Kate
‘Have you seen Punxsutawney Phil around?’ Kate asked Emma when she walked back into Cocktails & Chai and found her in exactly the same position she’d left her in half an hour before.
‘Huh?’
‘Easy Groundhog Day mistake. It’s winter. There’s a full centimetre of snow on the ground and I swear this is where I walked in thirty minutes ago.’ Kate pointed up to the ceiling. ‘What’s with all the chandelier gazing?’
Emma swung around to face her. ‘I was supposed to start bringing out the china, wasn’t I? Sorry. I’ll jump right on it – well, not on it, on it because then it would smash—’
‘Okay,’ Kate held up a hand to cut Emma off. ‘Despite the fact Juliet’s not due for another two minutes, I’m going to break with protocol, risk it for a biscuit, and without waiting for her, ask you how the date went, last night? I’m guessing that has something to do with,’ she pointed back up at the ceiling.
‘My date? My date was … nice.’
‘Nice? Nice?’ Kate shoved her beanie back to expose more of her ears, thinking she must not have heard her correctly.
‘I knew it,’ Juliet said carrying empty plastic crates into the room, taking one look at Kate and accusing, ‘I knew you couldn’t wait until I got here to ask her. What have I missed? Tell me everything. No salacious detail is too small to leave out.’
‘She just described the date using the four letter word,’ Kate explained.
‘Four letter word – oh my God, it was nice?’ Juliet stood staring at Emma. ‘I don’t understand. How could it just be nice? It was Jake.’
‘What was Jake?’ Oscar asked, coming into the room with another two empty crates.
‘It was Emma’s date with Jake last night,’ Juliet explained. ‘And she’s just declared it … nice.’
‘Ouch. Way to fell a man with one word. Do not tell him it was just nice,’ Oscar advised.
‘That was actually his adjective,’ Emma declared, studying a list of inventory she’d printed out for the evening.
Kate shared a look with both Juliet and Oscar. ‘I really didn’t have Jake down as an idiot,’ she murmured.
‘Me either,’ agreed Juliet. ‘Plus, there was All The Sparks.’
‘Emma, are you sure something wasn’t lost in translation?’
‘Mmm-hmm,’ Emma said shoving a piece of foam into the bottom of one of the empty crates. ‘Positive.’
Moving to stand beside Emma and help her stack china on top of the foam, she said gently, ‘Why don’t you tell us exactly what happened.’
Without looking at her, Emma carried on stacking. ‘I met his sister and his nephew when they popped in. They’re super-nice. Then we went on a tour of the gardens. He’d cooked me Thanksgiving dinner—’
‘It was Thanksgiving yesterday?’ Juliet made an ‘eek’ face as she came to stand the other side of Emma and help stack the crockery. ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’
Emma shrugged. ‘I already knew you’d all been invited to Thursday night dinner for the Dinner That Wasn’t a Big Deal.’
Sheila must have told her, Kate realised. They’d been at her mum’s for their first weekly night dinner with special guest, Big Kev, and although no one had let on in any way that it was a huge deal, it had been.
‘But Jake obviously knew what date it was, even if we’re complete morons,’ Juliet added with a nudge of Emma’s elbow. ‘That’s more than nice, that’s—’
‘I might go and find Daniel,’ Oscar inserted.
‘Good idea,’ Kate said. ‘And then the both of you should go and find Jake and ask him why he thinks it’s appropriate to use four letter words like ‘nice’ at the end of a date he asked for.’
‘Oh my God, you can’t,’ Emma said, hugging her spreadsheet to her chest. ‘You really, absolutely can’t. I’ve already died of mortification around him at least twice now. I really don’t think my heart can take a third time.’
Oscar smiled. ‘Relax. There will be no questioning, information exchange or manly heart-to-hearts. Jeez, this is tree-lighting night, not poker night!’
As soon as Oscar left bearing two crates of china for the stall outside, Kate looked at Emma. ‘So he cooked Thanksgiving dinner for you, you went on a tour of his gardens, then what? Did he start reeling off Latin names for plants and turn you off?’
‘No.’
‘Did you re-enact all of Shakespeare’s soliloquies and accidentally send him to sleep?’
‘No.’ She held a cup to the light as if to check it for chips.
‘So…?’
‘We kissed.’
Kate leaned around Emma’s back to catch Juliet’s attention and mouth the word, ‘Waaaahhh!’ and once that was out of her system, returned to upright position. ‘Please tell me Jake Knightley’s kisses are a hell of a lot better than nice. It would be a crime for a man to look like that and not—’
‘They were.’ Emma licked her lips, frowned, and stroked a hand over the cup she was holding as she considered. ‘They were pretty-darn fabulous, amazing, and mind-blowing.’ Placing the cup inside the crate, she said, ‘Huh. What do you know … three words that are all much better than nice.’
Kate and Juliet both leaned back to silently communicate another ‘Waaahhhh!’ to each other.
‘But then,’ Emma added, reaching for her pencil and spreadsheet, ‘Seth turned up drunk and so that put a stop to fabulous, amazing and mind-blowing, which gave Jake plenty of time to reflect on the date and decide that the best way to describe it was – you know – nice.’
Juliet laid a comforting hand on Emma’s forearm. ‘I’m sure he was only—’
‘Forget it,’ Emma said, shaking off the sympathy, taking a full crate of crockery over to the door and picking up the last empty one on her way back. ‘I just want to concentrate on setting up the best drinks stand at a tree-lighting ceremony in all the land.’
‘But it’s just so mystifying,’ Juliet murmured.
‘Or not,’ Emma said with a small smile. ‘He’s just not that into me.’
‘Again – mystifying. And not at all what was supposed to happen, given that it started snowing and you both stood under the chandelier.’
‘This chandelier? What is the full story anyway? Jake told me some of it last night but it sounds as if there’s more.’
Kate studied Emma for a moment. Perhaps if she learned of the folklore she might not be so quick to accept Jake’s description of their date. ‘Why don’t you seek out Old Man Isaac tonight? I have a feeling he can tell it better than we could.’
At the sound of knocking on the open doors, all three raised their heads to find Gloria standing uncertainly in the doorway.
‘Can I come in?’ Gloria asked.
As if Emma immediately guessed Kate was going to pedantically ask, ‘I don’t know, can you?’ she smiled at Gloria and said under her breath to Kate, ‘Be nice.’
Be nice? To Gloria? But they weren’t open yet!
‘I wanted to have a quick word,’ Gloria said, staring down Kate before her gaze took in the fact that Juliet was there as well and she paled.
‘If it’s to say you can’t spare the hours to do the trial period after all, I’m afraid that’s the only way you’re making it onto the payroll,’ Kate told her.
‘I wanted to apologise,’ Gloria said clearly.
‘What?’ This time Kate whipped off her beanie and shoved it in her pocket.
‘I think she said apologise,’ Juliet whispered.
‘What have you done now?’ Kate sighed.
Gloria blinked and then said, ‘For before. For last year.’
Kate refused to let her mouth drop open. Instead she studied her and with a raised eyebrow, said, ‘Okay, then.’
‘Now?’ Gloria asked looking uncomfortable.
‘Were you thinking of a particular time?’
Gloria’s lips thinned but she stuck to her theme. ‘No. I can do now. Now is good. Can I have a drink?’
Kate rolled her eyes. ‘If you need to be pissed to apologise—’
‘I meant a glass of water.’
‘Oh.’
‘I’ll get you one,’ Emma interrupted kindly. ‘In fact why don’t you all sit down and I’ll bring over some tea.’
‘Shouldn’t Daniel be here to receive his apology?’ Kate asked. It was the very least he deserved after Gloria had so publicly humiliated him before the village fete in the summer.
‘I already spoke with Daniel,’ Gloria admitted, pulling out a chair and sitting down.
‘What?’ A disbelieving Kate sat down with a thud. ‘When?’
‘Yesterday. I saw him in Big Kev’s. He was in there getting—’
Gloria suddenly shut her mouth with a snap but Kate’s dropped open in shock. She knew exactly what Daniel had been buying in Big Kev’s at a quarter to eleven at night.
Gloria winced. ‘Obviously you know what he was getting.’
‘What was he getting?’ Juliet asked, apparently consumed by the minutia of shopping at the local corner shop, late at night.
Well, they were all friends, Kate thought. With the exception of Gloria, that was. Folding her arms, Kate looked at Gloria to see if she would dare answer.
Gloria’s gaze slid uncomfortably away from Kate’s to answer Juliet. ‘Condoms.’
Wow. It turned out she did so dare.
‘Anyway, I saw him and apologised and he seemed to accept it.’
‘Probably because he wanted to get as far away from you as quickly as possible.’
‘No. I made sure.’
‘You made sure? What did you do, follow him outside and demand he acknowledge your apology?’
A mutinous expression crossed Gloria’s face. ‘I realise I don’t always choose the best words when I’m communicating.’
‘He didn’t say a word about this to me,’ Kate accused.
‘I expect he didn’t want to spoil the mood.’
‘Oh my God.’
Emma brought the tea to the table and smiled comfortingly at Gloria. ‘Why don’t you start your apology now?’
Gloria nodded and stood up.
‘What are you doing?’ Kate asked Gloria and then jerked her head to Juliet. ‘What is she doing?’
But Gloria had already taken her phone out of her pocket. As she started scrolling through different screens, Kate lost what little patience she had left today and said, ‘Or, we could all just play Pokemon Go, I suppose.’
‘I’m looking for my apology,’ Gloria told them.
‘You’re…?’ Kate shook her head and then whispered to Juliet, ‘Hands-down is this not the most bizarre turn of events ever?’
‘Ever,’ Juliet agreed.
‘Right,’ Gloria declared finally. ‘Here it is. I wrote it down because—’
‘You thought looking us in the eye would be a step too far?’ Kate suggested.
‘Because, I wanted to make sure I said everything. Ready?’
‘Let’s find out.’
Gloria cleared her throat and began reading. ‘I’d like to tell you the behaviour I’ve exhibited over the last couple of years is not something you’d expect from me and that I could be forgiven because of the extenuating circumstance.’ She looked up from her phone, straight at Kate and Juliet. ‘But that would hardly ring true for either of you.’ She stopped again. Swallowed thickly and then carried on, ‘Yes, there were extenuating circumstances but let’s face it … my default personality has been “bitch” since I was twelve and we got evicted because of Mum’s—’ Gloria went beetroot red and started scrolling forward muttering under her breath about how she was going to skip to the apology proper.
Aw, man. Kate swore under her breath. Not because she couldn’t stand to listen to any more of Gloria’s apology but because she already found herself softening. You had to be in a pretty bad place to have to write down your apology. And it took serious guts to read it aloud to your audience. And she’d forgotten about her mum.
Still … Gloria had, on purpose, hurt two people she loved, and she just couldn’t bring herself to let her off mid-stride without hearing the full spiel.
‘I think we’re going to have to forgive her, Kate,’ Juliet whispered out of the corner of her mouth a couple of minutes later when Gloria was still going. ‘It’s like she’s been visited by Bob Marley.’
Kate tsked. ‘And what, now she’s all One Love?’
‘Huh?’ Juliet frowned. ‘No, maybe it’s not Bob. Who’s that guy from A Christmas Carol?’
Emma, over-hearing, snapped her fingers as the answer, ‘Jake,’ came to her.
‘Ha.’ Kate pointed to Emma, as Gloria’s voice tailed off. ‘Jake Marley? You’re obsessed.’
‘Jac-ob,’ Emma said. ‘Jacob Marley. He’s the guy – I mean ghost. He’s the ghost from A Christmas Carol.’
‘Fine,’ Gloria shouted over them, visibly counting to ten before dragging in a breath and saying, ‘If you’re not going to take a formal apology seriously, how about this: Whether it was the Ghost of Christmas Past or the Ghost of Christmas Future, all I really want is a fair-go helping Emma out at Cocktails & Chai. This place is firmly at the heart of the community and I want—’ she blew out a breath and quietly admitted, ‘I want to repay a little of the understanding everyone has given me for my … for my—’
‘Shitty attitude?’ Kate provided.
‘Yes. So, what do you say?’
Before Kate could confer with Juliet, Crispin’s voice boomed out from the doorway, ‘Well we might as well cancel the entire evening.’
‘What? Okay, everyone stop,’ Kate said, standing up.
‘Collaborate and listen?’ Juliet said under her breath.
‘Gloria, save that apology as a memo because I find I do want to hear the whole of it uninterrupted. Now, Crispin, what, exactly, has you getting wiggy with it?’
‘Wiggy?’ Crispin’s hand went straight to his head as if to check his wig was, in fact, on straight.
Damn it. It was because everything was going straight to Bizarro World in a sleigh that she’d slipped up about his wig. ‘I mean jiggy … I mean upset. What has you so upset? Why are you talking about cancelling the tree-lighting ceremony, which, by the way, we are not doing.’
‘We’ll have to,’ Crispin said dramatically, stomping over to them. ‘We need to call an emergency village meeting. Whispers Wood has been monumentally let down. Of course, I hold myself entirely responsible…’
‘Hold it! I’m not sure the space time continuum can handle two Whispers Wood residents throwing themselves on the altar of forgiveness on the same day. Now who has let you down?’
‘It’s Raining Snow was supposed to be supplying the snow machines only now it’s snowing here—’
‘But it’s not.’
‘I told them that, but they’re insisting it’s going to, and have informed me an event-holder up the road from them has offered to pay twice their usual fee. And Reindeers R Us rang to say they can’t get to us because—’
‘Don’t tell me. They’re actually snowed in where they’re based?’ Kate supplied, finally considering joining him in full-on panic mode.
Crispin nodded. ‘It’s a complete disaster. Of course Whispers Ford put off doing their lighting ceremony until next week. Every year it’s the same. Like they’re ITV and we’re BBC1, and we’re forced into this battle to get the best date for the best show.’
‘Crispin,’ Kate admonished. ‘I need you to focus. So, essentially all you’re saying is that we’re going to be missing snow and reindeer.’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, we’ll have to cope. It’s supposed to be all about switching on the Christmas tree lights and singing carols anyway. We’ll still have the drinks stand. Mum’s baked loads of treats to dunk in the hot chocolate. Felix is doing the hog-roast and jacket potatoes.’
‘But what about the children?’
‘Pretty sure we’re not allowed to roast any of those.’
‘They’ll be so disappointed,’ Crispin moaned, ignoring her.
‘Mary will be handing out glow-sticks.’
‘No candles this year?’ Juliet asked.
‘Health and safety,’ Crispin explained. ‘Trudie’s been going on about how the children in the Christmas show have been turning up to rehearsals chatting about how they can’t wait to have a sleigh-ride. She’s never going to let me forget. She’ll probably strip me of my robes.’
‘Oo-er, let’s not get carried away,’ Kate said. ‘Emma, why do you have your hand up in the air?’
‘I have an idea? It’s a bit out there but Crispin what would you say if I told you we could still put on sleigh-rides for the kids tonight?’
‘I’d say, “It’s impossible” you poor naïve fool.’
‘How about if I told you that I know someone?’
Crispin gave her a bewildered look. ‘But you’ve only been here five minutes.’
‘Maybe that’s why I can think outside the box. Will you trust me?’
‘Even if she can’t pull it off, we are not cancelling,’ Kate insisted. ‘When Daniel and I were competing for The Clock House this summer everyone realised it’s good for the community to come together on a regular basis and celebrate Whispers Wood. That’s what we’re going to do tonight. And if Emma manages to provide sleigh-rides … bonus.’
Crispin looked dubiously at them all.
‘I bet Whispers Ford wouldn’t lie down over a little hiccup like this,’ Kate added.
He thought for a moment and then skewered Emma with a serious look. ‘I’m placing my trust in you, young lady.’
‘I won’t let you down, sir,’ she said with a salute.
‘I suppose I’d better go and start checking Jake and the rest of the helpers have put the tree up securely.’
‘Don’t forget your clipboard,’ Kate said.
As soon as he’d left, she turned to Emma and said, ‘Right, what do we need to do?’
Emma looked around the table. ‘I’m going to need every spare strip of battery-operated LED lights we can get our hands on. Felix must have a carriage, right? Do any of you have antler hair-bands? Juliet you must have a glue-gun, we’ll need that. And oh, maybe a red nose – the kind they wear on Red Nose Day, and a few metres of elastic.’
‘Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?’ Kate asked.
‘Is it too out there?’ Emma asked, looking worried.
Kate shook her head and grinned. ‘It’s bloody genius. But it’ll take a few hours to organise.’
‘I can set up the drinks stall while you’re doing that,’ Gloria offered.
‘Um…’
‘No ulterior motive. Other than I’m eager to prove myself. And I can help run the stall this evening. It’s vats of hot chocolate, tea and coffee. Seriously, how difficult can it be?’ She stopped when she saw Kate’s eyes narrow. ‘Sorry. Sarcasm still stuck on eleven. Surely your mum knows how all the food should be set up? Phone her and she can supervise me.’