Читать книгу The Little Christmas Kitchen: A wonderfully festive, feel-good read - Jenny Oliver, Jenny Oliver - Страница 13

CHAPTER 6

MADDY

Maddy could tell something was up. Ella never went anywhere without Max. Ever since they’d got together she clung to him like a limpet. As if, if she let go he might disappear into a puff of smoke and she’d be left sitting on a pumpkin with lots of mice running around her.

She looked immaculate as always. Her clothes worth more than Maddy earned in a year. Her expression was disparaging, haughty. Like there was no way she would trudge through the streets on her own to get to their mum’s.

Maddy swallowed.

Dimitri once said, ‘Why do you let her get to you?’

And Maddy had shrugged, looked away and said, ‘I don’t know.’ But she did know. Because on the one hand Ella terrified her and on the other hand Maddy so desperately wanted to be her, or at the very least be liked by her again.

‘Come on, I’ll take you.’ Maddy said in the end, conscious of her dust coated hair and make-up free face.

Ella took a couple of steps forward, tottering awkwardly over the pot holes in her killer heels. ‘What is wrong with the bloody roads?’ she huffed.

‘The road is paved up here, it’s not usually like this,’ Maddy said, defensive of her island. ‘It happened in the storm.’

Ella made a face as if it’d happened just to spite her.

‘People lost their houses.’ Maddy narrowed her eyes.

Ella looked away.

They trudged on another couple of steps, Ella taking tiny steps in her leather boots and dragging a Louis Vuitton case behind her.

‘Do you want me to take that?’ Maddy said as they got to the top of the sloping cobbled path that led down to the beach, the jetty and the taverna.

‘No I can manage.’ Ella said, the sharpness of her tone making Maddy flinch.