The Best Christmas Ever: a feel-good festive romance to warm your heart this Christmas

by Karen King

  She could hear Sweetie barking as soon as she rang the bell.

  ‘I swear she knew it was you,’ Joel said, answering the door.

  Lexi scooped up the little dog, who was running around her legs, yapping excitedly. ‘How’s she been today?’ she asked as she cuddled Sweetie. Joel had said last night that he wasn’t leaving Sweetie with Lloyd as it was too early.

  ‘Really good. I took her with me this afternoon; someone wanted me to give them a quote for work they needed done, she was good as gold. I was going to take her for a walk in a minute, fancy joining us?’

  Lexi followed him into the lounge, still holding the little dog. ‘Oh, sorry, I can’t. I’m meeting my family at the Lystone Arms in a little while. We’re having a meal.’

  ‘That’s great. You must be pleased to see your brother again, and to meet his wife and son.’

  ‘I am. And everyone said to thank you for saving the Christmas tree. The village is buzzing with excitement for tomorrow night now.’

  ‘You’re welcome.’

  She paused. She didn’t want to be rude after all Joel had done, but she really did have to go soon. ‘So, what’s the news about Rocco?’

  ‘I saw him today.’ Joel explained what had happened that afternoon.

  Lexi was so pleased she could have hugged him. ‘Do you think he might get in touch?’ she asked.

  ‘I hope so. I guess there isn’t much time for him to do it before Christmas, but he did ask about Lloyd.’

  ‘Thank you so much for talking to him. Do you think we should mention it to Lloyd? Did you get the number of Rocco’s company? We could give it to him.’

  ‘I took a note of it but I think we should wait to see if Rocco turns up first. Give him a couple of weeks, then I’ll mention it to Lloyd and give him his number.’

  She’d have gone home by then, Lexi thought. She was going to miss Lloyd. And Joel.

  She nodded. ‘Good idea, I’ll have to leave that to you, then, as I won’t be here.’ She gave him a little smile then put Sweetie down on the floor. ‘I’d better go and join my family now, then. Were you serious about coming to the carol service tomorrow?’

  ‘I was.’

  ‘Great. I’ll see you there, then.’

  The pub was crowded when Lexi walked in. She peered around trying to locate her family, then saw Jay stand up and wave, in the corner on the right. So, she made her way through the crowd to join them. They were all seated around a big table with a covered bench seat under the window which spread around into the corner, and chairs on the outside. Jay, Sonia, Toby and Granny Mabe were sitting on the bench seat, leaving the chairs for Lexi and her parents.

  ‘You don’t mind us sitting here, do you?’ Sonia asked. ‘We thought it would better for Toby. He can lie down if he feels sleepy, he’d be out of the way in the corner there.’

  ‘Of course not,’ Lexi assured her.

  ‘I never thought, you could have asked Joel to join us,’ Paula said. ‘He would have been very welcome.’

  ‘It’s okay, he looks tired anyway – he and Andy had an early start this morning.’ She took off her coat and put it on the back of her chair before sitting down next to her mum. ‘Guess what, Joel saw Lloyd’s son today.’

  ‘Really? Where?’ Granny Mabe leant forward, anxious for more news.

  ‘What’s all this?’ Jay asked. Paula filled him and Sonia in, then Lexi related what Joel had told her. ‘You mustn’t say anything to Lloyd, Granny. We don’t want to get his hopes up in case Rocco doesn’t show up.’

  ‘Oh, I hope he does, that would be marvellous,’ Granny Mabe said. ‘I feel so lucky to have all my family around me. So many old folk are on their own. It’s sad.’

  ‘You’ll never be on your own, Ma,’ Craig told her, giving her a hug.

  Lexi felt a warm glow as she saw her granny and her dad exchange a loving look. Her family had their ups and downs, like everyone else, but they were always there for each other.

  ‘How long does it take to travel here, Lexi? Do you come down to Lystone often?’ Sonia asked.

  ‘My flat in Gloucester is about two hours away. And no, I don’t. Not as often as I should, but you know what it’s like with work and everything,’ Lexi replied.

  ‘I can’t wait to meet Joel and Lloyd at the carol service tomorrow,’ Sonia said. ‘And Sweetie, of course. Will Joel be bringing her on Boxing Day?’

  ‘I actually hadn’t thought of that. What do you think?’ she asked her parents.

  ‘I think he must, we all want to meet her now,’ her dad replied.

  Amidst more laughter, and chatting, they picked up the menus and ordered their meal. Throughout the night, people came over to say hello to Jay, and to Lexi, and were introduced to Sonia and Toby. Some of them joined their table, once they’d eaten, so more and more chairs were added.

  As she sat, talking to her family and friends, Lexi thought that Granny Mabe was right. They were so lucky to have family around them. She was going to miss them all when she went back home. To her empty flat.

  You’ll have your job. And Fern. And you can come down at weekends. Every weekend if you want, she reminded herself. She was determined that, in the future, she was going to make more of an effort to spend time with her family.

  Joel felt restless. He’d spent most of his adult life ignoring Christmas as much as he could. The traditional Christmas of decorating the tree, singing carols, exchanging presents and spending time together as a family was a nice idea, but Toni’s ideal Christmas had been a consumer one. She had paid the housekeeper to decorate the tree, they’d eaten Christmas dinner out in an expensive restaurant with friends, exchanged expensive presents, gone on to a party. It had been enjoyable, but empty, in a way. Their whole life had seemed superfluous. It had been a life he’d drifted into. When he and Hazel were growing up, they had stayed with their grandparents in rural Scotland during the summer holidays while their parents worked, which meant they’d helped out a lot on the farm. Hazel had hated farm life and had gone into hotel management, then met Al, who also worked at the same company. Joel, on the other hand, had loved the farm. As he’d got older, he’d helped his grandad more, especially with caring for and felling the many trees that grew on his land. When he left school, he’d taken a university course in Arboriculture, while volunteering whenever he could for the Woodland Trust, then had got a job working for the Forestry, where he met Andy. He’d loved that job; climbing and felling those sky-high pine trees was dangerous but also exhilarating – and the view! Andy had been a climber too, back then, but after an accident that resulted in them both having to be aerial rescued and Joel’s arm in plaster, Andy hadn’t wanted to climb anymore and had worked as a groundsman instead although he didn’t mind going on the platform. They’d seen the damage falling branches could cause, which is why they’d both been shaken up at Lexi’s near miss. Then Andy had moved away, and eventually Joel had become restless, ready for a change, so had applied for jobs in England. He’d been delighted when he was offered the job of looking after the vast woodland on the Morton Estate.

  Then he’d met Toni, fell head over heels in love, and to his eternal regret, married her within the year. Once they were married, Toni wanted him to do something more lucrative, where he had to wear a suit instead of coming home ‘filthy’, as she often complained. Joel hated the thought of an office job, he liked working outside, liked the thought of doing his bit to help nature. Lately, though, since the divorce, he’d been feeling a bit restless again, and had been thinking about a change of direction once more. He was thirty-three, and in his prime, but could he see himself climbing and felling trees in another ten or twenty years? Although, his job did involve a lot more than that. The trouble was, he didn’t know what else he wanted to do. When he left university his grandfather had wanted Joel to take over running the farm, but Joel had gently declined, knowing how hard that life was, so his grandfather had sold it. Now he wondered if he had made the right decision, if he should have stayed in
Scotland. If he had, he would never have met Lexi, though. Somehow Lexi’s love of Christmas had wrapped him up and pulled him along. It was because of her that he was planning this big surprise tomorrow. Yes, it was for the villagers, too, and he couldn’t wait to see their faces when they turned up for the carol service.

  But he was looking forward to seeing Lexi’s face the most.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Christmas Eve

  When Lexi got up the next morning, the kitchen was bustling. Toby was at the table, eating some cereal that her mum had bought especially for him, her parents were drinking a mug of tea each, Sonia was making toast, and Jay was ironing a shirt. Lexi did a double take at the previously never before seen sight of her brother ironing.

  ‘Wow! How did you manage that miracle?’ she asked Sonia, remembering how Jay used to pay her to iron his clothes when she was a teenager. Her parents had always insisted that Lexi and her brothers did their share of the chores and their own ironing, but while Jay was happy enough to wash up or put the vacuum around, he hated ironing with a vengeance.

  ‘Jay always irons,’ she replied, surprised.

  Jay grinned at her. ‘I finally mastered how not to get the cord tangled up and now I find it quite relaxing. Look, I’m even ironing Sonia’s top for her.’

  ‘Fancy doing some of my ironing, too?’ asked Lexi.

  Jay smoothed the creases out of the sleeve of his shirt. ‘Sure. Pass it over, but there’s a three-garment limit.’

  She was surprised he said yes. ‘I was only kidding.’

  ‘Morning everyone,’ Granny Mabe said as she came in, still wearing her dressing gown. ‘What are you all up to today?’

  ‘Morning, Granny. We’re going out for a drive around. I want to show Sonia and Toby some of the pretty Devon villages,’ said Jay. ‘Anyone fancy joining us?’

  ‘Thanks, but I’m going to help out in the bakery again today so that mum can have a few hours off and be here to welcome Ryan and Nell,’ replied Lexi. She wanted to do a bit more lesson planning, too, if she had time.

  ‘You don’t have to do that love,’ her mum protested.

  ‘I want to. Please, Mum, let me do this for you. You work so hard, and it’s Christmas tomorrow. You must have lots to do.’

  She was rewarded by the beam on her mother’s face. ‘I do. Thank you, love, that’s very kind of you.’

  ‘I’ll enjoy it. It’s nice to be back in the village again.’

  ‘Would you ever move back down here, Lexi?’ Sonia asked. ‘With your job, I’m sure you could get work anywhere. Teachers are always needed. You could even join us in Canada.’

  ‘I’d love a trip there to come and see you both, but I’m a homebody. I’d miss England,’ she said.

  ‘I did at first, but now I’ve got Sonia and Toby, Canada feels like home. Although, it’s been great to come back to England and see you all. We were saying to Mum and Dad that we would absolutely love it if any of the family were to come over and see us.’

  ‘We’re definitely planning to at some point, we just need to arrange cover for the bakery,’ Craig said.

  ‘I know we’ve got Claire and Brad but we’ll have to get a manager in if we go away for a few weeks,’ Paula added.

  Granny Mabe sat down at the table and poured herself a cup of tea. ‘I might come and see you too. I fancy a trip to Canada. As long as I can bring a friend with me. I don’t feel like doing a long trip like that alone.’

  ‘Of course you can. That would be wonderful, wouldn’t it, Jay?’ Sonia said.

  Jay nodded. ‘You go for it, Granny M. Would it be a female or male friend you’ll be bringing?’

  ‘Now, that’d be telling,’ Granny Mabe said with a twinkle in her eye. She finished her tea. ‘Right, I’m off to get ready now, I’m off out in a bit so I’ll see you all later.’

  ‘Your gran is out so much. She must have lots of friends,’ Sonia said when Granny Mabe had gone.

  ‘She’s hardly ever in. Drives herself around, too,’ Paula said. ‘It wouldn’t surprise me at all if she did come to visit you both. There’s no stopping her.’

  Lexi could imagine her gran flying to Canada. It was just the sort of thing she would do.

  ‘Right, I have to go,’ her dad said. ‘Shall we both go in my car, Lexi?’

  ‘Sure.’ She pulled on her coat, double-bobble hat, gloves and scarf. It was a bit chilly today, although she knew the bakery would be warm and cosy. She was hoping it would snow. That would make Christmas Day perfect.

  The bakery was busy for the first couple of hours, with people popping in for the Christmas cakes, puddings and other odds and ends they’d ordered, but by midday it was quiet.

  ‘You get off, love. I’ll tidy up here,’ said her dad.

  ‘Are you sure? I don’t mind helping?’

  ‘Positive. Providing you don’t mind walking home. It’s a bit nippy. I think it might snow again.’

  ‘I hope so. That would make Christmas perfect.’ Lexi fetched her coat, hat and scarf. ‘Don’t worry about me being cold, I’m all togged up,’ she said, taking her gloves out of her coat pocket and pulling them on. She wanted to check whether her gran and her friends had started their yarn-bombing yet.

  As she turned the corner, she glanced over at the green. The tree looked so majestic, standing in the middle. She walked over the road, onto the green and looked up at the dense branches with their needle-like leaves and cones. Joel has made a really good job of this, she thought. She knew that he had removed quite a lot of branches, but the tree still looked thick and healthy. It would be safe enough now for Granny Mabe and her friends to hang baubles and things on the branches, she thought. She hoped they stuck to the lower ones and didn’t bring a ladder so they could reach higher up. She wouldn’t put anything past them, though.

  When Lexi arrived home, Granny Mabe was about to drive off in her car again. She wound the window down and called, ‘Want to come and help? We could do with another pair of hands?’

  Lexi glanced into the back of the car and saw the bag of knitted baubles. ‘Are you going to yarn-bomb the tree?’

  ‘I am that. Hop in. Jay, Sonia and Toby are still out and your mum’s popped to the supermarket to get some last-minute odds and ends. Ryan phoned to say they won’t be here until teatime, they’ve got a bit delayed.

  Lexi hesitated. ‘Gran, if you get caught doing this, you’ll get fined.’

  ‘Bah, who’s going to report us? The villagers are pleased that the tree has been saved and the council offices are closed now. But if you’re worried, you stay here.’

  She was worried, but her gran was right it was highly unlikely any of the villagers would report them. And at least if she helped them, she could keep an eye on them and make sure that none of them attempted to climb on ladders – or even, heaven forbid, the tree! – to hang their glittery creations higher up.

  ‘Okay.’ She opened the passenger door and clambered in beside her gran.

  ‘We’re going to Cynthia’s first to gather all the things together,’ Granny Mabe said as she started up the car, then pulled away so fast that Lexi was thrown back in her seat – it was a good job she’d managed to fasten her seatbelt. ‘Take it easy, Gran!’ she said. ‘I don’t want to be spending Christmas in A&E.’ She glanced at her grandmother. ‘Perhaps I should drive?’

  ‘You will not! This is my car, and I haven’t had a serious accident in the fifty years I’ve been driving,’ Granny Mabe said as they headed off down the street.

  Lexi didn’t find the words ‘serious accident’ very comforting, but she had to admit that the drive to Cynthia’s house – on the other side of the village – went smoothly. And she was quite excited to meet all of the yarn-bombers.

  To her surprise, one of them was just a little older than herself, and there were two men in the group, too. She wondered if Granny Mabe would persuade Lloyd to join them.

  Lexi couldn’t believe all the things they’d knitted: tiny snowman and Santa baubles; tin
sel, squares with Christmas trees, snowmen and Santas knitted in them. They were beautiful and would make the tree look really festive. She was worried about the safety aspect though.

  ‘You are only going to hang these on the lower branches, aren’t you, Granny? The ones you can easily reach? I don’t want anyone getting hurt.’

  ‘We’ve got it all sorted. Stop worrying,’ Granny Mabe told her.

  Lexi sighed. There was no way her gran or any of her friends were going to listen to her. She was going to keep a close eye on them, and make sure no one did any climbing on ladders – if necessary, she would do it. She wasn’t risking one of the elderly folk getting hurt. The least they would do was break a bone. She didn’t want to think of the worst damage.

  Lexi spotted Andy’s truck parked on the road as they approached the green. Had he come to check on the tree? Then she saw the platform parked beside the tree, and two men in hard hats, goggles and wearing high-viz jackets, draping lights over the tree.

  ‘Well, would you look at that! The council must have decided to put the lights on the tree after all. Isn’t that wonderful,’ Granny Mabe exclaimed, as she pulled up on the kerb outside the shops opposite the green.

  ‘It’s not the council, it’s Joel and Andy.’ Lexi opened the car door and stepped out.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Granny Mabe asked, surprised.

  Although she couldn’t see the men clearly, Lexi was sure it was them. One was tall and broad, the other smaller. And that was definitely Andy’s truck. What was going on? Had they managed to get permission from the council to decorate the tree?

  Everyone else was piling out of their cars and staring over at the tree. The man on the platform had finished arranging the top of the tree now. He dismounted to help the other man drape the lights over the lower branches. Then he bent down and fiddled with something and the tree lit up with hundreds of sparkling white lights.