a sweet crafty girl on his post round, she needed to show him that she was more. ‘You’re not going away for Christmas or anything?’
Holly winced at that, and sat back. ‘No. Not any more.’
‘But, you had plans?’ Jack guessed. ‘Sorry. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.’
‘It’s okay.’ Holly shook her head. ‘Actually … tomorrow was supposed to be my wedding day.’
Jack’s expression settled into the pitying look she’d elicited from everyone she’d seen for weeks after Sebastian left. Every time she’d had to tell a friend or family member or colleague that the wedding was off, every time anyone mentioned weddings or romance or love, or even bloody Christmas, she’d got that look. That poor little Holly, all alone and abandoned. However will she cope? look.
Basically, the look she’d given Claude that morning when she realised he was alone too.
God, she was as pathetic as a lost French Bulldog with ridiculous ears. What did that say about her life?
‘Honestly, I’m better off without him,’ she said, firmly. She believed it. She just wished other people would too.