Liv slept better than the previous night and was woken by the sound of Kacey either being strangled or hitting a particularly intense orgasm. Liv unkindly hoped it was the former. She was single and facing Christmas alone, but that wasn’t the biggest of her issues. She walked over to the window, pulled back her Campbell tartan curtains and looked out. It was exactly the same as the previous day – wall-to-wall snow. She puffed out a sigh. She hoped Robbie was right about the snowplough getting through, otherwise it looked like she was going to be stranded with Fraser Douglas for a bit longer. Although she had to admit she’d warmed to Effie and Dolly, so it wasn’t all bad, and the area was incredibly pretty even when it was covered in a few feet of snow and ice.
In the kitchen Effie and Fraser were preparing breakfast, so Liv mucked in where she was needed.
‘You okay?’ asked Fraser.
‘Yep, not been pillaged by Janet for my soul.’
‘Yet,’ said Fraser with a wink. ‘Almost like you’re settling in.’
‘I could certainly get used to the view from my room. It’s out of this world. I thought the scenery on the way up here was impressive – all hilly and green – but out there is spectacular.’
‘Trossachs,’ said Fraser.
How rude, thought Liv. She was about to argue with him when the door opened and Dolly came in on the scooter. ‘Slight problem,’ said Dolly. ‘There’s no sign of our guests.’
‘I hope they’ve all left,’ said Fraser stroking his beard like a Bond villain.
‘You’re not the greatest host given you want to be a big thing in the hospitality industry,’ said Liv.
Fraser blinked at her. ‘Who said anything about a big thing?’
Liv smirked at the innuendo and was pleased to see a little colour come to Fraser’s cheeks. ‘I understand you’re building up to a big launch. And you want to beat your… um… rival restaurant.’ She pointed like she knew where Lizzie and Callum’s place was although she hadn’t a clue about the geography of where she was. In her head there was no north, south, east or west; only abandoned car, mad cow, loch or mountains.
‘It is quite a big thing,’ said Effie and Liv failed to hide her grin.
‘Could you have this discussion later?’ asked Dolly drawing everyone’s attention. ‘I think the guests have all slept in and as we didn’t give them a time for breakfast we had better tell them that it’s almost ready.’
They all looked at each other, hoping one of the others was going to be the first to volunteer. Eventually all eyes were on Liv. ‘Fine. I’ll get everyone up.’
The others were visibly relieved. Liv pulled back her shoulders and headed out of the kitchen. ‘Wish me luck.’ There was no reply. As she walked up the hallway she was met by a sound she could only imagine was the result of a cat playing a recorder out of its bum. There was a brief interlude when the front door slammed open and the awful noise restarted, but now much louder and shriller. Liv stuck her fingers in her ears and approached with caution to find a red-faced Robbie puffing into bagpipes in the entrance lobby. She waved at him to stop.
‘Was it “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go”? Am I right?’ asked Liv.
Robbie’s brow furrowed. ‘It was “Scotland the Brave”.’
Liv snapped her fingers. ‘Shucks, that was going to be my second guess. Come properly inside and let’s hear it again,’ she said, immediately ramming her fingers in her ears. Robbie seemed confused by the gesture but he puffed up his cheeks and with a waggle of his arm he started playing again. Liv reversed into the hallway. From a glance over her shoulder she could see Effie and the others coming from the kitchen.
Doors began opening above her.
A dishevelled and confused-looking Kacey tiptoed out of her room with her hands over her ears, looking concerned. ‘Is that the fire alarm?’
Shanie came marching out of her bedroom. ‘What the actual f—’
‘Okay, you can stop now, Robbie. Thank you.’ Liv looked up to the top of the stairs. ‘Breakfast is being served shortly in the dining room.’ She turned around to face Fraser, Effie and Dolly. She waved an arm towards the angry-looking guests. ‘Job done.’
Effie started an enthusiastic round of applause. Nobody joined in but Robbie did look chuffed at the gesture as he pulled his shoulders back a little and almost dropped the bagpipes, making them let out a sad, elongated final note. Liv walked proudly back to the kitchen.
Breakfast service was quite straightforward and bar the grumbles about being woken by bagpipes, the guests seemed okay. Even Shanie seemed mollified when Effie explained that the royal family were woken daily by a piper when they stayed at Balmoral. Robbie came in as they were clearing away. Liv had an armful of plates.
‘I’m afraid I’ve just received a call. The snowplough has broken down so we’re looking at a further day’s delay.’ There were huffs and protests from everyone, including Liv who almost dropped the plates. This was not the news she wanted to hear. ‘But the good news is that I have logged you all on the waiting list for your vehicles to be recovered.’
‘Waiting list?’ queried Liv.
‘Yes, there’s not many companies with the right equipment out this way and they’re all incredibly busy. Lots of abandoned cars on the A roads.’
Once the tables were cleared Liv was having a consolation cup of tea in the kitchen with Robbie, who was munching on a morning roll that Effie had made him. ‘Thanks for getting us on the list. When do you think we’ll get out of here?’
Robbie wobbled his head. ‘Late tomorrow, best case. If not the following morning.’
It was hard not to feel a bit down about it. She was missing home. Maybe if she’d been stranded somewhere in the middle of summer it might have been different, but it was the run-up to Christmas and she was virtually confined to an old crumbling hotel with complaining guests and the man who’d ghosted her. It was very different to what she’d hoped she’d be doing. She’d been looking forward to a break from work. She’d planned a trip to a Christmas market in Chester and some evening shopping with her sister. Plus she had lots of plans for wrapping presents in front of cheesy festive films with a large glass of knock-off Baileys from one of the cheap supermarkets, because who could really tell once it was poured over ice cubes?
The kitchen door swung open and Effie bounded in. ‘Are you coming with me and Fraser to get this tree then?’
‘I don’t think it’ll take three of us to choose a Christmas tree,’ said Liv.
‘No but it will to chop it down and drag it back,’ said Effie cheerfully. ‘You’re welcome to join us too, Robbie.’
‘I’m on call,’ he said importantly. ‘But thanks for the offer.’
‘No worries,’ said Effie before disappearing.
The thought of venturing out in the cold yet again sent a seismic shiver through Liv. She wasn’t sure she’d fully defrosted from yesterday’s expedition. Liv dragged herself to her feet.
‘Have fun,’ said Robbie in a far too jolly tone.
‘Have the emergency services on standby,’ said Liv and she left a worried-looking Robbie sipping his tea.
*
Liv went to use the telephone on reception. Now she officially had her memory back she could at least openly call home.
‘Hello?’
Liv had not been expecting her sister’s voice. ‘Hey, Charlotte, how are you?’
‘What the hell are you playing at? I need my car back. And Mum is worried sick.’
‘I miss you too. There’s been like a gazillion feet of snow in the last couple of days, the roads are impassable and the snowplough is broken so I’m stuck here.’
‘Is it awful?’ came her mum’s voice. ‘Make yourself useful. Don’t be the first one to be eaten.’
Liv rolled her eyes even though she was on the phone. ‘I’m not in a film, Mum. Nobody needs to eat anyone. Actually the food is excellent. I just can’t leave for a bit longer.’
Fraser gave her a look as he strode past. He was difficult to read. ‘Sorry, I need to go and cut down a Christmas tree, but I’m fine.’
‘Just get my car back safe,’ said Charlotte.
‘Love you too. Bye.’
Liv went through to the boot room and put on the now familiar borrowed coat and wellies before sullenly following the others outside. Effie was almost skipping and Fraser was carrying a large rucksack on his back like he was going camping. The wind had whipped up and it was snowing again. ‘Come on, seriously?’
‘It’s a wee bit oorlich,’ said Fraser.
‘It’s a wee bit nothing. It’s a whole huge great snowy… Nobody else is bothered, are they?’ She looked at the other two who simply pulled on their hoods, shrugged and marched out into the weather. ‘They’re all blinking nuts,’ she said pulling the door closed behind her as she followed them out into the cold. They passed Ginger who today was listening to Alexander Armstrong – she clearly had varied taste. It didn’t seem quite as far to the woodland, but once there time seemed to drag as the first section was full of ridiculously large trees, so they had to keep walking.
‘We could have a Griswold Christmas and get this one,’ said Liv stopping and pointing at one of the monster trees. Effie and Fraser viewed her with blank faces. ‘From the film,’ she added. They both shook their heads. ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation?’ More shaking. ‘Blimey, I might as well be at the North Pole.’
‘Hey, don’t disrespect my homeland just because I’ve not watched some stupid cult English film,’ snapped Fraser.
‘I’m not disrespecting anything. I’m sure it’s lovely here when it’s not minus twelve and trying to bury me alive in snow. But who hasn’t heard of that film?’ Effie unhelpfully put her hand up. ‘Apart from you two, hardly anyone, because it’s massively famous and for your information it’s an American film.’ Fraser’s snowy eyebrow twitched. ‘Now you know it’s American you might even enjoy it.’ She went to walk away.
‘What do you mean by that?’
Liv turned to look but the ruddy hood stayed still and she ended up looking inside it, which was infuriating. She had to turn around an almost full circle to face Fraser again. ‘You hate the English.’
He looked taken aback but that might have been because she was twirling around like a Scottish dancer. ‘I’ve never said that. It’s not personal. It’s in our history.’ He clenched his jaw.
‘That has nothing to do with me. No ancestor of mine has ever picked up a long spiky pole, let alone marched all the way up the sodding country with it to prod one of your family tree in the arse. You can’t take it out on every English person. You had no right to—’ A little voice in her head willed her not to show her hand now. She still needed somewhere to stay. This was not the right time to bring up the ghosting, although the fire in her gut said otherwise. Liv took a breath. ‘You didn’t need to be mean to me. It is not my problem that your ex-girlfriend turned out to be a cheat. I’m not related to her either!’
Liv was so cross she turned around and stomped off, almost walking straight into a large tree trunk. She skirted around it and carried on tramping ahead, hoping very much that the others were following her because she really didn’t want to get lost and freeze to death like poor old Aunt Tilda with too many greats to mention.
A few paces deeper into the woods, she was aware that Fraser was walking alongside her. ‘It was hundreds of years of persecution—’ Liv shot him daggers. ‘But I get your point. I’m glad this one’s not on the end of a pike.’ She carried on walking. ‘That was a joke. Point of a pike. Probably not a good joke if it needs signposting.’ They walked along in time and Liv had to slow her pace because the anger that was fuelling her was abating and the snow made it hard going, even if there was less under the trees. ‘Sorry,’ added Fraser.
Liv stopped and looked back. Effie was a few metres behind them still checking trees for their suitability. ‘Sorry for what?’ For a moment she wondered if he was going to confess all.
‘I’m sorry that I made you feel that I was pissed off at you because you were English.’
‘If I feel?’ She stared him down. That was not an apology if he was putting it back on her.
‘Okay. I was pissed off,’ said Fraser. ‘But I was pissed off with everyone. You sort of took the brunt of it. I don’t know why. Maybe because you turned up out of the blue and stirred up all these feelings. Everything. You stirred everything up.’ He glanced down at his wellies before looking her in the eye. ‘I’m sorry. Can I stop saying sorry now?’ Those Nordic blue eyes held her gaze as snowflakes caught in his eyelashes.
‘You can.’ Now she felt bad. ‘I’m sorry if I’ve overreacted. It’s been a tense time with… everything.’ They stared at each other for a moment longer than was comfortable. The tension was broken by a large snowball whizzing between the two of them. They turned to see another one coming and Liv just managed to dodge out of the way. Fraser balled up some snow and hurled it back at Effie, who squealed and ran off. The tension broken they put the quarrel behind them and began looking properly for a suitable tree.
‘I think this one,’ called Effie and they went to see.
‘Nice tree but it’s a bit too big,’ said Fraser.
Liv was craning her neck to try to see the top of it as snow was blown into her face, making her cheeks sting. Liv had her head so far back she started to topple. She staggered a bit before strong arms grabbed her and kept her upright.
‘You okay?’ asked Fraser looking concerned.
‘She does that,’ said Effie. ‘She’s just checking that gravity still works.’ She nodded wisely.
Fraser was still waiting for a reply. ‘I’m fine thanks,’ said Liv. She was glad she’d not fallen over and there was something lovely about being held by strong arms. Self-consciously Liv pulled herself free.
‘This one?’ shouted Effie pointing at another fir tree.
‘I bloody well hope so,’ said Liv and a smile tweaked at Fraser’s lips.
‘That’s perfect, Effie. Let’s chop it down,’ he said.
Liv was relieved but she had to admit the tiny tree was somewhat of a disappointment, so dwarfed by all its fellow firs, but she was far too cold to argue.
Chopping the tree down was not like Liv had seen it in the films. Out of the rucksack Fraser pulled another horror film staple, the chainsaw, and proceeded to effortlessly cut wedges out of the tree from alternating sides. She and Effie stood well back until Fraser put his boot against it and pushed it over. He chiselled little grooves in the trunk before putting the chainsaw away and tying ropes around the bottom, which held firm in the cut ridges. They each took a rope and set off for the hotel.
Trudging through the snow with thoughts of a nice hot drink in her head, Liv had that sense that someone was watching her. If it was Janet she was so cold she was almost at the point of being happy to surrender her soul. But she glanced across the bushy branches to see Fraser looking at her, and for the first time there was no air of contempt in his gaze. He smiled, which caught Liv by surprise, and she instantly tripped over and face-planted in the snow.