Chapter Three

John Starr skipped over a large puddle. ‘You’re looking a bit peaky, sweetheart. We’d better get you inside before you catch your death.’

Evie glanced up at her dad. She had been staring at her phone for the last five minutes. After the humiliation of discovering she was speaking to none other than Zachary Thorn, she immediately ended the call and, a few moments later when he called back, rejected that one. She texted him the postcode, hoping that would satisfy him and apparently it had. Thankfully, he hadn’t called a third time. She couldn’t speak to him now. There was nothing she could possibly say to minimise her embarrassment. And yet, he had such a sensual, lilting voice, a tiny part of her wanted to hear it again.

‘Sorry, Dad. What?’

He smiled. ‘Off on your daydreams, as usual? I said I thought you looked a bit peaky, but the colour seems to be coming back. Perhaps a little too much. Your face looks like a beetroot now. Come along. Let’s get you in the warm. You might be coming down with something.’

John put an arm around her shoulders and marched her towards the front door.

‘I’m fine. Just … a little confused.’

‘Oh? What about? The lights?’

‘No. Gran didn’t say she actually knew Zachary Thorn, did she? Or that she’d texted him my number?’

 He tilted his head to look her in the eye. ‘My mum text Zachary Thorn? I don’t think so. She doesn’t know him or his number as far as I’m aware, so how could she? Unless she contacted the TV station. That’s a possibility, knowing her.’

‘I’ve just had the strangest conversation with a man claiming to be him and he said that Gran had texted him my mobile number and told him to contact me if he had any questions. That’s a bit bizarre, isn’t it?’

‘Completely. Why’s the front door open? Don’t tell me.’ He let out a sigh. ‘Raven’s pulled the door knob off again. I must add that to my list.’

‘I keep adding it to your list, Dad – and to mine – but the list just seems to get longer. We really need to get all this stuff done if we’re going to stand a chance of impressing Zachary Thorn. Oh hell. I must speak to Gran about that. It’s all very strange.’

She stumbled as her phone rang again; her dad’s arm stopped her from falling.

‘Are you OK, sweetheart? You seem a bit jumpy.’

Regaining her composure, she smiled and checked the screen, where a dancing reindeer spun around and shook its bottom at her. ‘I’m fine. It’s Juniper. I’ll meet you in the kitchen in a second.’

He kissed her forehead and marched off, humming another combination of cheerful Christmas tunes.

‘Oh my God, Juniper! Wait a minute. It is you, isn’t it?’

‘Of course it’s me, you numpty. Didn’t my name and the jolly reindeer appear when it rang?’

‘Yes but … Oh never mind. You won’t believe what’s just happened.’

‘Tell me.’

Evie told her best friend about the recent phone conversation, almost word for word and Juniper chortled with laughter.

‘It’s not funny. I wanted to see if I could find some way to get him and his crew to come here, so that we could get some publicity. Even five minutes on his show would boost interest in the inn a million-fold. We’d have people clamouring for rooms. But how can I do that now? Not only did I insult him – because I thought it must be some loony on the phone, or one of Raven’s friends she’d asked to call me to wind me up – but I also called him a sex-god, hot bod. How was I to know it was Zachary Thorn?’

Juniper continued to laugh. ‘You weren’t. And it might not have been. Just because he said he was, it doesn’t mean he was.’

‘Wh-at? So you’re saying that it still might have been a joke then? It might not have actually been Zachary Thorn.’

‘I’m saying that it’s odd. I know Jessie gets away with murder, but how – and why – would she have the mobile number of a thirty-six-year-old, ex-SAS officer turned TV star? And if she had, how has she managed to keep it a secret? Your gran never keeps anything secret.’

‘She never keeps anyone else’s secrets, secret, but I know she’s got a few of her own that she’s never shared with me, Severine or Mum, and probably not with her own son, either. She’s told us a few times that we’ll get the shocks of our lives when she joins Grandad on the other side and we finally get to read her diaries. Severine and I searched for them for years, but we never found them. I began to think they didn’t exist but I mentioned them to Dad once and he said that she’d kept a diary ever since he could remember.’

‘She must hide them well.’

‘She does.’

‘So … perhaps Zachary’s her secret love child or something and she’s been keeping an eye on him all these years.’

‘Juniper! Apart from the fact that she and Grandad were madly in love their entire lives, and they got together when she came to live in Snowflake Cove at the age of fifteen, Gran’s eighty-eight. That would mean she was around fifty-two when she had Zachary. I think Dad would have noticed his mum was pregnant, don’t you? And wondered what happened to his sibling. You’ve been watching too many soaps.’

‘OK. Maybe Zachary’s dad was her love child and Zachary is her grandchild. No. You’re right. That’s too far-fetched even for me to believe.’

‘Are you still coming over tonight for a drink? I’ll ask Gran now and tell you all about it later. Oh, and I don’t suppose you could persuade Roland to come with you, could you? I think Raven fancies him.’

‘Raven? Did she say that?’

‘Of course she didn’t. But she went all starry-eyed when she asked if he’d be coming to the bar with you.’

‘Oooooh. I’ll see what I can do. I’d better go. You know what Miranda’s like if she sees me having a personal conversation during office hours. Should I casually mention that Zachary Thorn was asking about her knicker elastic? See you later.’ With a burst of laughter, Juniper rang off.

It was only then that Evie realised she’d forgotten to ask her about the Christmas lights. She’d have to call her back. Or send her a text. But that could wait. What she needed to do right now was find out whether her gran had texted Zachary Thorn. And if she had, how on earth had she got his number and why hadn’t she bothered to mention it earlier when she’d told them she had heard he was coming to Michaelmas Bay?’