Hadley came to sit down beside her, opening her parcel and lifting out a T-shirt with Mrs Elf scrawled across it in bright red letters. ‘My mother kills me,’ Hadley said, shaking her head and pointing to her fiancé seated across the room, who held up a matching Mr Elf T-shirt.
‘Do your parents do this every year?’ Cash asked after she picked up her drink and took a large sip.
‘Yep,’ Hadley said with a tolerant smile. ‘Bless their cotton socks.’
‘I feel really bad that I didn’t bring them anything. I didn’t know they’d get me something.’
‘Don’t feel bad, Mum shops all year to find these silly presents. They’re only supposed to be a bit of fun. She gets a kick out of it.’
Cash noticed Linc wearing a baseball hat with a long straw attached to the side, and Beer hat scrawled across it.
After all the presents had been delivered, Mr and Mrs Claus left the building and everyone was free to mingle once more.
Hadley dragged her fiancé across and introduced him, and Cash had a brief moment of gaping silence. She knew Hadley was a celebrity of sorts, being that she regularly featured on the news, and she knew her husband-to-be hosted his own nightly current affairs program, but she hadn’t been prepared to actually meet someone famous face to face. Thankfully she shook herself and snapped out of it; after all, it was a little hard to take someone seriously when they were wearing a Mr Elf T-shirt, even if they looked less amused by it than everyone else was.
‘Please tell me I don’t have to wear this tomorrow?’ he whispered in a low voice to Hadley.
‘Just humour them. You only have to wear it in the morning.’
‘It’s nice to meet you, Mitch,’ Cash said, hoping this wasn’t going to turn into a mini domestic with her stuck in the middle.
‘Yes, you too. Cash, was it?’
‘Yes. I’m the fill-in neighbour … sort of …’
‘I see.’
‘Cash’s the beautician we’re using for the wedding.’
‘Oh,’ he said as something obviously registered. ‘Great. I guess I’ll be seeing you soon then,’ he said with a quick grin as his mobile went off and he excused himself to answer it.
‘He’s a little distracted,’ Hadley apologised with a dismissive hand as he disappeared from the room without a backward glance. ‘Work.’
‘I imagine it’s hard to escape it when you’re so well known.’
‘Anyway,’ Hadley smiled brightly, ‘I’ve been meaning to ask where you went to the other night. I looked everywhere for you at the pub and couldn’t find you … or my brother, oddly enough.’
Cash flashed a warning glance at the other woman as she discreetly looked around to make sure no one else was listening. ‘I saw you were busy so I decided to go home early. I was pretty tired.’
‘Oh, of course,’ Hadley gushed with a wink. ‘I can only imagine how tired you were.’
‘I think I might head outside, it’s a bit warm in here,’ Cash said, ignoring the devilish chuckle from the woman beside her.
It was cooler outside, not by much but at least there was fresh air. Cash headed towards the railing and jumped slightly as a low voice greeted her from nearby.
‘How you been?’ Griff asked, leaning forward as he cradled his beer in his hand and watched her through slightly hooded eyes.
‘Busy. I’ve been booked out.’
‘That’s good.’
Cash nodded, looking anywhere but at Griff. Stop acting guilty. You’ve done nothing wrong. ‘How’ve you been?’
‘Yeah. Busy. Been flat out tryin’ to get the last of the wheat harvested. And the wedding stuff,’ he added with a pained expression. ‘That’s pretty full on.’
‘I can imagine,’ she smiled at him, but it wavered slightly when she saw his eyes dart away from hers to look down at his beer. ‘Is that the woman from the pub that you were sitting with earlier?’
He glanced up at that and she saw a flicker of irritation cross his face. ‘Yeah. Ashley.’
‘She seems nice,’ Cash said, wishing this wasn’t so awkward.
‘She is. What about you? Seein’ anyone?’
‘What?’ She felt jumpy all of a sudden, surprised by his question.
‘Haven’t seen you around much lately.’
‘Like I said, it’s been crazy with pre-Christmas bookings.’
‘Apparently you’ve been having affairs with just about everyone in town,’ he said drolly.
‘What?’
‘Every time I go into town I hear a different version of who you’ve been seen out with.’
‘Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m pretty sure they’ve got the wrong person.’
‘I heard you were flirting with Benny Rogerson the other day.’
‘Who on earth is Benny Rogerson?’ Cash asked, bewildered.
‘The guy who works at the petrol station.’
‘The petrol … oh, please,’ she scoffed. ‘We talked about the weather!’
Griff gave a half-grin and shrugged. ‘That counts as chattin’ someone up out here.’
Cash felt the previous tension slip away and was relieved to see him smile. ‘Well, in that case, I guess I have been flirting with pretty much everyone in town,’ she told him dryly. ‘Seriously? Do people not have anything better to do than create gossip?’
‘Nope. That counts as most of our entertainment.’ Griff gave a choked kind of laugh at her shocked look, before taking a hurried sip of his beer, making her eyes narrow suspiciously.
‘Please tell me you didn’t believe any of that?’
‘What? Nah, of course not,’ he said but didn’t look her in the eye.
‘I’d like to know how I’ve found the time to go through every man in town when I can barely find enough time to go shopping and buy food.’
‘That’s what happens around here. You’re a pretty big deal, being new and all. People talk.’
Cash winced. ‘Yeah, well, I wish they’d find something else to talk about.’
‘You just have to wait until the next big scandal breaks out.’
‘Or the wedding of the century,’ Hadley put in as she came over, having clearly been eavesdropping. ‘Don’t worry, they’ll forget all about you once the wedding gets closer. They’ll be no doubt expecting me to do a runner at the altar.’
‘They couldn’t just be happy that you’re getting married?’ Cash still couldn’t get used to strangers finding her life so fascinating that they enjoyed talking about it to one another.
‘Where’s the fun in that?’ Hadley said, sending her a sarcastic look. ‘Don’t worry about it, it’ll pass.’
Another tray of eggnog came around and Cash reached for one with a smile. It really was the most delicious drink she’d ever tasted.
‘Go steady on those things, they have a tendency to sneak up on you,’ Griff warned as he eyed her downing the drink.
‘They’re delicious,’ she said, waving off his concern. If he knew how much she and the other resort workers used to drink on the islands, he’d be horrified. Linc wouldn’t. Linc would probably have been right there beside her, back in the day, but poor Griff wouldn’t be too amused with a girlfriend who held the record for the most shots drunk in a night. It really was a shame there was no spark between them, she mused as she studied Griff now. She just couldn’t understand it. He was a good-looking guy. He was kind and polite. He was perfect … perfectly wrong for her, she thought with a silent sigh. Then again, she corrected as her eyes fell upon his brother, Linc was perfectly wrong for her too, but in completely opposite ways. Everything was so damn confusing. Why couldn’t it be simple just this once?
‘More eggnog anyone?’ Gran asked.
‘Yes, please!’
‘Ah, maybe you should ease up on those, Cash,’ Griff cautioned, lifting an eyebrow at her as she frowned across at him.
‘I’ve had,’ her frown deepened as she tried to remember how many glasses she’d already had, before shaking her head and having to stop when everything kept moving a little. ‘I haven’t had that many,’ she finally said, giving up trying to count. There was no way she could be drunk on the handful she’d already had. She gave Griff a sharp eyebrow lift just to drive home her point, but from the dubious look on his face, she wasn’t altogether sure her eyebrows were cooperating the way they were supposed to.
‘Griff, you still okay to drive me home? I’m actually not feeling well. I think it was something in that eggnog.’
Cash turned to look at the newcomer to the conversation, noting it was Ashley.
‘Ah, sure,’ Griff said. ‘You want to leave now?’
‘Yes,’ she said curtly as she forced a smile at Cash.
‘I can drop you off at home on the way, Cash, if you like,’ Griff suggested, looking unamused as Cash tossed back another glass of eggnog.
‘No, that’s all right, Griff. You two go ahead.’ She was surprised by Griff’s offer of a lift, and as tempting as it would be to flirt a little with him just to mess with the other woman, Cash couldn’t do that to Griff. She couldn’t send out mixed signals to him and risk hurting him. It wasn’t fair. She may be inexplicably tipsy, but she could still read the flashing warning signs from Ashley, who had slipped an arm around his waist.
She watched them walk across to say goodnight to everyone, and Cash inwardly shook her head. Everything would have been so much easier if she’d been the kind of girl who could fall in love with Griffin Callahan and live out here forever, happily ever after.