Page 13 of Winter Magic on Railway Lane

‘And think of all the spare time that you’ll have now for all those hunky men you’re always dating,’ said Harriet, waggling her eyebrows.

‘Exactly!’ replied Libby, before taking another sip of her gin and tonic.

They all still thought that she had an amazing love life. When the truth was that she hadn’t felt deeply for any man except Ethan. And look what a mess that had turned into.

Libby excused herself to go to the ladies’ and avoid any further lies that she needed to tell her friends.

But, on the way, she came face to face with Ethan coming in the other direction.

He gave her his wide smile that had been so successful with the ladies over the years. ‘I’ll take a cold beer and a hot towel, please,’ he said.

Libby rolled her eyes. ‘You don’t deserve anything. In fact, I would deliberately place you right next to the toilet at the back of the plane,’ she told him.

He carried on smiling at her. ‘Nice to see you too again, Libby. Despite still feeling the effects from your earlier visit.’ He rubbed the top of his head and she felt a little sheepish about hitting him. ‘I still can’t believe your job is being nice to people all the time,’ he carried on.

‘Well, it’s not,’ she said, puffing out a sigh. ‘Not any more.’

It was one of her many failings. Always outspoken, she could barely keep any secrets to herself. Except the most dangerous ones.

Ethan’s smile quickly faded. ‘You lost your job?’ he asked, searching her eyes with his.

She shrugged her shoulders, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. ‘Just been made redundant, as of twenty-four hours ago,’ she told him, checking her watch.

The way he was searching her face, though, was making her uncomfortable, as if he knew how much pain she was carrying deep inside.

‘So what are you going to do now?’ he asked.

‘Keep calm and drink gin, of course,’ she told him before walking away.

Why on earth was she blushing? She never blushed.

She had made so many mistakes over her life, but getting married to him had been the biggest one. She hadn’t seen him for at least three years since he had left college and moved away with his work. After the disaster of the night of the prom, she had barely said two words to him, such was the level to which he had broken her heart.

She and Ethan had never recovered their friendship after the disastrous prom and they had lived separate lives until that stopover in Las Vegas for work. She had bumped into Ethan in front of the Bellagio fountains. She had been shocked to see him, but he was, as usual, relaxed and carefree Ethan.

Stunned by how affected she had been to see him, she had let him buy her a drink and the evening had progressed from there. For once, the conversation had been awkward and they had both ended up drinking far too many cocktails with far too little eaten to soak it all up. They had soon begun to relax and regain the back-and-forth banter that they had always had. At some point much later, many hours into the evening and after way too much alcohol, they had ended up in a wedding chapel.

She had woken up the following morning in Ethan’s hotel room, wearing a cheap silver ring on her third finger. A glance next to her had confirmed that not only was Ethan in the bed with her, but he too was wearing a wedding ring.

For a brief second, she had been thrilled. Then the memory of the prom had reminded her how much pain he had caused her. She had thought that she could trust him, but she knew better. It had just been a silly, reckless mistake, that was all.

Besides, she was certain, given Ethan’s long-declared hatred of marriage, that he would have regretted it and would not be able to bear to see his change of heart and regret in the cold light of day.

Embarrassed and severely hungover, she had silently got up to get dressed. Then she had slid the ring from her finger and left it on the bedside table before letting herself out of the hotel room without waking him.

The first time she had seen him after that had been a week later. They had been surrounded by friends and family in Cranfield for a birthday party and so neither of them had been able to mention that fateful night.

But what was there to say? She had left the wedding ring and the whole episode behind her and decided never to refer to it ever again. Ethan seemed to have got the message as he too had never mentioned it since. The marriage hadn’t been annulled as neither of them had drawn up the paperwork and asked for a signature, but as far as she was concerned, it was best left in the past, much like her close friendship with Ethan.

However, sometimes, late at night when she couldn’t settle her mind, she found herself wondering what on earth would have happened to their relationship had she not run out that morning? Had she been able to truly trust him, would they actually have managed to make a go of their marriage?

But it wasn’t to be. The prom had been a disaster. Their wedding even more so. Both had been colossal mistakes, which they both regretted. Or, at least, she assumed he did. In unguarded moments, she yearned for him. She missed their friendship. But he had moved on and she’d tried to do the same.

Her relationship with Ethan was better left in the past, wasn’t it?

8

Ethan headed back to the bar, enjoying the celebration regarding the successful inaugural journey of the steam engine. Everyone inside The Black Swan Inn had been rushing up to shake his hand, along with his dad and grandad’s. He had managed to snatch a few brief bits of conversation with his friends Joe and Nico whilst they stood at the bar with his brother. Meanwhile, Bob and Eddie had been relishing their success at a nearby table with a constant stream of well-wishers. Finally, when he had a moment free, Ethan joined them to sit down next to the roaring fire.