Lottie began weighing out the ingredients for vanilla crescents, humming German Christmas carols—to calm herself down, or so it seemed to me, anyway. As she reached “Silent Night” and slit the vanilla pod open, her hands stopped trembling. It had a good effect on us too. Mia moved a little closer to me on the bench and nestled against my shoulder. “This is comfy, isn’t it?”
I had to get myself under control so as not to hug her again. Even though her hair still smelled strongly of valerian tea. Only now, sometime after I’d finished my mug of hot chocolate, was I able to grasp the full extent of what had happened. And I realized that, in spite of everything, Mia would probably be lying on the garden path with several bones broken if Arthur hadn’t woken from his dream at the crucial moment. Who was to say that he wouldn’t try again the next night? This time with an even more horrible plan.
I groaned quietly. I didn’t think I’d survive another night like that.
“The dough ought really to rest for an hour.” Lottie was looking undecidedly from her mixing bowl to us. Her brown curls were standing out all around her head. She looked like a Hobbit woman from the Shire, and I loved her so much at that moment that it almost hurt. “But considering the situation, let’s miss that bit out for once.”
I was all in favor of that. The situation really did call for exceptional measures.
At that moment someone knocked on the kitchen door that opened onto the terrace, and I jumped so violently that Mia almost fell off the bench.
“Don’t worry. It’s only He … Henry?” Lottie raised her eyebrows in surprise and stared incredulously at Henry, who was standing on the other side of the window looking out on the breakfast terrace, waving. “At this time of … What is the time, anyway?” She snorted. “Men! There’s no understanding them! Do I let him in, Liv? He obviously has something on his mind, and I strongly suspect it’s to do with you.”
I didn’t say a word. How could I? Any answer would have made Mia and Lottie doubt my sanity.
“Never mind, Liv!” Mia wriggled out of the blanket and went to open the door to the terrace. “Can’t you see that he’s freezing out there? He doesn’t even have a jacket on. Come on in, Henry. There’s hot chocolate, and in ten minutes’ time, there’ll be Lottie’s comfort vanilla crescents.”
“For all the year round,” Lottie added.
Mia nodded. “You look as if you needed them. You’d better sit down on this bench with your ex-girlfriend.” She turned to me, with an eloquent grin. Then she slipped past Henry and went over to Lottie to taste some of the dough.
Lottie slapped down her fingers. “Hands off. You can help me to shape the crescents.”
Henry sat down beside me with a deep sigh. “Thank goodness,” he whispered. “She’s herself again. I came as soon as I could after her dream collapsed.”
Yes, that was obvious. He hadn’t even taken the time to put on a jacket. He was wearing only a T-shirt and jeans, and I pushed the blanket over to him in silence.
Mia was looking at us with her head on one side. “Now I remember,” she said. “You two were kissing in my dream.”
“Really?” Henry looked at me seriously.
I swallowed. “It was only a dream,” I said. “That doesn’t count, Mia.”
“What a shame.” Mia turned back to the dough that Lottie had now rolled into a long sausage shape on the work surface.
“Oh, so it doesn’t count?” asked Henry quietly. “I had the impression that—”
“I don’t want to talk about that kiss right now,” I whispered. “Goodness knows we have plenty of other problems! I can’t stand it, Henry. He’ll try again.… By the way, what kept you so long?”
“I … I was held up.” Henry shook his head unhappily. “I’m so sorry. But I promise you—”
“No!” I forgot to whisper. “Don’t make any promises you can’t keep. Next time you may be held up again, or the time after that, and then…” I was on the point of bursting into tears again. Lottie and Mia were staring at me, wide-eyed. They were probably wondering what drugs I’d taken before going to sleep.
“And then Arthur will put his threat into practice,” I said all the same, ending with a sob, although it was cut short by the kitchen door banging open.
“No, he won’t!” It was Grayson, standing in the doorway and breathing heavily.
I felt guilty because I’d completely forgotten him since he broke into a thousand icy splinters in the dream. But it was good to see him. Now we were all together.
He came closer and dropped something on the table in front of us.
“Is that what I think it is?” asked Henry slowly.
“Yup,” Grayson said grimly. “It is.”
We were looking at Mia’s spotted gray glove.
Lottie put her hands on her hips. “Is this some kind of competition? Finding out who can wander around out of doors the longest without a jacket in the middle of the night? Do you boys know how stupid that is? Apart from which, you have school tomorrow!” Shaking her head, she turned back to her vanilla crescents.
“And what were you doing with my glove, Grayson?” asked Mia, bewildered. “It won’t fit you. Anyway, there isn’t a complete pair because I lost the other one.”