Christmas at Thistlecombe Cottage

Chapter 10

The day before the Winter Festival began in a flurry of activity for all the volunteers. Asher invited them all over to Thistlecombe Cottage for a well-deserved lunch he'd prepared himself.

After the walk from the village to the cottage, Maya and the others were welcomed with the delicious smell of a scrumptious meal. There was shepherd's pie, roast beef, assorted vegetables, pies from the patisserie, and a variety of other side dishes. It was warm and cozy in the cottage, and they were all excited to dig in.

"I'd like to make a toast to the wonderful tenants of Thistlecombe Cottage, Maya and Asher," Eudora said before they began their meal. "Without you, none of this would've been possible. Cheers to a wonderful festival tomorrow!"

Maya and Asher exchanged glances, and Maya had to hide her giddy giggle by taking a sip of her wine. It didn't take long for the pain of Nate's phone call the day before to disappear from her mind. Thistlecombe Village made sure of that. The place was beautiful, the people were lovely, Asher was amazing, and all of them together made for a wonderful Christmas. It wasn't the Christmas she had planned, and it was unlike any other Christmas she'd celebrated in the past, but she wouldn't have had it any other way. Because of Thistlecombe Village, Maya could live in the moment and forget about Nate, her ghost of Christmas past.

The table was buzzing with praise for the food but also with laughter and banter. Maya had been so caught up in the festivities that it took a while for her to notice a car parked right outside the cottage.

A woman got out of the car with fancy massive luggage. Maya immediately thought of the influencers she saw on Instagram. She had a fur coat and wore high heels, and a tiny dress peeked out from under the coat, barely covering her long legs. Her dirty-blond hair cascaded over her shoulders in waves meant to look effortless, but in truth it took time and effort to make them look that way. And she had a gorgeous tan that felt out of place in the snowy, cold, and dreary Cotswolds and more suited to a beautiful beach in The Bahamas.

Maya had never seen the woman before, but she was certain of who she was: Asher's past, very much in the present.

There was a sudden clatter from Asher's side of the table as the woman walked toward the cottage. He stood up hastily and hurried to the door, stepping out to meet his ex-girlfriend. Everyone at the dining table briefly took a break from the meal to watch what was happening. Maya and Ellie shared a look.

They watched as Asher helped the woman—Zoe, according to his previous stories—by taking her luggage and leading her to the cottage.

"Well, it's not a luxury villa, but it sure is quaint!" she exclaimed. She said the last word like it was a veiled insult.

Maya could tell Asher was just as shocked as the rest of them at this surprise arrival, but he tried his best not to show it. "Zoe, this is everybody. Everybody, this is Zoe. I'll get you a chair from the living room, and you can squeeze in and have lunch with us."

"Have a meal, dear, the drive must've been exhausting. And the food is great!"

"Oh, the drive was fine, thank you. And the food looks delicious." Again, she'd managed to say the last word like it was an insult instead of a compliment, like she was offended by how scrumptious the food looked.

Perhaps she was on some kind of post-Christmas diet.

"I'm really not hungry, so I think I'm going to take a nap in the bedroom for now."

"Of course, let me take you there." The way Asher turned into a bumbling mess around her was not a good look on him. Maya couldn't help but get annoyed at this version of Asher.

As Asher and Zoe stepped out of the kitchen, the buzz at the dining table started again.

"Is that . . . ?"

"Yes, it must be her."

"His ex."

"The one he was supposed to spend the holidays with."

"She's . . . different. Very different from you," Ellie said, turning to Maya. "And that's a good thing!"

Maya wasn't so sure.

The buzz quickly quieted down when Asher came back and took his seat at the table.

Mrs. Bramble was the only one who had the courage to ask him something. "Everything okay, dear?"

Asher was cutting into his roast beef, albeit not successfully. He seemed to be jabbing his knife and fork into the food on his plate and attempting to eat it, but it was obvious he was distracted. Still, Maya knew he would try his best not to show it. "Yes, it's fine. I just didn't know she was coming, so that was quite a bit of a surprise. But at least we have an extra hand for the festival."

"Oh, that's lovely, dear. She can join the winter walk tomorrow!" Mrs. Bramble suggested, much to Maya's chagrin. She could only nod absentmindedly.

Soon after the volunteers left the cottage to go about their own ways, completing some of their remaining tasks for the festival. Back in the cottage, Maya and Asher were doing the dishes.

"So, she's back." Maya tried her best to appear calm. "You must like that."

Asher still had that distracted look about him. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, it's nice. I mean, I thought I'd never see her again, but here she is now, so it's nice, I guess. You don't mind, do you? If she stays over?"

It wasn't like Maya was going to say that she actually did mind and that she'd prefer it if she left Thistlecombe Village and went back to The Bahamas. But Maya was at least thankful Asher was being considerate of her feelings on the matter.

Before Maya could say anything, Zoe walked into the kitchen. "Asher, is something wrong?"

"Oh, nothing wrong, Zoe."

She moved to stand in front of Maya and extender a hand to her. "Hi, I'm Zoe, Asher's girlfriend."

Maya had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. The audacity to actually still call herself his girlfriend—Maya had no patience for it.

"I was supposed to come here with Asher before Christmas, but things got complicated. But now I'm finally here, right where I belong! You don't mind another person staying in your cottage, do you? I mean, we really did book it for two, as you recall."

"Oh, Z, Maya doesn't own the cottage. She's . . . she's my roommate." Asher was quick to interject. "This is Maya. We've been sharing the cottage."

"Sharing the cottage?" Zoe repeated the words like they left a bad taste on her tongue.

Asher was quick to brush off her suspicion. "It was a booking error—long story."

"Don't worry, I stay on the couch," Maya clarified.

It took a while for Zoe to process the situation, but once she had done so, she seemed unfazed. "Is there room for one more person, then?" she asked in a sticky-sweet tone. This girl was the type that very few people said no to. Maya knew these girls. Zoe was the kind of girl she'd feared Nate would leave her for, and eventually he had.

"Maya?" Asher's voice brought her back from her thoughts. "Is it okay that Zoe stays here? We don't want to impose."

"You're not imposing at all. Please, enjoy your stay at Thistlecombe Cottage."

Maya walked out of the kitchen to head for her couch. Asher referring to himself and Zoe as "we" and "us" was slowly but surely breaking her heart.