A Villain for Christmas (The Holyoake Christmas Series, Book 2)

Climax of Act III

"H-how about Nana's cottage?" he offered to her in a hushed voice.

Billie asked herself at what point his older female relative had become less intimidating to her than her own - and nodded.

***

They found many more Holyoakes in the cottage. The storm had mostly affected the villages of Lower Woulds and Fleckney Bottom, which meant the presence of Fiona and Will and their children; Sam, Rhys' brother; his partner and Billie's boss, Yola; his children; and Clem and the girls who were still in Fleckney. Apparently, John Holyoake was on his way from London as well. It should have terrified Billie; but instead she let the whirlpool of their noisy and insistent care send her to a bubble bath, dress her into fresh pyjamas, feed her, and send her up for a nap. Dair took part in two of these four activities with her.

She woke up in the guest room, the spot on the bed next to her empty. Billie picked up her phone from the bedside table. She'd texted her Aunts' in the morning, on her way to the Holyoake cottage; and now she found seventeen missed calls from one or other of her relatives. Phee's text from around 6 o'clock in the morning explained a lot.

If you were planning to hide it, don't count on it. They KNOW. Your chart is full of Mars and Sun! And in the 7th house!!! Delia looked disgusted. Does it mean it was GOOD? ;)

Billie groaned. She scrolled through more messages, more or less with the same content. Then there seemed to be a break in everyone's attempts to reach Billie - and then she saw another text from her younger sister.

There's a PROBLEM. They found out a horrible fact about your Federico. Ask him about the Pinocchio's Oak!!! I'm so, so, SO sorry!!!

Billie stared at the screen - and then she scoffed and shoved the phone under her pillow.

What nonsense!

***

"Amore," his soft velvet baritone creeped into her half-sleeping hearing, and Billie smiled without opening her eyes. "Cara, I'm s-sorry to wake you up, but we n-need to talk."

Billie blindly felt about, grabbed whatever was the closest - that would be his sleeve, it seemed - and tugged. A quiet warm chuckle rumbled in his throat.

"If I lie down with you, we won't talk, polpetta."

Billie half-opened one eye and peeked. He chuckled again.

"Sei irresistibile, vero?" he purred and loomed over her.

That didn't require translation, did it? Billie decided that she was going to believe it. She quite fancied being irresistibile to him, as it turned out. Billie went for the already proven trick, hooked her finger to his collar, and led him to her lips.

Sadly, he stopped pretty quickly.

"Cara, w-we do n-need–" He made a frustrated noise in his throat. "N-need to talk."

Billie released his neck, and he sat up.

"I n-need to go back to Roma."

A pause stretched, and then Billie slowly said, "Alright," and sat up as well, her back against the headboard. "What do you mean by 'go back?' As in... completely?"

She was clearly missing something.

"The p-plan was to go back after C-christmas," he said, frowning. "I w-wanted to do as much as I c-could for Monte Cristo; get Julia into filming here; and–" He gave Billie a small fleeting smile. "And g-go on a c-couple of dates with you. B-but I'm contractually obliged to go back to Roma, to f-finish the p-previous film's post-production."

To gain a few seconds to find her footing and to hide her face, Billie turned away and rummaged on the side table, looking for her glasses.

"For how long?" she asked.

Years of practice with her Aunts made her sound convincingly nonchalant.

"S-six months at least."

Oh.

"M-maybe eight. M-my agent called, I n-need to fly back tomorrow morning. I'll be driving to L-london tonight." His gaze was intent on Billie's face. "Th-there's also an issue with m-my flat. I'm r-renovating it to sell."

Oh...

Even internal words were failing Billie. It's not that she'd had a particular idea of what their association would be like - but it surely wasn't a Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society sort! 

He'd hoped they'd had more time together, but now there was an emergency. People had long-distance relationships. Rome wasn't far. Nothing tragic happened. Since she'd had no prior knowledge of what was happening, nothing effectively changed. Why are you feeling so discombobulated, Sybil?

"So, how did you think it was going to go?" she asked, her tone flat. She was once again recalibrating her perspective. Seems to happen a lot when it comes to the man, innit? "Were you planning to set things in motion here and then leave for eight months? And then return back to film with Bondarenko; coming and going; and then do post-production again, for another eight months or so?"

It's funny that when they'd met this time around, she'd thought that his face was inexpressive. She had even questioned whether he was at all Italian, considering how subdued he'd behaved. Right now, she could read a whole cocktail of emotions in his eyes. Primarily, he looked worried. She shortly wondered if he suspected that she was angry and keeping herself under control. She wasn't.

Why would she be angry? It's not like she was part of a neat retirement package for him, along with a cushy business and probably one of the local overpriced cottages. 

Oh wait.

Also... oh! 

Billie had just understood the slip-up that Clem had had when they'd been here last time. He'd bought the Duck Pond cottage, hadn't he? Billie could bet her favourite bookplate self-inking stamp that the Holyoake library was there too, to match his overall new aesthetics: an idyllic countryside establishment as a workplace, unlimited horse riding included; and a bookish girlfriend.

OK, maybe angry a bit. Maybe, not a bit. Maybe a LOT. Lashings.

"Th-that would make most sense, vero?" he muttered.

Billie bristled. Her self-image made a full roundabout again: she was a woman of convenience, after all! Just as before, when she'd thought he needed her for work and to cure his stammer, she could see how she was a perfect match for his needs! She could herd animals and children at his education centre; manage a library and a media centre; and to top it all off, she could treat his insomnia! And she was local and had nowhere to go - so, eight months here, eight months there wouldn't matter!

Billie gathered lungfuls of air - when Dair sighed and said, "I kn-now it w-would be best, but... I h-hate it, cara. D-do you think you–"

Billie froze, a tirade ready to burst out of her. 

"C-can you just go with me now, amore? J-just... leave it all and go?"