by Beth Good
Good King Wenceslas went down well with the older crowd, and everyone joined in with Once In Royal David’s city. By the time they reached Ding Dong Merrily On High, Hannah felt almost relaxed, until she caught Daniel’s grin and nearly choked on a high note …
I’ve been told I sound like a mouse on steroids.
Much to her relief, however, his voice was far from squeaky, being deep and rich, and very pleasantly tuneful.
Fibber, she accused him with her eyes, and his grin widened.
The garden centre choir sang their way through new and old favourites, and the fa-la-las and pa-ra-pa-pum-pums filled the softly-lit space with joy and Christmas spirit. But it was hard work too, thirsty work, and by the time the last carol ended, everyone was ready for a warming drink.
Hannah didn’t have much time to speak to Daniel. She had to make sure the mince pies were dished out fairly, and that the kids didn’t get their hands on any mulled wine or Katy’s home-made eggnog. But she was aware of his presence the whole time.
He looked comfortable and more relaxed than she had ever seen him, laughing and joking with her colleagues, and even good naturedly signing yet more autographs. She felt silly, and a bit lovesick, ladle in hand over the mulled wine vat, constantly checking what he was doing when she ought to have been concentrating on her job. But it seemed Daniel couldn’t keep his eyes off her either. Every time she looked round, she found him watching her too, a silent promise in his green gaze, and by the time the last glass of wine had been handed out, she was feeling quite flustered and warm-cheeked.
Mr Turner called for silence and raised his plastic cup of mulled wine. ‘Friends, I propose a toast to Hannah, our new Junior Manager,’ he said, making her squirm with embarrassment as all eyes turned towards her, ‘who has done such a fantastic job organising this event.’
Everyone cheered, and raised their plastic cups. ‘To Hannah!’ ‘Well done, Hannah!’ and ‘Nice wet patch, Hannah!’
She narrowed her eyes at Sam, who gave her a less than apologetic grin.
Mr Turner waited until the cheers and shouts had subsided, and then finished with his traditional end note, ‘And to everyone here, colleagues and valued customers of the Lucky Parrot Garden Centre, I wish you a merry Christmas, one and all!’
During the general applause and cries of ‘Merry Christmas’ that followed, Camilla stepped forward, adding helpfully, ‘And please don’t forget, we open again on Boxing Day, 10am until 4pm, for our big post-Christmas sale.’
To which reminder, all the staff groaned.
Afterwards, while everyone circulated the store looking for last-minute gifts, or stood about chatting, Daniel came to her side and slid an arm about her shoulders. ‘I had great fun. Thanks so much for inviting me.’ He studied her exhausted face, and gave her a quick hug. ‘Well done, Hannah. That was a brilliant event.’
‘Thank you.’ Able to relax now that everything had gone off without a hitch, apart from her looking distinctly sodden, Hannah smiled up at Daniel. ‘I’m just relieved it’s over.’
‘But tired.’
She nodded, heaving a sigh. ‘Knackered, to be honest.’
‘Maybe we should give tonight’s drink a miss.’
She caught her breath at those words, feeling a sharp stabbing pain at the centre of her heart. ‘I … ’ Quickly, she got her feelings of dismay under control. She had known this day was coming. No need to make it obvious how much she was hurting. But what had turned him off? The wet patch on her uniform? Or her too hurriedly-applied make-up? ‘Okay,’ she said, as levelly as she could manage, ‘that’s no problem. It is Christmas Eve, after all.’
‘What are you doing tomorrow, Hannah?’
To protect her heart, she should say she was going to spend time with her family. But she did not want to lie to him. It felt wrong.
Besides, he would only have to look out of his window tomorrow and see smoke coming out of her chimney to know she had not gone anywhere.
‘Staying home with Pepper and having a quiet day in,’ she said, raising her chin as if challenging him to mock her for it.
‘Spend it with me instead,’ he urged her. ‘Bring Pepper over. Or I’ll come to you, if you prefer. I’m not doing anything either, and it’s stupid for us both to be alone when we can spend Christmas Day together.’ His smile warmed her frozen heart back to sudden beating life. ‘It’s just a matter of crossing the road.’
‘I’d love to.’
Daniel held up his plastic cup of mulled wine and knocked it against hers. ‘It’s a date.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Abbey Villa looked wonderfully festive when Hannah made her way over mid-morning on Christmas Day. She carried a bottle of wine, a variety of cheeses, and a bottle of malt whisky (a gift from Mr Turner, as a thank-you for her success with the carol-singing event).
Pepper was at home, still playing with a new toy from his Christmas stocking, but Hannah knew it wouldn’t be long before he snuck through the cat flap and came across the road to join them. She went round to the back door, which was unlocked, and let herself in.
Daniel must have heard her because he appeared in the kitchen doorway, an apron tied around his waist. He was wearing a faded and torn pair of jeans, and his hair looked as though he had been dragging his fingers through it.
‘Thank god you’re here,’ he said. ‘I have no idea what I’m doing. Should I put the potatoes in when I put the turkey in, or wait?’
Hannah looked at him blankly. ‘Don’t you know?’
‘No. I’m not really a cook. I can just about manage a toastie.’
‘What about the meal we had the other day?’
‘Mrs Smirthwaite cooked it for me, and all I did was heat it up, which is about my limit.’
‘You cheated!’
Colour tinged Daniel’s cheekbones. ‘Okay, you’ve caught me out. But what’s a man to do when he wants to impress his date?’
Hannah smiled cheekily. ‘Oh, I was impressed,’ she told him, ‘but I’m not sure it was entirely down to the dinner.’
‘For that you deserve a kiss.’ He dangled a piece of mistletoe over her head, and leant in. A long satisfactory moment passed, during which Hannah was pleased to note that Daniel dropped the mistletoe and used both arms to cradle her tightly against him.
When they finally broke apart, Hannah’s knees were weak and her lips felt tender. She was pleased to see that Daniel was looking a bit shaken as well.
‘Right.’ He passed a hand over his hair again as if trying to gather his wits. ‘Hmm, where was I? Dinner. That’s it. Pleasant as that interlude was, I’m still no closer to getting our food ready.’ He looked at her appealingly. ‘Any ideas?’
‘Sorry, I’m not much of a cook either. Cheap and cheerful, that’s my style. But aren’t you supposed to boil the potatoes first? Before you roast them, I mean?’
‘Google,’ he said suddenly, then frowned. ‘Or is that more cheating?’
She laughed. ‘Whatever gets us a roast dinner, I’m fine with it.’
They peered at his laptop together, and with the help of Google got the turkey prepared and into Ivy’s antiquated oven, followed later by the roasties.
While dinner cooked, they headed off for a Christmas Day walk. The snow that had fallen on-and-off for the last couple of days hadn’t settled properly, and the path was a mulch of fallen leaves trodden into the mud by horses and dog walkers. It was semi-frozen and where there were puddles they were iced-over and slippery.
They walked hand in hand, enjoying each other’s company, and every so often Daniel would hold the mistletoe over her head and kiss her. They made slow progress but in the end arrived back at the house, flushed with the cold and each other’s company.
The smell of burning, and the piercing sound of the smoke alarm, met them when they opened the door.
‘Bloody hell.’ Daniel ripped open the oven door. Juggling oven gloves without putting them on, he dragged out the roasting pan and its smoking contents
. He poked dubiously at the top of the bird. ‘It’s a bit crispy.’
Hannah peered past his elbow. ‘An understatement, I think. Have you grilled it instead of roasting it?’
He turned to look at her, eyebrows raised. ‘There’s a difference?’
Hannah chuckled. ‘I think so. We can’t eat that though. That’s part charcoal, part salmonella.’
‘Damn it. What are we going to do?’
In the end, they pulled crackers at the table while they ate beans on toast, donning paper hats and laughing over the corny jokes inside. They followed that with cheese and wine, and finished up with a microwaved Christmas pudding, laced generously with brandy cream.
‘That was delicious, but I have to go,’ Hannah said regretfully later as she sat tucked in to Daniel’s side, holding hands with him.
He kissed her deeply. ‘Pity. I can think of things we could do if you stayed.’
‘Mmm.’
So could Hannah. But sadly, the price for missing Christmas dinner with her family was to pop in for the evening instead. If she missed it, questions would be asked. And she didn’t think she was ready to talk about Daniel just yet. Not when she still wasn’t entirely certain what this thing was between them.
‘Will you come round tomorrow for dinner again, Hannah? This time I’ll try to cook something vaguely edible.’
‘Good luck with that.’
He did not smile, which surprised her. Had she offended him?
‘Yeah, fingers crossed.’ All signs of playfulness were gone from Daniel’s face as he added hesitantly, 'There’s something really important I need to ask you.’
‘Sure,’ she said readily, though in fact her heart had given a little hop at his expression. What was this about? ‘Half past seven-ish?’
‘Perfect.’
There was a big sale on at the Lucky Parrot Garden Centre on Boxing Day. Luckily, Hannah only had to work for four hours in the afternoon. It was a busy day though, and she spent a great deal of time troubleshooting, which seemed to be one of her new duties. At least the constant rushing from one issue to another meant time went by much faster than when she was shifting gnomes or on the tills. That was one benefit to offset the increase in stress, she thought wryly.
When her shift ended, she couldn’t wait to get home, excited by the prospect of dinner with Daniel. She tore off to the staffroom to change out of her ugly dungarees, and didn’t even stop to banter with colleagues as she normally would after the Christmas break. Turning on her phone somewhat belatedly, she checked her messages.
A text from Daniel popped up.
Please text me when you get home. Dan xx
Hannah frowned, worried that something was wrong. Was Pepper okay? She rang him back immediately but got no answer.
With increasing anxiety, Hannah texted him back instead.
Leaving work now. See you soon. What’s wrong?
His answer only arrived when she was halfway home, on her bicycle for extra speed.
Don’t worry. Nothing serious. Explain when I see you.
The sky was ominously dark, the daylight fading faster as a result. The clouds were that heavy dirty yellow that indicated a big snow fall would soon be on the way, and indeed by the time she passed Mr Smirthwaite, out on his tractor again, snowflakes were already falling, blown about on the chill wind.
When Hannah arrived home, Daniel was waiting on her doorstep.
‘Are you all right?’
‘Can we go inside?’ he said sombrely.
CHAPTER TWELVE
What on earth was wrong? Hannah’s hand was trembling as she turned the key in the lock. There was something horribly tense about Daniel, and it was putting her on edge too.
‘I’ll put the kettle on.’
She went straight through to the kitchen, chattering nervously about her day, trying to put off the awful moment when Daniel told her what had happened. She’d put two mugs on the counter when he touched her shoulder, and she stilled instinctively.
‘Ivy’s back,’ he said quietly.
Oh goodness, was that all?
Hannah’s first feeling was one of relief. ‘Already? She’s back early. Didn’t she have a good time on her holiday?’
‘On the contrary, she had such a great time,’ he said grimly, ‘that she’s brought a friend back with him. It means that dinner’s off tonight because she wants time alone with him.’
‘Him?’ Hannah glanced at Daniel and was pleased to see a slight gleam of humour in his expression.
‘She’s brought a toy boy home with her.’
Hannah laughed, trying to imagine stern Ivy living it up with a younger man. She struggled to picture her unbending enough to have fun. But maybe it had been all cribbage and tea dancing.
‘How young a toy boy?’
‘Sixty.’
Ah, there was that groove that appeared in his cheek when he was amused. Hannah was so pleased to see it, she reached out and traced it with her fingers. He caught her hand and turned his face into her palm, laying a warm kiss there.
‘I know, it was hard to keep a straight face when they walked in, holding hands. But I’m afraid it means that I have to cancel dinner.’
Behind them, the kettle came to a boil and switched itself off.
Hannah ignored it.
‘No problem, I’ll cook something here.’
She was already opening the fridge to see what she had inside when Daniel shook his head, saying, ‘It’s not just dinner, Hannah.’ Now the deep note was back in his voice. ‘Ivy wants the place to herself. She says I’m in the way.’
‘You can stay here …’ Hannah’s voice faltered when she saw his face.
‘That’s very generous of you, but I really have to get back to London. In fact, I’ve already packed, and I’m leaving tonight.’
Hannah felt dazed, as if someone had slapped her. ‘I … I don’t understand.’
‘I’m sorry. I know it’s sudden. But I can’t see any way round it.’
As she stood staring at him, speechless, Daniel cupped her chin and stroked her cheek with his thumb. It was a tender gesture, and perhaps he meant it to be comforting, but Hannah suddenly didn’t want his comfort. She wanted him to stay. Not to break her heart like this.
She stepped out of his reach, and his hand dropped back to his side.
He’s leaving me.
The thought just kept swirling around in her head, cold and numbing, like the snow that had started falling again on her cycle ride home. Their little holiday romance was over. Daniel was going back to London just when she had started to believe that they could build something real together. Something lasting.
‘There are things that urgently need my attention in London,’ he added, ‘and I’ve been neglecting them lately.’
‘Go then,’ Hannah said, her heart breaking.
‘I’ll call you. We’ll talk.’
‘Sure.’
That easy promise made her feel like cringing. How many times had she heard that before? She bowed her head over her tea mug, blindly fumbling for the milk, and could feel him looking at her. She refused to look up though, afraid that he would see how devastated she was at his departure.
‘Hannah?’
‘Sorry, I’m tired. It was a … a long day.’ She was proud of herself for not showing what she was feeling. ‘Have a safe journey.’
Daniel sighed, and she felt rather than saw him walk away. He paused, framed in the front door. ‘I’ll be in touch, I promise.’
The door shut quietly behind him.
Pepper meowed and wove around her legs as if he understood her pain. But she did not have the strength to pet him.
Hannah stood motionless, listening until she heard the sound of a car engine driving up the road. When it had faded into the distance, she finally uncurled her fingers from the tight fists she had made. She moved slowly, locking up the cottage, turning out the lights, and stumbling upstairs, Pepper following silently behind like her shadow.
&nbs
p; Her bedroom was cold and damp, but she undressed without bothering to put the heater on, and then climbed into bed, pulling the covers over her head.
Only then did she finally let herself cry.
Snow fell more heavily in the night, those grim clouds finally delivering what they had promised, and settling in four or five inches of crisp white across the dips and rises of the countryside. It was beautiful, and one of her favourite sights every winter. Yet this year Hannah couldn’t seem to get excited about it.
Over the next couple of days, it snowed again, and sales of shovels boomed at the Lucky Parrot Garden Centre. They ran out of sledges, and Hannah learnt how to do her first phone reorder, of another dozen wooden sledges from the supplier, while wellies flew off the shelves, and the café sold oodles of soup and hot chocolate.
Hannah ought to have been enjoying the responsibilities of her new job, which left her tired out every evening, curled up with Pepper on the sofa.
But it was no use pretending she was not deeply unhappy.
She missed Daniel with a constant ache, and often found herself close to tears at the smallest thing, which was embarrassing. She missed her old job as well. She spent most of her day at the customer service desk, dealing with difficult customers and solving problems, or making endless phone calls in the office. There was paperwork too, reams and reams of it, and she never seemed to get to the end of it.
Petting Chadwick in the office, and being sworn at by him, was about the only thing she looked forward to now. She even missed chasing Lightning Brow.
Hannah spent the next few days wondering why on earth she had accepted the promotion, and secretly wishing that Daniel would ring, despite having decided that if he did deign to call, she would ignore him. It was better to have a clean end to the affair than some miserable slow dribbling away.
Sadly, her heart didn’t seem to get the message.
In the end though, it didn’t matter.
