To the sides of the cinema arena were rows of portable toilets—the swanky kind, like caravans, with vases of plastic flowers on each cistern and actual soap in the dispensers—and next to them were vans selling coffee, beer, chips, popcorn, and even curry. Kate’s stomach growled.
Kate ordered another coffee, not wanting to be one of those customers who make one latte last for two hours. After a while people started to gather near the edges of the arena and the reps took their places at strategic points around the park.
It was fully dark now and the families drifted home. The waitresses began to lift chairs onto tables in the café, and Kate took this as her cue to leave. As she stood up she heard a voice behind her:
“Hello, sexy. Come here often?”
It was Drew. Kate threw her arms around him and he hugged her back, lifting her off the floor. The waitresses looked on with lust in their eyes. Don’t waste your time, girls, thought Kate. He was wearing a long double-breasted tweed overcoat and a matching flat cap, with a plain teal scarf. He looked divine.
They left the café and the salivating waitresses and checked in with the reps. Kate bought herself and Drew a plastic tumbler of mulled cider each; she had decided she would probably need rather a lot of mulled cider this evening for medicinal purposes, as it was bitterly cold already. The deck chairs were beginning to fill up and Kate and Drew chose one toward the back, in the middle, where they had a good view and easy access to the food vans.
They settled themselves under the blankets and Drew reached into his rucksack and pulled out a large thermos and two hot-water bottles, which he filled, and handed one to Kate.
“Why did you have to be gay?” said Kate.
“Why did you have to be a woman?” he replied.
Kate hugged her hot-water bottle and Drew filled her in on his exciting new relationship with Archie. Kate told Drew about the abominable Richard, and he was suitably affronted on her behalf.
“I knew he was too good to be true,” said Drew.
“You could have told me,” said Kate.
“What kind of a friend would I be if I didn’t let you make your own mistakes?”
“That mistake has branded me a scarlet woman!”
“The scarlet women are always the most alluring,” he replied.
“Says the gay man.”
“Who better to know what a man wants than a man?” asked Drew, and Kate couldn’t argue with that.
The deck chairs were full now and the noise levels were high, until the floodlights slowly dimmed down to nothing and a low expectant hum vibrated through the audience.
As the opening credits appeared on the big screen, a cheer went up and Kate watched as the couples in front scooched up closer to one another.
“Do you want some chips?” whispered Drew.
“The film’s just started!”
“I’m hungry,” he said. “I can watch it from the van.”
Before Kate had time to properly object, Drew had discarded his blanket and hot-water bottle and headed off into the darkness. Kate sighed and pulled her blanket closer around her.
Ten minutes later he was back. Kate didn’t look over; she was transfixed by the film.
“That scarf makes you look like a tube of Swizzels,” said a voice that wasn’t Drew.
Kate turned abruptly. It was Matt. He smiled at her. The light from the screen showed the crinkles around his eyes. Kate stared at him, confused. She couldn’t seem to formulate a sentence.
“We need to talk,” said Matt.
“Where’s Drew?” she asked.
Kate leaned around the deck chair to look at the chip van. Drew waved at her and smiled smugly. He was sharing a bag of chips with a man whom Kate recognized from Drew’s description as Archie.
“What’s going on?” said Kate, turning back to face Matt.
“You need to listen to what I have to say without interrupting,” said Matt.
“Don’t tell me what to—”
“Please, Kate,” Matt implored. “For once in your life, don’t argue with me.”
Kate closed her mouth. She hugged the water bottle and sat facing the screen.
“Talk,” she said.
“Sarah and I split up,” he began. “We split up the night I delivered your tree.”
“The night you accused me of ruining your relationship . . .” Kate couldn’t help but interject.
“I was angry,” said Matt. “I took it out on you because I was angry that I was still in love with you. Am in love with you. Have always been in love with you.”
He said the words slowly and carefully, like a confession.
“Sarah knew it,” Matt continued. “She recognized the signs; she was still in love with Oliver and I was in love with you, but she was the only one brave enough to admit it for the both of us.”
Kate’s head was spinning.
“But I saw you both the other night,” Kate objected. “Carrying bags out of the café.”
“You saw Sarah picking up the costumes for the school plays, which you’d asked the Sex Kittens to help her with,” said Matt. “If you’d stuck around to spy on me a bit longer, you’d have seen Oliver come to meet Sarah and take her home.”
“I wasn’t spying!” said Kate. “I was just passing by.”
“Why are we even talking about this?” said Matt. He ran his hand through his hair. “I’m trying to profess my love for you here!”
“But you got married,” said Kate.
“What?” asked Matt.
“When I was traveling.”
“That was thirteen years ago!”
“You still got married,” said Kate.
“My heart was broken,” said Matt. “I’d pushed you away. Out of the country, as it turned out. I’d lost you because of my own stupidity. So I threw myself at the first woman who’d have me.”
“You didn’t lose me,” said Kate quietly. “Not really.”
“I don’t want to waste any more time,” said Matt. “We’ve wasted enough already. I love you, Kate. And you bloody well love me too, I know you do. So stop being such a stubborn arse and—”
Kate leaned over and kissed the words right out of his mouth.
* * *
• • • • •
Drew and Archie settled themselves into a double deck chair a few rows ahead of Kate and Matt. Kate smiled as Drew rested his head on Archie’s shoulder. He’d sent her a text just moments before:
Just call me your fairy godfather. You’re welcome! xxx
Matt pulled Kate in close to him, his arm around her shoulder. Kate settled in; her head fit perfectly, just as it always had, in the curve between his chest and shoulder. They would talk later. For now, they watched It’s a Wonderful Life wrapped around each other, wrapped in blankets.
* * *
• • • • •
It was Christmas Eve. Kate woke up and stretched. She rolled over and met resistance. She smiled as she remembered. She flopped one arm across Matt’s naked chest and looked up.
“Hello,” said Matt.
“Hello,” said Kate.
Matt shifted onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow.
“I really need to go to work,” said Matt.
“Yes, you do,” said Kate.
Matt grinned wickedly.
“I just want to check something first!” he said, pulling the duvet over their heads.
An hour later they were still in bed. Matt leaned up against the pillows and Kate had her head on his chest. Her arm was draped across him, while he drew lazy circles on her back with his fingers.
The front door slammed.
“Morning, love!” called Mac. “I’ve brought you a coffee. I thought Matt would have been in the café. Carla said she hasn’t seen him this morning. You haven’t heard from him, h
ave you?”
Kate jumped up. Matt watched her darting about the bedroom for her discarded clothes and laughed.
“Kate?” called her dad again. “Are you all right?”
“Fine, Dad!” she yelled.
She got to the top of the stairs. Mac stood at the bottom looking up at her.
“You’re up late!” he said.
Kate grimaced.
“You haven’t heard from Matt, have you?” he asked. “I know you two have had a falling-out, but I still worry about the boy. It’s not like him to miss work and not call in.”
Kate felt Matt fall in behind her. She glanced back and was relieved to see that he was dressed. Mac’s eyes grew wide when he saw Matt, and then he recovered himself.
“I’m fine, Mac,” said Matt. He rested his hands on Kate’s shoulders. “More than fine, actually.” He smiled.
Mac smiled too.
“Well, I never!” said Mac. “It’s a Christmas miracle.”
It was a busy day. Matt left for the café and Kate made breakfast while her dad brought the boxes of veg in from the coal shed, ready for prepping. Mac hugged her when he left.
“I’m so happy for you, Kate,” he said. “This is a good thing. A really good thing.”
He waved as he walked down the road and called: “I’ll see you at the caroling.”
Kate phoned Laura to tell her the news. She had to get in quick before someone else did. It only took one person to have seen Matt leave her house this morning in yesterday’s clothes for it to become village business. Laura screeched down the phone for so long, Kate put her on speaker while she got on with something else. At first Laura wanted all the details, but then she changed her mind.
“Actually,” she said. “I don’t want to know. It’s a bit like having my sister sleep with my brother.”
“Better get used to it,” said Kate.
“Ewwww!” said Laura.
But she was very happy that Kate was happy and even happier for herself that she got to keep her best friend in Blexford.
Kate had an awkward email to write to Josie, telling her that she wouldn’t be needing the room after all, but she needn’t have worried.
Ahh, my little country mouse!
The winter solstice magic has woven its spells around you! I’m so happy you’ve found your soul mate.
I needed to clear out that room anyway; all the clutter was messing with my feng shui! Luck and love, sweet girl, luck and love!
Kate wrapped Matt’s presents and prepped the vegetables for tomorrow’s dinner. Now there would be four of them in her dad’s cottage for Christmas. Weirdly, after all the years they’d known one another, this would be the first time they’d actually spent a Christmas Day together.
She felt like she was in a sort of bubble. A good bubble, where she felt warm and cocooned. She had other moments where she didn’t believe it was real. But then she’d get a text from Matt and be back in the bubble again.
I can’t stop smiling! People are going to wonder what’s wrong with me. M x
Last night was amazing. I love you. M x
This morning was quite good too!! M x
The caroling would begin when the children had finished their Christingle service in the church. Evelyn had organized the new route and everyone was to meet in the church yard at five p.m.
Matt had warned everyone that he was closing the café at three thirty p.m. today. When Kate arrived at three o’clock to help him get ready for the evening, the café was full. Lots of people—including Laura and Ben—had brought their children in for hot drinks before the church service.
Kate spotted Laura instantly and waved. Mina was in deep conversation with a giant cookie. Charley was sprawled across Ben’s lap, rosy-cheeked and fast asleep. Carla called “Hello, Kate!” and Matt turned from the coffee machine. He smiled broadly when he saw her, and his cheeks flushed as red as Charley’s.
“Gingerbread flat white?” Matt asked.
Kate nodded and slipped out of her duffle coat. She was wearing the floral tea dress she’d worn for the first of her twelve dates. Matt smiled wolfishly.
“And where might you be going?” he asked.
“I’ve got a hot date,” said Kate.
Matt leaned across the counter.
“You want to be careful,” he said conspiratorially. “I hear the owner has a big crush on you.”
Kate grinned. She could almost feel her pupils dilate. She brushed her hands over her dress to make sure her thighs weren’t actually smoldering.
Kate took herself out to the kitchen and started on tonight’s food. She slipped on an apron and began with the orange chocolate chip shortbread. There would also be Marmite puff pastry pinwheels for the children and mince pies and mini Christmas pudding sweets for the adults.
On the hob, two catering-sized saucepans filled with red wine, orange peel, cloves, cinnamon, and bay leaves sat ready for heating later. And two giant slabs of gingerbread cake, which Kate recognized as Evelyn’s handiwork, lay on the worktop, ready to be chopped into sticky fingers.
It seemed like every ten minutes Matt found an excuse to come into the kitchen and steal a kiss, and Kate was only too happy to oblige. Every kiss made her feel a little more confident that this was actually happening.
While the shortbread rested in the fridge, Kate got on with the sweets. She squished two shop-bought fruitcakes into a sticky crumbly mess in a large bowl and stirred in some melted dark chocolate and a good slosh of brandy. She dusted her hands with cocoa and took small bits of the mixture, rolled it into balls, and dropped it into petit four cases. When she had about a hundred walnut-sized sweets, she blobbed each one with white chocolate and topped it with a fleck of glacé cherry and stashed them in the fridge to set.
When the café was closed down and cleaned, Carla came out and helped Kate with the pinwheels while the shortbread baked. Matt nipped across to the shop to tell Evelyn about the two of them. He didn’t want her hear it on the Blexford grapevine. Evelyn already knew. Of course she did. She probably knew they were going to get together even before they did.
Matt came back full of admiration for Evelyn’s unparalleled powers of deduction and handed Kate her lost coat.
“Someone handed it in at the shop,” he said. “Evelyn knew it was yours. She’s washed it. Apparently it was covered in bird crap.”
“I think that’s supposed be lucky!” said Carla. She looked at Matt and then Kate and smiled. “I guess it worked.”
The church was a short walk from the green, just down the lane past Mac’s house. The candlelight from within lit the stained-glass windows without, so that the little church glowed like a beacon, welcoming the cold revelers.
The haunting sound of organ music drifted down the dark snowy lane as the villagers, Kate and Matt included, made their pilgrimage to the churchyard. As they got closer, they could hear voices accompanying the music.
They stood in the churchyard among the crumbling gravestones, some long forgotten, others adorned with fresh winter flowers and holly wreaths. Matt slipped his hand around Kate’s and she felt a thrill of excitement; this was a public declaration. It didn’t go unnoticed. Matt bent down and whispered in her ear.
“Let’s make this official,” he said.
He placed his finger under Kate’s chin and tilted her face to meet his, then kissed her softly on the lips.
A ripple ran through the little crowd. Lips were bitten in an effort to contain the excitement of fresh gossip; there would be a race to spill the beans.
The Christingle service ended and the big wooden double doors opened, flooding the little churchyard with light. The children skipped out clutching glow sticks and oranges studded with fondant sweets.
Evelyn emerged and, with the help of her fellow Knitting Sex Kittens, handed carol sheets out to the gatheri
ng. Kate was surprised to see her dad walk out of the church behind Evelyn, though not as surprised as the vicar must have been, Kate thought.
They started with “Little Donkey.” The first carol was always the quietest; people tended to hold back a little, because no one wanted to be the loudest voice in the procession. By the third song the group had found their confidence and their voices. And by the time they wended their way round the back of the Pear Tree Café, singing “Deck the Halls,” the sounds of their voices rang through the village loud as church bells.
Just as in years past, people left treats on garden walls and hanging from fence posts. Foil-wrapped tree chocolates and knitted finger puppets delighted the youngsters, for whom the caroling was as much about the treasure hunt as the singing.
The throng gathered not only momentum but numbers too. As the procession passed by, people came out of their houses to join in the caroling. Barry temporarily closed the pub and he and the punters joined the revelers as they passed over the green and into Potters Copse.
A hush fell across those at the front of the procession as they entered the copse, and it rolled backward through the carolers as more people entered, until an awed quiet, broken only by gasps of delight, filled the woodland.
Thousands of tiny lights glittered like fireflies around the copse. They crisscrossed above the carolers’ heads like dewy spiderwebs, and glinted through spiky holly leaves, and wrapped around spindly rowan tree branches. Every twig, branch, stump, and leaf was adorned with decorations that shone or twinkled.
The lower branches sagged under the weight of iced gingerbread angels and stars, which were deftly plucked and devoured by mittened children with round excited eyes.
Gnomes, stone foxes, rabbits, and ducks had joined the jolly Santa and his sleigh on the ground, while above, long-legged pixies and fairies sat in branches and dangled their pointed toes among the baubles. Knitted and embroidered stockings hung from the crowded hawthorn tree.
It was a place of magic. Kate had watched this enchanted woodland grow over the last few weeks, but for many people this was their first time. There was so much to see, so much to wonder at, everywhere you looked. Kate watched Matt’s face as he took it all in. He caught her watching him and pulled her close.
The Twelve Dates of Christmas Page 32
