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    Christmas at the Little Cottage by the Sea
    Christmas at the Little Cottage by the Sea
    Christmas at the Little Cottage by the Sea
    Ebook155 pages2 hours

    Christmas at the Little Cottage by the Sea

    By RACHEL GRIFFITHS

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Curl up with this gorgeous festive story from the author of The Cosy Cottage Café series.

    Driving around unfamiliar country lanes, while enduring the scorn of her teenage daughter, wasn't how Pippa Hardy thought she'd start the Christmas holidays, but her sat nav seems to be more confused than she is.

    Joe Roberts has had a difficult year following the loss of his mother. Added to this, he's trying to run his own business while dealing with pressure from his sister about when he'll finish renovating their mother's house. So when his best friend, Luke Hardy, invites him to a remote Welsh cottage to join his family for Christmas, it seems like the break he needs.

    Christmas at a cottage by the sea sounds appealing, but sometimes having all the people you care about together in one place can be a festive recipe for disaster – especially when unexpected guests arrive.

    As snow falls, carols play and Pippa and Joe face the ghosts of Christmas past under the mistletoe, they realise that there might actually be more than festive magic sparkling between them.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCosy Cottage Books
    Release dateSep 3, 2024
    ISBN9798227746504
    Christmas at the Little Cottage by the Sea
    Author

    RACHEL GRIFFITHS

    Rachel Griffiths is an author, wife, mother, Earl Grey tea drinker, gin enthusiast, dog walker and fan of the afternoon nap. She loves to read, write and spend time with her family.

    Read more from Rachel Griffiths

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      Book preview

      Christmas at the Little Cottage by the Sea - RACHEL GRIFFITHS

      1

      ‘W here exactly is this cottage, Mum?’

      Pippa winced at her seventeen-year-old daughter’s tone. Bella had made her thoughts about leaving her friends behind at home in Cardiff, in order to spend the holidays with her family in a remote Welsh cottage, quite clear. Pippa had almost – almost – suggested that Bella stay home alone… but that would have been asking for trouble and, besides which, she would have missed her daughter – moods and all.

      And so… they had just spent the past three hours driving around country lanes in West Wales searching for the cottage that Pippa’s parents had rented for Christmas. Pippa didn’t want to admit as much to Bella, but she had a feeling they were going round in circles, as some of the landscape looked familiar and she was sure that several of the cows in the field to their left looked familiar too. Unless all cows looked the same, that was. But these were different to any cows she’d seen before; they were enormous and completely black. Surely not all of the dairy farmers round here had the same cows? If that was the case, then she needed to stop and check the old-fashioned map that she kept stuffed behind the driver’s seat, because the satnav on Pippa’s mobile seemed more clueless about the direction of the cottage than she was. In fact, the satnav had tried to get her to drive right through two fields and a derelict old farmhouse already.

      ‘We’re lost, aren’t we?’ Bella sighed and flicked her long, wavy hair over her shoulders then slumped in the passenger seat and tapped her fake talons together. ‘I told you to follow Grandpa last night, but noooo… you had to stay and do Mrs Morrisey’s shopping first.’

      ‘I couldn’t exactly leave her with nothing in her cupboards could I?’

      ‘Oh admit it, Mum, you’d have brought her with us if you’d thought there was room.’

      Pippa bit her lip. She knew that Bella didn’t understand why she felt compelled to help Mrs Morrisey. The elderly lady had often seemed quite grumpy towards Bella, especially if she played her music too loud in the garden, but Pippa could see that there was more to the eighty-six-year-old than a first glance might suggest. Pippa had witnessed the softening in Mrs Morrisey’s gaze when she greeted Pippa at the front door, had heard the gratitude in her voice when she thanked Pippa for getting her shopping and felt the warmth in Mrs Morrisey’s hug – when she had fallen in the back garden and Pippa had rushed to her aid, then waited with her until the ambulance came. It couldn’t be easy being old and alone, and Pippa hoped that one day, should she end up in a similar situation, that someone would be kind to her too. Life could be difficult and kindness was often underrated.

      Therefore, she had insisted on filling Mrs Morrisey’s fridge and cupboards, on doing her washing and ironing, and checking that there would be someone the old lady could call on if an emergency occurred. It had been imperative for Pippa, as she couldn’t leave if she thought Mrs Morrisey might want for something. She had wondered on occasion if she saw something of herself in Mrs Morrisey, in the way that they were both single and had to fend for themselves, and by helping her neighbour she was in fact helping her future self. Whatever her conscious and subconscious motivations actually were, Pippa knew that she couldn’t leave Cardiff without making sure that Mrs Morrisey had everything she needed.

      So, yes they were lost, and yes it would have been easier if she had followed her parents to the cottage last night, but her conscience would have been weighed down with concern, so she’d rather endure Bella’s scorn now than worries created by her own guilt at abandoning her neighbour.

      Pippa slowed right down then pulled into the next available layby, reached around her seat for the map and spread it out over the dashboard.

      ‘Okay then, Bella… time to find out where we are so we can find where we’re supposed to be going.’

      Bella tutted, but she leant closer, and together, they worked out how to get to their family Christmas.

      Thirty minutes later, Pippa drove along a tree-lined dirt lane and emerged in a clearing in front of a large stone cottage. There were three cars parked there already and gunmetal grey smoke curled up from the chimney into the chilly afternoon air.

      ‘At last!’ Bella exclaimed as she unfastened her seatbelt. ‘I thought I was going to have to pee in my coffee cup.’

      Pippa raised an eyebrow but kept quiet. She knew how Bella felt, as she was pretty keen to get to the toilet too. That last petrol station latte hadn’t been a good idea at all.

      They got out of the car and Pippa stretched then looked around. The cottage was surrounded by a low stone wall to the front and beyond that, off to their left, was a hedgerow. A heavy mist hung in the icy air, so she couldn’t see further than the hedgerow, but judging by the salty tang in the air and the sound of gulls screeching, she suspected the sea was in that direction. She shivered in her long-sleeved cotton top, feeling the cold after the cosy warmth of the car. Thankfully, she had her warm coat on the back seat of the car and she’d packed some jumpers and fluffy socks, expecting the old cottage to be chilly, especially if it had flagstone floors and single glazing. In reality though, the windows had small square panes set back in thick stone walls, so hopefully they wouldn’t lose too much heat through them and it might be warmer inside than she had anticipated.

      ‘It’s prettier than I expected.’ Bella nodded her approval and Pippa let out a quiet sigh of relief. ‘I mean… it looked okay in the photos, but smaller. And it’s not actually small at all, is it?’

      ‘No, it’s not. There’ll be lots of room for us all inside.’

      ‘I won’t have to share a room, will I?’

      ‘I hope not.’ Pippa shook her head. ‘Grandpa said that there were plenty of bedrooms. We’ll be fine.’

      ‘Good. At my age I need my own space and sharing with Great-Granny like I did three years ago, when we rented that caravan in Cornwall, is not an experience I want to repeat.’ Bella gave a dramatic shudder. ‘Much as I love her, the sound of her snoring and farting in her sleep was a bit much to endure.’

      ‘You were only fourteen then and it was a small caravan. I had to sleep on the sofa, remember? At least you had a bedroom.’ Pippa smiled. ‘But of course you need your own space now and Dad will have taken that into account.’

      As an only child, Bella had been used to having a bedroom to herself in their three bed semi-detached house in Cardiff. The house wasn’t anything fancy, but it was home, and it was what Pippa had been able to afford as a single parent. Sure, it needed new windows and the interior could do with a lick of paint, but working full-time and being mum to Bella meant that Pippa didn’t have as much time to do things like that as she’d have liked. Not that a freshly painted house or shiny new windows mattered that much, as long as the bills were paid and there was a good home-cooked meal on the table, but even so… it would’ve been nice sometimes to have a bit of extra cash to do the things that would have made their home a bit smarter. Not that her parents hadn’t offered to help out – they tried to press money onto her all the time – but Pippa couldn’t bring herself to accept it. She was determined to be independent and always had been, which was why, when she’d found out she was pregnant by a colleague at twenty-six, she’d refused his marriage proposal. Gareth Jones had been no more than a good friend, and one night, after a few drinks at a local pub, they’d sought comfort in each other’s arms, but that was all it had been for both of them. They weren’t in love, but they were good friends, and that was how they’d remained. Gareth was a good dad to Bella, even though he now had five-year-old twin boys with his wife, and Pippa was happy that things had worked out for him.

      As for Pippa though… she’d dated a few nice men, had a few flings, but never felt a spark with any of them that made her want to pursue it further. She’d hoped to feel something, had tried to conjure some feelings, but they had eluded her and so she had stayed single for most of the past seventeen years. There had been a spark with a man once, a long time ago, but it hadn’t worked out. Perhaps that was why she’d never fallen in love again, perhaps fear had built a protective veneer around her heart and prevented her from caring for anyone else other than Bella and her family. It happened; she’d read about it enough times to know that hurt could lead to self-imposed singledom. Whatever the reason, Pippa had not got involved again and she couldn’t imagine ever doing so.

      Not that she was old at forty-three; she kept reading articles online about how her life was just beginning, but she had priorities that featured high above the importance of getting back ‘out there’ and dating. For Pippa, the idea of getting dressed up, going through the whole rigmarole of small talk, first date nerves and all that malarkey was the last thing she wanted or needed. Pippa was happy going to work, cooking dinner for her and Bella, helping out Mrs Morrisey and heading to her parents’ house for Sunday lunch. She was busy, fulfilled and happy. What use did she have for love and romance?

      ‘Mum?’

      Bella was frowning at her.

      ‘Yes?’

      ‘Are you all right?’

      ‘Of course, Bella. Why do you ask?’

      ‘You’ve been standing there in a daze for about five minutes. I’ve unpacked the car and thought you were right behind me but every time I came back, you were still here with that goofy grin on your face.’

      ‘I’m absolutely

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