Page 38 of Winter Magic on Railway Lane

‘It feels as if we’re flying,’ she said, her eyes sparkling with wonder as they sped along the tracks.

She looked relaxed for the first time that morning.

He smiled down at her, close enough to see the thickness of her eyelashes against her blue eyes.

She gave a start as they went past an old abandoned station. ‘What’s that?’ she shouted.

‘The old station at the far end of Cranley,’ he told her loudly.

‘It shut down the same time as our one in Cranfield,’ added Bob.

‘So why does it look in worse condition?’ asked Libby, with a frown. The tiny station office was looking very dilapidated and uncared for.

‘Because there wasn’t a family like ours living in it,’ said Ethan without thinking.

He gave a start. It was true, he realised. The station in Cranfield had been a warm and loving family home. There had been happy times, he reminded himself. If he searched long enough, he could recall opening his Christmas stocking with Ryan. Big family dinners, full of loved ones long since gone. But those happy memories were few and far between and the usual rows and arguments overcrowded them until he could barely remember anything but the daily arguments and tension.

He took a deep breath to rid himself of the past, but it was hard when Libby was standing so close to him. The sweet memory of holding her in the darkness the previous evening lingered in his consciousness, a strand of her pale long blonde hair on his jacket. He stood close to her all the way back, not really noticing the glorious views or even what Dodgy Del was saying in his excitement about the train.

All too soon, Bob slowed the train down until they were crawling past the old school and then along the platform, past the back gardens of the cottages.

With a hiss of steam and water, the steam engine finally ground to a halt.

‘That was amazing,’ said Del, the whites of his eyes gleaming in his pink, soot-covered face.

Ethan looked down at Libby, who was still standing close to him. He raised his eyebrows in question at her.

‘It was okay,’ she said, before breaking into a grin as she looked at Bob. ‘Better than okay, actually. It was wonderful.’

‘Thought you’d enjoy it, love,’ said Bob, smiling back at her.

They all clambered down onto the platform, a few interested people had come out of Platform 1 to view the vast steam engine as it had pulled up outside the coffee shop.

Along with them was Katy, holding a handbag and coat.

‘Good morning,’ she said to them all. ‘Libby, I believe these are yours.’

‘Thanks,’ muttered Libby, blushing.

‘Do you want a coffee and to tell me all about it?’ asked Katy in a pointed tone, flicking her eyes between Ethan and Libby.

‘Later,’ Libby told her. ‘Can I use your bathroom? I’ve got soot in my eyes.’

With that, she rushed off, leaving the rest of them on the platform.

Whilst Bob answered a few questions from the customers and Dodgy Del declared himself the deputy driver, eager to take all the credit, Katy wandered over to Ethan.

‘So, how did Libby end up on the train this morning? And why was her handbag and coat still abandoned on the platform?’ she asked.

‘I never kiss and tell,’ Ethan replied her, with a winning grin.

She shook her head, but he could tell she was smiling as she walked away.

He too was smiling. Were he and Libby closer after their unexpected trip along the railway tracks? Maybe, just maybe, he decided.

And that hope that they might become friends again was even more precious than the successful first run of the steam engine with the railway carriages.

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