‘And, look at that, here we are again, underneath the mistletoe.’
I look up. ‘So we are,’ I reply. ‘Is it my turn to kiss you first this time?’
‘That only seems fair,’ he replies. ‘And safest. I wouldn’t want to upset you – Gaz might find out and try to destroy my car with glitter again.’
‘I like the sparkles,’ I tell him. ‘They’re classy and festive.’
As Seb starts to laugh, I reach up and place my hands on his face. I’m too short to reach his face with my own, so Seb lifts me up into his arms so that I can kiss him. The snow falls down on us as our lips lock, and it’s a passionate, loving kiss that means so much more than any of our others have (thanks to the anonymity of the first or the animosity surrounding the second). It’s only as our lips part that we realise there’s a small crowd of children watching us, and the two I brought with me are at the front.
‘Auntie Ivy,’ Chloe says, all smiles. ‘You said he wasn’t your boyfriend.’
‘Erm, he wasn’t before,’ I say.
‘But I am now?’ he asks me.
‘I feel like the parents of these children would be more comfortable – and have far less explaining to do – if I answered yes.’ I laugh. ‘So, yes?’
It occurs to me that it might be a weird way to enter into a relationship, with us both asking each other a question, but nothing about our relationship so far has been at all normal.
Yesterday, things felt so bleak. I felt like I was going to lose everything I had – which, admittedly, wasn’t much. Now, not only do I get to keep it all, but I’m getting so much more too, and it looks like it’s going to be everything I’ve ever wanted.
Chapter 28
Glancing out of the flat window, I look at the tree in the garden, where we scattered our mum’s ashes.
‘Ivy, can you sort the carrots, please?’ Lee asks me.
‘Yeah, sure,’ I reply.
On this Christmas Day, just like on many of the ones that came before it, Lee and I are cooking the Christmas dinner. We actually make a pretty good team because when it comes to cooking, we share similar values.
We both agree on many important issues: that Brussels sprouts can taste amazing (if you cook them with bacon, chestnuts, and smother them in honey), that Christmas pudding is just as gruesome as Christmas cake (again, why doesn’t it go off?!), and that – if you’re doing things properly – under no circumstances should you cook your vegetables ahead of time and simply reheat them the next day (because half the fun is running around like a headless turkey, trying to make sure everything is ready at the same time).
While it may be tradition that Lee and I cook, we usually eat at Holly and Lee’s house. This year is different though, what with it being the last Christmas before the shop as we know it is demolished. We thought it would be nice to have one last Christmas here, to honour our mum.
I strain the carrots before placing them in a dish. Then I do the same with the peas.
‘You have Yorkshire puddings with your Christmas dinner?’ Seb observes.
Oh, that’s another change in tradition this year – no, not the addition of Yorkshire puddings, we always have those. This year, I’m not alone. I have Seb.
‘You’re in Yorkshire now, lad,’ Lee tells him, in an overly exaggerated Yorkshire accent. ‘Par for t’course.’
‘I’m not complaining.’ Seb laughs. ‘I love Yorkshire puddings.’
‘Dinner is ready, kids, come to the table,’ Holly says, tearing them away from watching Elf on TV.
My dining table isn’t very big, which is why we’re using a pasting table that Holly and Lee brought with them. However, covered with my beautiful red and gold festive tablecloth, you’d never know the last time it was used it was for hanging wallpaper.
‘Well, the number of people around this table is just going to keep growing and growing, isn’t it?’ Holly observes with a big smile.
‘There’s just one more, mummy,’ Chloe says. I wonder how she’ll react, when she finds out her mum is pregnant. Holly says she’ll be fine, so long as she’s expecting a girl. She doesn’t think Chloe will want another brother.
‘It’s weird, having Christmas dinner here – it’s been so long since we had Christmas dinner here,’ Holly says. ‘Do you remember the last time?’
‘Yes.’ I cackle. ‘It was while Mum was still alive, but it was so disastrous. In fact, we’d had a few disastrous ones – that’s why we started having them at your place.’
‘What happened?’ Seb asks curiously.
‘Well, that last one…we had these crazy snowstorms in the run-up to Christmas. It wasn’t so bad, until Christmas day, when we all gathered here and then the power went out. As soon as it got dark, we had to do everything by candlelight. Luckily we still cook with gas here, or we wouldn’t have been able to eat Christmas dinner.’
‘We’d bought loads of microwave stuff, telling my mum how much easier the cooking would be, if we could just bung half of it in the microwave.’ Holly laughs. ‘And then we had to do it the old-fashioned way.’
‘It was kind of nice though, with all the candlelight, having to play board games to keep us entertained,’ I say nostalgically.
‘Until Lee got so mad playing Monopoly that he flipped the board,’ Holly says.
‘Yeah, all right,’ Lee says embarrassed. ‘They’re not even mentioning the worst bit.’
‘Oh yeah?’ Seb asks.
‘Yeah, not only was the power out, but we also got snowed in for two days. Luckily, this was before the kids were born, but there isn’t much room here, and we had to eat Christmas dinner leftovers for more meals than I would’ve liked.’
‘Oh yeah, I forgot about that.’ Holly laughs.
‘I suppose you’ve forgotten about the year you wore a cowboy hat to Christmas dinner,’ I remind her.
‘Oh, God, I was obsessed with Steps,’ she says.
‘You still are,’ Lee says under his breath.
‘It’s nice.’ Seb chuckles. ‘That you guys have so many stories like this. I don’t really have any stories…’
‘Well, we’ve got loads,’ Holly reassures him. ‘And many more to come, I’m sure.’
‘I know what Holly’s worst Christmas was,’ I offer.
‘Oh, God, so do I,’ Lee says. ‘I’ll be in the dog house if she tells this one.’
‘Well, then I have to hear it,’ Seb says, grabbing his drink.
‘It was the first Christmas Lee was going to be spending with us – with me, Ivy and my mum,’ Holly explains. ‘My mum didn’t know him all that well and, of course, she was worried that he might not be good enough for her daughter.’
‘Holly warned me to be on my best behaviour, so I was,’ Lee chimes in. ‘I met up with a mate for a drink beforehand – and neither of us drank alcohol, to make sure I was in a good state when I turned up for dinner.’
‘Except the idiots forgot to check the causeway times, so when it came time to leave, the tide was in,’ Holly says. ‘And what did he do? Did he call ahead and make a polite excuse? No. He drove into the bloody sea, got stuck there, and had to get the coastguard to rescue him.’
‘You’ve seen the causeway, right?’ Lee says, in his defence. ‘It just looks like a big puddle.’
‘Someone told me it was 6 feet deep at high tide.’ Seb laughs.
‘Whose side are you on?’ Lee asks. ‘We need to stick together, buddy. There’s finally the same number of boys as there are girls at this table.’
‘Maybe.’ Holly laughs. ‘Anyway, I was so, so angry with him for showing up late, and I was terrified of Mum finding out the reason why.’
‘Did she?’ Seb asks.
‘I told her,’ I confess. ‘I was worried he wasn’t good enough too.’
‘Anyway, I was raging – at Lee, and at Ivy, but my mum just laughed. She calmed me down, Lee turned up eventually, and she approved.’
It’s so wonderful, eating dinner together as a big family. Seb might just be on
e more person but, after Mum died, and it was just me going to Lee and Holly’s for Christmas dinner, it felt like I was crashing their family dinner. Now, with Seb here, it feels like I’m bringing something to the table too.
We might be surrounded by boxes, ready for me temporarily moving out in the New Year, but this is the happiest Christmas I’ve had in a long time.
When we’re finished with dinner Seb disappears for a few minutes, before returning with a box.
‘One last present,’ he tells me.
‘Another one?’
‘Last one, I promise,’ he insists, handing me the box.
It’s heavy so I place it down on the table in front of me, opening it carefully in front of my audience.
‘My train,’ I squeak, before my smile quickly falls. ‘So you did steal it?!’
‘I didn’t steal it,’ he replies. ‘I…borrowed it.’
‘Well, erm, thanks,’ I reply.
‘I got it fixed,’ he tells me.
‘What?’
‘I told you before, I know a model train guy. I took it, hoping you wouldn’t notice, so I could put it back – fixed. He only got it back to me yesterday, actually.’
‘Seb, that’s amazing! I thought it would never get fixed,’ I chirp, running over to him to throw my arms around him.
‘You’re welcome.’ He laughs, squeezing me tightly. ‘When the new shop is ready, we’ll see about extending the track maybe. My guy said he’d service the whole thing for you.’
‘You’re amazing,’ I tell him, grabbing him for a passionate kiss.
‘OK, you two, get a room,’ my sister jokes awkwardly.
After dessert, Seb offers to do the dishes, even though I told him I don’t have a dishwasher. And much to my surprise, Holly offered to dry them, saying that as Lee and I cooked dinner, it was only fair.
I walk up behind Seb and wrap my arms around him.
‘You’re wonderful,’ I whisper into his ear.
‘You’re not so bad yourself,’ he says, turning around to kiss me. ‘Now, go put your feet up.’
I head for the sofa, where Lee and the kids are watching The Grinch.
Holly chases after me and gives me a big hug.
‘What’s that for?’ I ask with a laugh. My sister isn’t usually one for hugging.
‘This is just nice,’ she tells me. ‘It feels like an old-fashioned Christmas, having it here.’
‘I thought you hated those,’ I remind her.
‘I thought I was cooler than Christmas.’ She laughs. ‘And then Mum died and…it just reminded me too much of her.’
‘It’s not the same without her, is it? She was always the life and soul of Christmas and, now she’s gone…’
‘And now you’re the life and soul of Christmas,’ she tells me, squeezing my hand. ‘You make Christmas just as amazing as Mum did when she was alive. She’d be so proud of you.’
Chapter 29
I pierce the whipped cream topping of my drink with a straw and take a big gulp.
‘Wow, this is amazing,’ I say, quickly going in for another sip.
‘Do you really think so?’ Sophie, the girl who runs the café asks. ‘I made it in honour of your shop.’
I’ve never tried an iced gingerbread latte before. I suppose people don’t usually want festive flavours in the heat of summer. It’s so sweet of Sophie to think of me and my shop, when it comes to her menu.
‘Honestly, it’s delicious,’ I insist. ‘Just what I need on a hot summer’s day like today.’
‘It’s me who should be thanking you,’ she says. ‘Relocating here is the best thing I ever did; there was a bit too much competition for me over on the island. And, selling your sweet treats is just the icing on the cake – no pun intended. People are going crazy for them.’
‘Thank you for giving me an outlet to sell them,’ I reply. ‘It’s nice to make them for more than just my friends and family.’
‘They’re incredible,’ she says. ‘It’s so hard not to snack on them all day.’
I thank Sophie one last time before grabbing the two drinks from the counter and heading next door, to the new and improved Christmas Every Day.
As I walk through the new door, the first thing that hits me is the air con, which is a welcome new addition. While there was always something fun about being around Christmas things during the summer months, I never did quite adapt to sweating my face off while surrounded by fake snow.
I make my way to the counter, which takes longer than it did in the old shop, because the new one is much bigger, and it’s already full of customers, despite the holiday homes not being quite finished yet. Seb doesn’t think it will be too long before they’re finished and then the project will finally be complete. It’s been a busy, full-on year so far, but it’s the happiest I’ve been in a long time.
As I approach the counter, the steam train whizzes past me on a track above my head. It had been broken for so long, I’d forgotten just how amazing it was to see it in action. It’s become the star of the shop again, and with new life breathed into it, I feel that little bit closer to my mum. It was her who bought it and set it up in the shop originally, after all.
I hand Gaz an iced gingerbread latte, which he swigs between serving customers.
‘This is bloody good,’ he tells me when he gets a few seconds’ downtime.
I smile. I like to watch Gaz working; he’s a real natural in the shop now, and a true expert in all things festive. He seems to love it too because, other than promising to dress up as Santa Claus for me again this coming Christmas so he can resume his Santa Story Time gig, he’s given up travelling around, dressing up as different people. He says he’s happy just being Gaz for a while, although I think that might be something to do with his flowering relationship with Charlie the vet.
‘Oh, your balloons arrived,’ he tells me, nodding towards a box.
‘Great,’ I reply, picking it up. ‘I’ll set them out.’
It’s strange, because I know that we’re in a new shop, but it still feels like we’re in the old one. The building is much bigger, with a more modern feel, with big glass windows that give the place more natural light – of course, before, with our one little window at the front, I didn’t have much room for showcasing all of our different types of window decorations and lights, so it’s nice to have more space to do that.
While everything may appear different, I think it is that unmistakable Christmas atmosphere that we have here that has carried on, and that’s why everything feels so familiar. It just goes to show, when I was so worried about relocating the shop before, that it wasn’t the four walls that made it what it was, it was everything that I put inside it.
With more space, more opportunities have arisen for the shop. Now, we have a small section devoted to things from other seasonal occasions, so you can pick up things for Easter, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, et cetera.
I head over to our little seasonal section, a little corner tucked away from all the Christmas stuff, open up the box and begin placing the special edition snow globes on the space I made for them earlier. They are made by the same man who makes the Marram Bay Christmas snow globes that I sell in the shop, but these aren’t Christmassy at all. The intricate scene inside shows Marram Bay in all its sunny glory, at the height of our forthcoming Hot Air Balloon Festival. It truly is a spectacle, with hot air balloons dotted around in the sky. The snow globes depict it perfectly, and if you shake it up, it sparkles instead of snows. The snow globes have always been so popular, so I’m hoping these will be too, with all the tourists who will be coming to town especially for the occasion.
I feel a pair of hands on my hips.
‘Hey, gorgeous,’ Seb whispers into my ear.
‘Hello,’ I say brightly, turning around to face him.
I close my eyes and pucker up, just like I always do when I want to kiss him. It’s not that I’m needy, or being especially sickly, but with him being a foot taller than me, it’s my way of aski
ng him to come down to my level so we can kiss.
‘How’s it going over there?’ I ask.
‘Good,’ he replies. ‘Although northern builders terrify me. I’m pretty sure Rich just broke his finger – he says “it’ll be reet” though.’
‘That sounds about right.’ I laugh. ‘We’re much tougher than you southerners.’
‘Says the woman who has to ask me to bend over so she can kiss me,’ he teases.
‘Well, I’m not exactly going to leap into your arms in front of all these people, am I?’
‘Shame,’ he jokes. ‘I need to get back but, before I forget… You know how, by some miracle, you’ve managed to stand me for more than half a year now?’
‘It has been tough,’ I reply, faux seriously.
‘Hmm,’ he replies. ‘Well, I thought we should celebrate, and what better way than to go to the place where we had our first date. The Lighthouse has reopened again, after their big refurbishment. I thought we could go there. We could even stay over, go a day without waking up on a building site.’
‘God, you’re amazing,’ I say, practically in awe. I don’t think a day has gone by since we got together, when Seb hasn’t pleasantly surprised me in some way. He definitely isn’t the ruthless businessman I thought he was to start with.
‘Yeah,’ he agrees with a cheeky laugh. He leans forward to kiss me again. ‘Right, I’d better go make sure Rich hasn’t lost a finger; see you this evening.’
‘See you,’ I call after him.
I sigh happily, before turning back to stacking the shelves.
After a couple of minutes, I feel someone grab me again. This time it’s two people, my niece and nephew, who take a leg each and squeeze me.
‘Hey, kids, how’s it going?’
‘They’re driving me mad,’ my heavily pregnant sister says.
‘Wow, you get bigger every time I see you,’ I exclaim.
‘Thanks.’ She laughs. ‘You sure know how to make a girl feel good about herself.’
‘Baby big, not big-big.’ I laugh.
My sister flashes me a cheeky smile to let me know that she’s joking.
Love and Lies at the Village Christmas Shop Page 20
