Eden looked over at the door of Pots and Paints, her pottery painting café, for what felt like the hundredth time. Wanting something to distract herself, she rearranged the mini Christmas cakes in the glass cabinet. It was ridiculous to be this nervous but no matter how many times she told herself that, she couldn’t stop the butterflies from swirling and dancing in her stomach.
Her childhood best friend and the only man she had ever loved was coming home.
Only this time Dougie Harrison wasn’t just here for a few weeks, staying at her house and tormenting her by walking around half naked, torturing her with daily hugs and kisses on the cheek and then heading back to America again, leaving her with her heart in tatters and impossibly more in love with him than she was before.
This time he was moving back to Hope Island for good.
Although he’d still be staying with her for a few weeks. The house he’d bought wouldn’t be ready for him until after Christmas. The house he’d bought right next door to hers. If she didn’t know better she’d think he was doing this deliberately to wind her up. Except Dougie had no idea about her feelings for him. They had been best friends as far back as she could remember, they were incredibly close, always hugging and holding hands, but it had never been more than that and she had never been brave enough to share her feelings or to try to change their relationship into something more. And what would be the point? He had been living in America for the past twelve years; it was hardly going to work when he was so far away, even if by some remote chance he returned her feelings – which of course he didn’t.
The door opened and she jumped as she looked up, desperate and afraid to see him in equal measures. She sighed when she saw Barbara Copperthwaite coming in for her daily cup of coffee and cake, stamping her feet and clapping her hands against the cold. The pottery painting café was busy today which was a good thing; it meant she could try to keep herself occupied while she waited for Dougie to get here. She served Barbara her gingerbread coffee and a slice of Clare’s delicious mulled wine cake and then looked back towards the door.
Would things change between her and Dougie now he was living here for good? She didn’t dare hope for anything romantic to happen between them. She had given up dreaming and wishing for a happy ending for herself many years before. Twelve years before to be exact, when Dougie and his family had emigrated to the bright lights of New York.
‘Will you stop staring at the door like a puppy waiting for her owner to come home,’ Clare said. ‘And leave my cakes alone, no one is going to buy them with your fingerprints all over them.’
Eden smiled at her assistant. Clare Crissell had worked part time for her in Pots and Paints for years but recently had gone full time, which Eden was glad for. Although Eden could make cakes and pastries well enough, they were nothing like Clare’s creations and, with her taking care of the baking side of her pottery café, it left Eden to be creative and help the customers to paint their pottery pieces. It also meant that she could take days off whenever she wanted and, although Eden didn’t do that very often, she planned to take a few days or afternoons off in the lead-up to Christmas. The shop was busy today with lots of the island’s residents painting mugs, plates and other pottery items to give to their loved ones as festive gifts. As it was only a week until Christmas, today was the last day they could guarantee that the painted mugs and other gifts would be glazed and put in the kilns in time for the big day.
‘I’m not staring at the door like a puppy,’ Eden laughed, knowing she’d been doing just that.
‘You jump a mile every time the door opens. Dougie will be here soon. I don’t think the flight from Exeter arrives into St Mary’s until two.’
Eden nodded. Hope Island was the most westerly island of the Scilly Isles in Cornwall, and she knew that it would take Dougie a long time to get here. Suddenly she realised what Clare had just said. Eden opened her mouth to deny that she was waiting for Dougie but there was no point. She’d never discussed her feelings for Dougie with Clare, but it wasn’t hard to work out. Embarrassingly enough, everyone on the island seemed to know. The only person who didn’t seem to have any clue was Dougie himself.
‘I just can’t believe he is really coming home for good this time. When he first spoke about this at Easter, I never thought it would happen. And then he came over in the summer to house hunt and it just didn’t seem real and when he came over for Rome and Freya’s wedding, he was so excited about moving back here for good and now he’s here, to stay, and I don’t know why. He always wanted to live in America when he was little, he had posters of New York in his room and he kept saying that one day he would have a big office at the top of the Empire State Building. And although he never made it to the Empire State Building, he did have a big office at the top of one of the other big skyscrapers, plus a beautiful luxury penthouse apartment that takes up the entire floor of one of the tall buildings, with amazing panoramic views of the city. His own video gaming company is a huge success. He was living his dream and now he’s coming home to tiny Hope Island. He’s sold everything, his car, his luxury home, almost all of his things, and for what? The tallest building we have here is a six-storey hotel. We have two pubs, three restaurants, no theatres or cinemas, no McDonald’s or Starbucks. He’s bought a tiny cottage when in reality he could easily afford one of those huge houses on the far side of the island. There’s nothing here for him. I can honestly see him staying here for a few months before he gets bored out of his brain and decides to sell up and go back to New York again. What has Hope Island got that could possibly keep him interested?’
‘The one thing that New York doesn’t have?’ Clare said, as she loaded some iced ginger cupcakes into the cabinet to nestle alongside the fresh mince pies she’d made earlier that morning.
Eden looked outside onto the street, wondering what Hope Island could possibly offer him. The cobbled streets, the cute little unique shops with their beautiful Christmas decorations hanging in the windows and the old Victorian-style lamps all added a vintage charm to the island. The cottages and houses were all unique, many of them painted in bright colours. The friendliness of the locals and that lovely community spirit was another attractive feature. The beautiful beaches and little hidden coves were something the tourists flocked to see. She loved it here and never wanted to leave but, like Dougie, many of the younger generation couldn’t wait to get off the island. She supposed the coastal aspect was something New York didn’t have.
‘The beaches? He has always loved the beaches here,’ Eden said.
‘You, you idiot. He’s coming back for you.’
Eden sighed. Clare wasn’t the first person to say this to her and she was sure she wouldn’t be the last.
‘He’s not coming back for me. It’s not like that with us. We’re best friends and it will never be more than that.’
It had never been more than that for them. Nothing had ever happened between them. Apart from one kiss. One incredible kiss when she was seventeen years old, standing on the shores of Mistletoe Cove. The kiss had been so wonderful that Eden had immediately gone home and dreamed of her wedding to him, imagined the house they would buy together and the little red-headed babies they would have. The next day, Dougie had announced that he was moving to New York with his parents and she’d had to smile and pretend she was happy for him. The kiss was never mentioned again and she had never told anyone about it, keeping that moment in her heart just for her. Nothing had happened between them since. He’d come over and visit, they’d laugh and talk just like they always had, but he had never shown any inkling of having feelings for her. And though she always hoped she would one day get over him, it had been twelve years since he’d left and she loved him now as much as she did then.
‘Honey, I promise you, he isn’t coming back here for the beaches,’ Clare said.
Eden sighed. There was no point in arguing. The islanders had made their own minds up about the reason for Dougie’s return, and most of them thought it was to marry her and have lots of babies.
She decided to change the subject. ‘Do you know when the pottery wheel is supposed to be delivered?’
‘Well, if it’s arrived on St Mary’s we might get it this afternoon, but you know how these things go. Nothing moves quickly here. I hope it doesn’t come tomorrow; the shop will be closed in the afternoon for the Christmas festival. Are you taking Dougie to the opening?’ Clare asked, switching the Christmas music on the iPod from Bing Crosby crooning about a White Christmas to Michael Bublé’s Christmas album.
Eden wasn’t sure if she would be ‘taking’ Dougie anywhere. Yes, he was staying with her and they were best friends but she was sure he would be doing his own thing, whatever that was. He wouldn’t want to be hanging around with her the whole time. But the Christmas festival was a big deal for the island, they’d never had anything like it before. The whole place had been buzzing about it for weeks and when the lorries arrived off the landing crafts a few days before, some of the locals had lined the streets and clapped as if the lorries were responsible for bringing Christmas itself to the island. Eden had been looking forward to the festival herself, there was a Christmas market, ice skating, sledging – on fake snow of course – and lots of Christmassy events happening throughout the week leading up to the holiday.
Bella, Eden’s adopted sister, well technically her cousin, was the brains behind it, having spent months creating a week-long Christmas event in order to raise money for the homeless charity that she worked for. Most of the events that Bella organised were held in the bigger cities, especially in London, but Bella had wanted something for the island this Christmas and especially something that would bring the tourists to the island at a time when they never really came.
Eden adored Bella. She’d not had an easy start in life and came to live with Eden’s family when she was a child, and Eden felt very protective of her because of it. So it was important that she go along and support her. As Dougie was also Bella’s cousin, as well as one of Bella’s closest friends, Eden knew that Dougie would want to go to the festival and support her too.
‘We’ll probably pop over tomorrow for the opening,’ Eden said vaguely, hoping that Clare wouldn’t pick up on how much she was looking forward to going to the festival with Dougie.
‘There’s the couples’ snowman-making competition tomorrow. Maybe you two could enter,’ Clare said, clearly deciding that she wasn’t going to leave this alone.
‘Well, we’re not a couple so…’
‘That doesn’t matter, I don’t think there’s any hard and fast rules about what qualifies as a couple.’
Eden was fairly sure a couple had to be in some kind of relationship to count as one, not just two friends who had kissed once many years before.
‘Rome and Freya are entering, and Bella and Isaac too,’ Clare went on. ‘It’ll be fun to compete against your brother and sister.’
Eden smiled; that would be fun. It surprised her that her brother Rome had agreed to be a part of such a thing. Normally he preferred to keep to himself, but since marrying Freya he had mellowed so much, walking around the island with a permanent smile on his face. She liked that he seemed to be having more fun now.
There was no more time to argue as the door opened again. Her head snapped up to look without her permission and standing in the doorway, silhouetted against the weak winter sunlight, was Dougie.
She wanted to run and leap into his arms, though she knew that wasn’t appropriate. He dropped the bag he was holding, watching her with that beautiful smile lighting up his face. And though her feet remained frozen to the ground, he didn’t seem to have any such reservations, walking quickly across the pottery café towards her. Her legs carried her forward the last few steps and suddenly she was in his arms as he lifted her off her feet, hugging her so tight.
‘I’m home, honey,’ he whispered against her ear.
She closed her eyes, resting her cheek on his shoulder so he couldn’t see the myriad of emotions that were no doubt racing across her face at having him here. She had no idea how she should be feeling about his homecoming. There was a huge part of her that was delighted but she knew she was desperately sad too. He would never be hers and now he was back here for good, she wouldn’t even get a reprieve from these feelings like she normally did when he went back to America.
‘I can’t believe you’re really here,’ Eden said. ‘I always wondered if you’d ever come home. I hoped you would but you seemed so happy in America.’
‘You make me happy,’ he said, holding her tighter.
He always said things like this to her, he was always this affectionate with her too. Hugging her, holding her hand, kissing her on the head or cheek. They’d even slept together in the same bed several times while growing up, and although it hadn’t happened that often since they were adults, it had happened once or twice, normally after one too many drinks. It wasn’t a normal level of intimacy for two people who had only ever been friends, she knew that, but they’d always been overly affectionate with each other, as far back as she could remember. It was one of the reasons she had started to believe that he’d had feelings for her too when they were teenagers, but as nothing had ever happened beyond that one and only kiss she had just put it down to Dougie’s flirty personality. He was such a natural flirt anyway; he could charm the birds from the trees. Every woman he spoke to walked away feeling a million dollars. He kissed and hugged every girl he was friends with and always had a big smile on his face.
‘And thanks for putting me up, it’ll only be for a few weeks. My house will be ready after Christmas.’
‘Couldn’t leave you homeless now, could I?’ Eden said.
‘Hasn’t stopped you trying to kick me out of your house before,’ Dougie said, letting her feet down on the floor and holding her at arm’s length so he could look at her. She drank him in too, his red curly hair that curled at the back of his neck, clover green eyes, the smattering of freckles on his nose and cheeks. He was so beautiful. Her eyes cast down. And so big. She was sure he had filled out even more since the last time she had seen him. His shoulders were so broad, even his forearms seemed muscular.
She realised he was waiting for a response from her.
‘That’s because you walk around half naked most of the time.’
His mouth quirked up into a sexy smile. ‘And you don’t like seeing me naked, honey?’
Behind her Clare barely contained her laughter, turning it into a cough a fraction too late. Eden realised that most of the café was listening in to this conversation too.
What on earth did she say to that?
She swallowed down her embarrassment. ‘How would you like it if I walked around naked all the time?’
His eyes widened to comic proportions, a big grin spreading on his face. ‘I’d like that very much.’
‘You’re such a pervert.’
‘Is that what’s going to happen when I stay with you this time: twenty-four-hour nudey parties? If I’d known that, I’d have flown over earlier.’
‘We are not having nudey parties,’ Eden laughed but Dougie was clearly not to be deterred.
‘In fact, Clare honey, can you take over here for a few hours? Eden and I are going to have a nudey party right now.’ Dougie took her hand and led her to the door and to her total mortification all the island’s residents suddenly cheered their approval.
‘Sure,’ Clare laughed. ‘Knock yourselves out.’
Eden pulled back and Dougie reluctantly let her go.
‘Will you behave? We are not having any nudey parties.’
‘OK, maybe now is not the best time. But promise me we’ll do it later.’
‘No, Rome and Bella are supposed to be coming round to see you and I’m not getting naked in front of my brother and sister.’
He pulled her closer to him again. ‘So we’ll wait until they leave.’
She batted him away, her heart pounding at the thought of the two of them naked together.
She dug into her pocket and passed him her spare house key. ‘Go get yourself settled and unpacked and I’ll be home soon.’
He flashed her a devastating smile and then bent to kiss her cheek. ‘Don’t be late.’
He winked at her, grabbed his bag and left her alone. She brushed her fingers absently down her apron before she turned back to face the islanders who were all grinning at her inanely. She pointedly ignored them and walked back behind the counter. Having him here was going to be trouble but she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face if she tried.
Eden smiled as she watched Dougie snoring softly, his face lit up under the soft glow of the twinkling fairy lights as he rested his head on the arm of the sofa, his big, strong body stretching out the entire length of it. How could she love him so much? It was ridiculous to feel this way after twelve years but no matter how many times she told herself that, she didn’t seem to be listening.
‘Eden, are you listening?’
Eden looked round and could see that Bella and Freya were watching her expectantly. Oh god, they had been mid-conversation when she had glanced over to look at Dougie and she had zoned out completely after that. Was that how it was going to be now he was home: her staring at him inappropriately every time he came anywhere near her, being unable to carry out a simple conversation or function at work? She was in serious trouble if that was the case.
‘Sorry, I was miles away,’ Eden said, ignoring the smirks from Bella and Freya.
Everyone had come to welcome Dougie back home. Her brother Rome and his wife Freya had cooked for Dougie in Eden’s kitchen, looking every inch the happily married couple as they flirted and touched each other constantly. It filled Eden’s heart to see that Rome was happy again after so many years alone. Freya was showing the first signs of her four-month pregnancy hidden beneath her baggy jumper and, although no one was supposed to know yet, naturally that meant that everyone on the island was aware of it. Freya had been given more knitted jumpers, hats and booties than she knew what to do with over the last few weeks.
Eden’s sister, Bella, and her fiancé, Isaac, had spent the evening talking about the plans for their forthcoming wedding that was taking place at the end of January. It sounded like it was turning into a huge event. Bella seemed to be getting a bit stressed out about all the arrangements, but as an events manager for a local charity, this was the sort of thing she excelled at. Eden was quite sure it would be a beautiful day but she was worried that Bella wasn’t getting the kind of wedding she wanted. She seemed so desperate to impress all of Isaac’s business colleagues that she was putting aside her own dreams. Eden hadn’t said anything to them, and she didn’t know Isaac as well as she knew Bella, but it seemed he was getting a wedding he didn’t want either.
They’d all had dinner together, laughing and chatting as if Dougie had always been part of their family. And in many ways he had. Living in America for twelve years hadn’t changed that. Growing up, Dougie had been best friends with Rome, and with Eden and Bella they had been an inseparable foursome. He had also known Isaac as they’d both been in the computer club at school. When Isaac moved away from the island as a child, Dougie had stayed in touch with him, their mutual love for computer games cementing their friendship for life, and now they were going into business together in Dougie’s own computer gaming company.
It was testament to his friendship with everyone that no one cared that they’d all come round to see him and he was snoring softly in the corner. They all knew he had been travelling for many hours to get there. Everyone was just carrying on as normal regardless that Dougie was no longer part of the conversation.
Rome and Isaac were in the kitchen at that moment discussing an app that Rome wanted for his stained glass shop. They were getting more commissions than they could handle and, as far as Rome was concerned, he and Freya were spending too much time dealing with enquiries on the phone than actually working on the commissions. What they needed was an assistant but Isaac was trying to persuade him that an app that people could use to enquire online would take away a lot of the hassle for them.
Eden, Freya and Bella had been chatting in the lounge. She tried to remember what she had been talking about with them but she had no idea.
Bella took pity on her. ‘We were talking about what love means to us. There was an article in one of those wedding magazines I seem to have collected in abundance over the last few months about what different women expected from a loving relationship or marriage. So,. . .
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