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

Second Couple Syndrome

"It's Sunday, and it's almost Christmas. There won't be any available spots," Billie muttered, following Dair inside the tea rooms.

"Federico!" someone called from the table by the window.

Billie recognised Alexander Fergusson. Born and bred in Fleckney, Fergusson was a maths prodigy, who, after disappearing at the end of Year 10, had allegedly travelled the world and had returned to the county; and now, at the tender age of twenty-seven, was the owner of several successful local businesses, including the ice cream parlour in one of the central streets of Fleckney Woulds. The woman next to him - around forty years old, also a redhead, and of the same chunky variety as Billie - would be Jocelyn Burns, the Headmistress of the Fleckney Comprehensive. Her copper curls, in a loose bob, softly framed her face; laughing lines fanning near the corners of her bright green eyes. The couple were a constant topic of local gossip. The woman was fifteen years older than Fergusson; and it was said that Fergusson had been chasing her since he had been a pupil in the school where she'd taught at the time. Surprisingly, the populace supported this unorthodox bond; and the consensus was that the two of them were perfect for each other. Aunt Hazel, who had zero interest in the emotional component of an adult relationship, was a close friend of the Headmistress; and often expressed a fair amount of envy towards Ms. Burns for having a 'young tup' for a lover; since the man was, in the words of Aunt Hazel, 'a ravenous beast.'

"Alessandro!" Dair waved to his mate and towed Billie towards the couple. "Oh Jackie, buongiorno!"

"Join us?" Fergusson asked and shifted his gaze onto Billie.

She froze, struck by his unusual eyes: dark blue, like ink; bottomless, and lacking in expression.

"Oh hi!" The Headmistress stretched her hand to Billie. "I'm Jackie. Should I call you Billie, or is it Sybil?"

Billie shook the woman's hand. "Billie, please. And pleasure to meet you."

"You're Phee's sister," Fergusson commented blandly.

Dair and Billie took the seats opposite the couple.

"Were you at school when I was teaching Advanced Maths?" the Headmistress asked. "It's been an age; and I obviously wouldn't be able to recall all of the pupils."

"You remember all your pupils," Fergusson deadpanned.

His tone was monotonous. He also wasn't meeting anyone's eyes but his partner's. Billie squirmed in an acute discomfort in an ambiguous social situation.

The Headmistress, meanwhile, tenderly smiled at him; and he lifted his hand and gently stroked his thumb to the corner of her mouth.

"You've got some rabanada on you," he murmured, brushed the sugar and cinnamon off her chin, and then licked his thumb. "She'd left school before you started teaching."

"Menu, polpetta?" Dair offered a charming embossed print to Billie.

One corner of Fergusson's mouth curled up. Billie suddenly remembered his older brother, Dom, who'd been in the same form as her. He'd been a tad of a lad and definitely a player in the Comprehensive. Just as all her life, she'd been too plain - also known as 'inferior to her sisters' - for him to notice her existence. He'd fled Fleckney right after school as well, to play in a band or something of the sort; Billie didn't know much about it.

While Billie mournfully read the menu trying to come up with something that wouldn't make an irreparable cavity in her measly budget; Dair and the Headmistress amicably chatted about the film that she'd watched on his recommendation, during the dinner he'd had at the place. Fergusson seemed unfazed by being excluded from the conversation and was methodically consuming his pudding: something fluffy and delicious-looking in a sizeable bowl on a tall leg.