Christmas at The Heartbreak Cafe (Lakeview Christmas Novel) (Lakeview Contemporary Romance Book 7) Read online

  She enjoyed being home once again and the freedom and relative anonymity that came with small town life. It was all Ruth could do to keep from bursting with happiness as she took pin tight corners and rolled her windows down to feel the crisp and clean wintry air on her face and hair.

  Luckily for her, the lack of a major police presence and complete absence of photographers made it easy for her to indulge in her vice without much care or worry. One time she’d been pulled over for speeding on the road to Dublin, and the cop let her go once he recognised her as the glamorous star of the popular US TV show Glamazons.

  But that was a couple of years ago, and these days Ruth was no longer quite as famous or indeed glamorous.

  She slowed the car as the outskirts of the village loomed, houses grew closer together and she neared the old secondary school.

  Just driving past, she was flooded with memories of her former Lakeview school days. She remembered her very first dramatic solo, a musical piece in Latin. Her singing received a standing ovation and requests that she perform at village weddings and funerals for years to come. And then there was her first play. As a mere second-year, she had landed the lead role in Evita. It was challenging at first as she struggled to learn all of the songs and cues, but she would never forget the crowd rising to their feet in applause as she hit the final big note in “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.”

  Then of course, she could never forget the day she met Charlie Mellon.

  She remembered how he sauntered past her in the school’s hallway. She was surrounded by her gaggle of friends—a group that never left her side. Older and devastatingly handsome, with a leather jacket and a confident smile, Ruth was immediately smitten and determined to make him hers.

  A few days later, she found him standing outside a classroom waiting for the bell to ring. Taking a deep breath in, she casually strolled up to him, flashed her most radiant smile, and asked if he could help her with her Maths homework. “It would be such a help,” she practically begged. “I can’t seem to get through this by myself.”

  He just stared at her for several seconds, studying her face with such a quizzical look.

  He offered his hand to her—a formality so rare in school boys that reminded her of old romance movies. Ruth practically swooned. As they made plans for their study sessions, he never once took his eyes off of her. Unlike the rest of the boys who couldn’t ever dare to look her in the eye, his unassuming confidence made her feel shy again. Her face reddened, her palms sweat, and her heart raced.

  They spent the next few months studying together without any romantic overtures. Sometimes Ruth would lean into him as she turned the page, but he never returned the affection. Only once did he touch her hand as they both grabbed for a pencil at the same time.

  Ruth was about to give up on Charlie ever making a move until their final week before the Christmas break. It was a few short days away from the holidays and Ruth was becoming more and more anxious. As she went to meet him in the secluded study area of the town’s library, she braced herself for another session of serious Charlie. But he wasn’t at their usual table. Instead, a handwritten note was left on the chair:

  Ruth,

  I THOUGHT WE COULD HAVE A CHANGE OF PACE FOR TODAY. I’M SICK OF THE LIBRARY. MEET ME AT ELLA’S CAFÉ WHEN YOU GET THIS. FOOD’S ON ME.

  — CHARLIE.

  She grabbed her schoolbag and ran through the town square onto Main Street towards the café, The Heartbreak Cafe some of the older girls called it. Hopefully nothing like heartbreak awaited Ruth there today.

  Through the window, she could see Charlie sitting at the granite counter, chatting casually with the owner, Ella. She strolled in confidently and took a seat next to him, waving a friendly hello to Ella, who smiled knowingly and made herself scarce.

  “Well, this is a lovely change from the library,’ Ruth smiled. ‘What made you think of this?”

  “I just felt like something sweet. Ella makes the best muffins in the universe. Have you tried them?”

  “No, believe it or not I’ve actually have never been here before. It’s really cool though.” She studied the olde-worlde decor. It wasn’t exactly her style, but it had a real charm complete with cosy details. The wall’s pink and green accents reminded her of the movie sets for technicolor musicals. The mix matched china teacups were even out of date in a way that was comforting. It was almost like she had stepped into her grandmother’s front room.

  “I’ll order you something. How about tea, a muffin, and a piece of Twix cake? My mate, Colm works here at weekends, and he has some secret recipe he’s been bugging us all about. Ella finally let him sell it, so it must be good.”

  Ruth nodded in agreement and Charlie casually rattled off the order to Ella. Without much time to change the subject, the café owner was back again with two muffins from the back As she placed them down in front of them, she winked at Ruth as if she knew what was going on. Ruth blushed for the second time in her life.

  In the middle of sips and bites, Charlie broke the silence, “So, I don’t think you really need to cram anymore Maths. You’re going to do fine on the test.”

  “Easy for you to say. You know it all. I’ve never met someone as brilliant as you are. You should do something like programme a space launch. The world needs more of you.”

  “Nothing that elaborate. I want to be a mechanic actually. I love figuring out how things work.”

  “A mechanic? That’s amazing.” Ruth flirtatiously sipped her coffee all while keeping her eyes locked on his, thought she privately thought that he was aiming a little low. A boring old mechanic when he could easily some kind of high-ranking engineer in Dublin or London even.

  When she suggested as much, he smiled. “Well, as much as the money might be nice, I’ll probably just be a stay here in Lakeview. Nothing too glamorous like you’ll have in mind for yourself.”

  “Like I have in mind?”

  “Yeah, I’m imagining you in New York—a big Broadway star or something. Give it ten years and your name will be everywhere.”

  Ruth smiled at this. It wasn’t hard for anyone to guess that she had her eyes on something bigger and brighter than Lakeview, yet no one ever said it so confidently to her.

  “Yes. I want to be a star. Doing what I’m not sure. But I plan on having my name in lights somehow. Maybe an Oscar or a Grammy, even.” She grinned from ear to ear.

  “Speaking of which, I have a gift for you. I figured that since we have seen each other twice a week for the last couple of months, I should get you something for Christmas. Open it.”

  He handed her a flat gift box wrapped in red tissue and a white bow. Her name was neatly printed on a tag. Ruth’s heart skipped a beat as she gently tore the paper. She didn’t want to seem too eager. As she opened the box, she began to tear up. Inside was a framed piece of sheet music. It was the score to “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.”

  “Last year, I saw you in the play. Your voice was beautiful. I had never heard anything like that in my entire life.” He stared at her with his grey piercing eyes waiting for a response, but all Ruth could do was to just gently rub her hands on the gold, metal frame. Tears fell onto the glass.

  Before she knew it, she had stood up, reached up towards Charlie Mellon’s face, and kissed him. It was soft and gentle, but her mouth lingered on his until he wrapped his arm around her waist and his other around the back of her head. The café’s stereo played the old Dean Martin Christmas hit, “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.”

  IT WAS Charlie and Ruth’s first kiss, but it certainly wouldn’t be their last. They were together for the remainder of their time in secondary school and afterwards. Then afterwards he went to work in his family’s car dealership, and before long Ruth was bound for Dublin for an audition for a soap opera produced by the Irish TV station. With a heavy heart they said their goodbyes, and promised in earnest to keep in touch.

  Twelve years later, and Ruth could still feel the pain of those final moments t
ogether. A first love was always the hardest to let go of, but luckily for Ruth, she got a second chance. While Charlie remained in Lakeview eventually growing the dealership and taking over, Ruth had grown in the soap opera world and moved to LA full time.

  After a few bit parts in movies, she became a regular star in Glamazons. But after a brief ill-advised affair with her co-star Troy, she found out she was pregnant and returned home to figure out what to do next.

  Despite her problems, she and Charlie managed to reunite and when little Scarlett was born a few months later, Charlie was by Ruth’s side. Troy had refused to visit or even acknowledge the birth of his daughter, whereas Charlie jumped in and assisted Ruth with the first few weeks of feedings, nappy changes, and bath times. At this point she had quit LA and moved back to Lakeview. Life, it seemed had other, more important plans for her.

  Scarlett had just turned twelve months when Charlie proposed. She was already walking and that night she occasionally stopped, looked at Charlie, and stumbled into his arms for a hug or a quick snuggle before she was back at it again. After several moments of this, Charlie took her aside, and whispered something in her ear. She toddled into the kitchen where Ruth was reading over a script and tugged at her hand.

  “What is it sweetie?” Ruth asked following her daughter into the living room. Charlie had moved off of the couch and onto his knee. In his hands were two rings. One was made from candy and the other was a diamond that shone so bright it glimmered from several feet away.

  “Ruth and Scarlett—I cannot imagine my life without the two of you. I need you both home with me here in Lakeview. Will you two marry me?” Little Scarlett held her mother’s hand, looking up at her for permission to go and take the sweet.

  “Oh my goodness, YES!” Ruth squealed as she ran into Charlie’s arms and Scarlett followed right behind her, grabbing the sweet as she hugged them both.

  NOW, as Ruth pulled into the Lakeside parking area near the Heartbreak Café, she took a moment to think about how different her life was now. No longer was she living in a swanky LA townhouse or hobnobbing with Hollywood celebrities. She rarely had signed one autograph since moving in with Charlie to his house just outside the village. But she was happy—she truly was.

  Except for one little problem.

  Ruth walked into the café and spotted her. Sitting at the counter chatting with Ella was a woman dressed in black from head to toe. Her hair was piled into a neat, old fashioned bun at the top of her head, and she sipped her tea with her pinky finger out as if she were way more important than she was. Charlie’s mother, Ita.

  Ruth gritted her teeth. She was not going to let this woman ruin her much needed morning latte. She walked in confidently, strolled to a table on the other side of the room, and faced away from her. Her face flushed in annoyance as she could feel Ita staring daggers at her back.

  Ella using a cane, slowly walked to her table, “Ruth, love! What can I get you?”

  “Oh Ella! I heard about your ankle. You poor thing. Why aren’t you sitting in the back resting and letting Colm take over?”

  “Too much to do! And it’s only a sprain. I’ll be back at it in a week or two. Did you hear about my bringing back the old Christmas party? You, Charlie, and Scarlett will come, yes?”

  “A Christmas party! Here in Lakeview? We will certainly be there, Ella. Is there anything I can do to help you prepare?”

  “Actually now that you say it, I am in need of a singer. A party wouldn’t be any good without a singsong. And everyone in Lakeview just loves to hear you sing. You’d just need to do some Christmas favourites and a few ballads.”

  “Ha, not a chance,” Ita piped up from her seat at the counter. “It wouldn’t be good enough for Ms. Hollywood unless you plan on inviting the paparazzi and maybe Elvis. Isn’t that right, Ruth dear?”

  Ruth shuttered in embarrassment and anger. She was used to her mother-in-law’s snide comments about her former life as a TV star, but it stung nonetheless. She knew that Ita was furious that Charlie choose to marry her and adopt Scarlett instead of finding his own, baggage-free wife here in town. Never mind that Charlie was Scarlett’s father through and through. To Ita, Ruth was just some tramp that trapped her beloved son into raising a child that was not his.

  “Ella, I would be honoured,” she smiled. When is the party?”

  “On the evening of December 22, just in time for Christmas. We’ll have a big celebration; food, mulled wine, Santa and hopefully carriage rides around the lake for the kids if Daniel can arrange it, so please bring little Scarlett along too.”

  “I’ll be there, I promise. But in the meantime,” she smiled apologetically. “I’m starving and in a bit of a rush. I have to pick up Scarlett from creche in a half hour for a playdate. Can I get a latte and a pain au chocolat to take away?”

  “Certainly, pet.” Ella hobbled off, leaving Ita and Ruth to both stew in their collective corners of the café.

  Maybe Ruth agreeing to take part in something like this party might help Ita see that she loved Charlie and had every intention of staying in Lakeview, and then in turn might cause her to treat Scarlett as her granddaughter instead of a complete stranger. Ruth knew it really hurt Charlie that his mother still wouldn't acknowledge Ruth and Scarlett as family, even after all this time.

  She sighed. At this point, she wasn't sure how anything could repair their relationship.

  Taking out her Prada purse to pay for the food, her eyes rested on the Hollywood script in her bag that had arrived from her agent only that morning.

  The fact that Ruth was of late considering a return to work in Tinseltown, certainly wouldn’t improve matters.

  4

  Heidi Clancy was running late. After spending a very pleasant morning in Dublin getting her hair and nails done, she was stuck behind the slow moving trucks of the old timber yard just outside the village.

  Currently, her car, a brand new black BMW, was idling behind a large red semi carrying at least a dozen of unruly pine trunks. It took everything in Heidi’s power not to honk her horn, but she resisted out of fear of breaking her nails.

  Behind her outward impatience was a smidgen of satisfaction though. While being late was always a social sin, being late to an occasion like the Lakeview Mum’s Club did have its benefits. Heidi knew that her late entrance to Cynthia Roland’s house, in which they were holding today’s gathering, would be fawned over, with the crowd of women asking her about traffic and her morning.

  Everyone would rise to make a fuss of her gorgeous daughter Amelia, grab her box of ‘homemade’ cupcakes, and remark at her brand new DVF coat. Attention would be all hers and Heidi certainly knew how to milk it.

  But most importantly, her absence would have everyone talking. The girls couldn’t resist an opportunity to gossip about the village’s wealthiest woman.

  Well, maybe the second richest woman in Lakeview. Ever since that soap star moved back home a few years back, it was all that the town’s gossip crowd could chat about. If they were not whispering about Ruth Seymour’s scandalous affair with her co star, they were discussing how much her Los Angeles townhouse must have sold for.

  Heidi did not mind the competition one bit. It gave her an excuse to step up her game. She had already laid out plans to redecorate the living room of their palatial home on the Dublin Road, and add on separate living quarters for their live-in nanny.

  Of course her bank manager husband Paul certainly could also not resist her when she asked to borrow his credit card for a day at the salon because hers was already maxed-out. Whatever Heidi wanted, Heidi got, and she was never afraid to ask for more.

  Finally past the literal log jam of timber trucks, Heidi put her pedal to the floor. She still had to pop by the house to pick up little Amelia and the nanny, and she also had to make it to Ella’s Cafe to pick up some of Colm’s special cupcakes. She had to hurry if she wanted to make a fashionably late entrance and avoid being outright rude.

  Luckily for her, Miriam and Ame
lia were already waiting for her in the porch. Miriam had a pained look on her face that Heidi shrugged off with a couple of insincere apologies and promises to let her know when she would be late in the future. Amelia, on the other hand, was as pleasant as ever. At only two years, she had a glow and a smile that never failed to put a smile on Heidi’s face. As expected, she was a natural at motherhood and she found it hard to believe that after all the related fuss of her sister Cara’s wedding, whereupon a heavily pregnant Heidi had to travel to St Lucia to watch her sister walk down the aisle, that she’d still managed to retain a level head and good spirits for the remainder of her pregnancy.

  Though in truth, she and her sister had a much better relationship these days, and while Heidi and her sister-in-law Kim still like to engage in an occasional war of words, they too had managed a truce of sorts, made easier by the fact Amelia and Kim’s son Jago, were the same age.

  With Miriam in the back of the car entertaining Amelia, Heidi was soon back on the road. As she parked directly onto double yellow lines directly outside Ella’s café (her husband owned the building so she was entitled), her phone began to ring.

  Looking at the caller ID, she sighed. It was her sister-in-law from the other side of the family, Gemma, Paul’s youngest sibling. She was what Heidi called a ‘Mummy Martyr.’ She spent her time at the club complaining about how hard it was to raise her twins and spent hours counting pennies and avoiding a much needed facial. It was so tiring to Heidi—so much so that she routinely ignored Gemma’s calls. Today would not be an exception.

  Heidi raced inside the café to meet Ella at the counter. Her Lucy Choi heels clinked loudly on the wooden floor enough that the noise caught the attention of the rest of the customers.

  “Hello Ella, do you have my order ready? I’m running 40 minutes late already.”