“The entire village did,” I replied. “Everyone joined in.”
“I thought we all deserved a little tipple,” Mary interrupted as she came into Ivy’s living room, pushing a drinks trolley set with six glasses and a punchbowl. “Don’t tell Oliver, but I’ve whisked up some of my own mulled wine recipe.”
“What a wonderful idea,” Ivy said. “I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it myself. We certainly have a lot to celebrate.”
“We still have to hope that the loss of the website hasn’t hurt us too badly,” I replied. “But we’re in the best possible place to try to beat last year’s first day sales at the market.” I took the glass of mulled wine from Mary, sinking in to its warmth. I chinked my glass to Barbara’s before taking a soothing sip.
“And we’ve even got a tree to hang the annual Snowsly bauble on when Ivy’s feeling up to it,” Peter said. “If it hadn’t been for you two, Celia and Sebastian, I’m not sure we’d still be having a Christmas market in Snowsly this year.”
“Cheers!” Ivy raised her glass of mulled wine. “To Celia and Sebastian.”
“We all played our part,” I replied. Truth be told, I’d been close to losing it when the tree came down. If it hadn’t been for Sebastian pulling me to one side and knocking me off my panic spiral, I might have given up and gone home to bed.
My second sip of spiced wine made my body feel like it had been coated in a condensed, soporific syrup that slowed my senses and smothered my adrenaline. I was instantly cosy and comfortable. And entirely exhausted.
For the next half an hour, I nodded and smiled as the rest of the group continued their chatter and excitement about the day past and the market to come. I stayed silent, unable to muster the energy to speak. A couple of times I glanced over at Sebastian, who wasn’t saying much either. After a fraught and physical day, he still looked yacht-party ready. His gray cashmere jumper hadn’t taken a beating from being caught on the Christmas tree trunk like poor Peter’s Christmas pudding jumper, which now had a huge hole just over the sprig of holly. And Sebastian’s hair still had that same glossy sheen it always seemed to have. I could tell by the way my plait had started to unwind itself that I looked like a place a hedgehog would happily hibernate. I was also sporting a now-dried patch of mud up the side of my coat that I’d have to try to brush off when I got home. It looked like Sebastian had been on the sidelines while the rest of us had been at war. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Sebastian might claim to hate Christmas, but his actions proclaimed loud and clear that he loved Snowsly and his granny, and would do anything for either.
A second before I excused myself—confident that leaving would be the only way to avoid falling asleep where I sat—Ivy cleared her throat. “These old bones need to get to bed. Off with you all. Another busy day awaits. Sebastian, please make sure you see Celia home.”
I started to shake my head but stopped as I locked eyes with Sebastian, who nodded.
“I’ll see you home,” Sebastian said as he approached me. There was something in his smooth, sultry voice I hadn’t heard before. He was probably as exhausted as I was.
I didn’t argue and we said our goodbyes. I pulled on my hat, coat, and gloves and headed to the lobby.
“I’ll be fine. I have my torch,” I said to Sebastian as we headed to the exit. I’d left my tool belt at home this morning but carried my trusty torch at all times.
“It will only take a few minutes. Let me, please.”
I sighed, too tired to argue. “Okay.”
“It’s icy,” he said as we stepped out of the Manor.
Without thinking, I slipped my arm through his and he pulled it close to his chest, like he was hanging on to something precious. Even though the pavements were slippery, I had no doubt the man beside me would catch me if I were to fall. A pang of regret chased around my ribs as I realized I’d never felt that before. Not even with Carl.
“Thank you for the pep talk this morning,” I said. “It made all the difference.”
“What are friends for?” Sebastian kept his eyes on the path in front of us. “I knew you were just having a moment. You soon snapped out of it and got back to business.”
Warmth gathered in my stomach and I bit down on my bottom lip. He’d had faith in me. That felt good. “Thanks to you.”
“Hardly. But if I was any kind of assistance at all, it was my pleasure.”