The newly installed bell tinkled on the back of the door and from my position at the top of a ladder restocking the top shelf, I saw Cal and George enter the shop. I called out a greeting and received a smile and wave from Cal and an unusually half-hearted response from the little boy.
‘Be with you in a minute,’ I said as I descended the metal steps and then folded them up, carrying them quickly to the back stock room and leaning them up against the wall. ‘Hi!’ I said, emerging again.
‘Hello.’ George’s greeting was as lukewarm as his wave.
I glanced up at Cal.
‘George isn’t feeling too great and his friends are all playing snowballs but he’s not really up to it so I thought we’d stop in here and see if we couldn’t cheer him up a bit.’
‘Oh no! Well, obviously I’m very happy to see you but I’m not happy you’re feeling a bit under the weather.’ George looked above his head briefly in response to my terminology and Cal and I stifled a smile.
‘What’s feeling poorly then?’
George leant against his dad’s leg. ‘My tummy hurts.’
‘Oh dear. That’s not good, is it? I hope Bear’s looking after you.’
George let out a sigh and nodded.
I ran a hand gently over the little boy’s silky hair, being incredibly careful not to bump into his father’s thigh. If that happened, even if George didn’t have a temperature, I was pretty sure I might.
The doorbell tinkled and I glanced up, waving a hello to the Warner sisters, a couple of older ladies who had lived in the village for as long as I could remember. They were lovely, but it did pay to be careful what you mentioned to them as it had a way of soon becoming known by far more people than you’d originally intended.
‘He doesn’t feel warm but he does look a bit pale,’ I said, resting the back of my hand against George’s forehead.
‘Yeah. I’m going to take him home in a minute and get him into bed. I think he just overindulged in Christmas treats earlier. He was just keen on coming in to say hi and I thought it might take his mind off things for a minute.’
‘I’m glad you did. Is there anything I can do?’
George had now relinquished his hold on his dad’s leg and wandered across the shop. Cal glanced over to where his son was now talking to the ladies as they all looked at the individual crackers piled into a large, wide wicker basket threaded with red silk ribbon, their marbled paper making each one unique. His gaze moved from his son and landed squarely on me. The smile it brought with it made my insides go all flippy and warm.
Doing my best to ignore that, and deciding instead that I needed an immediate distraction, I began unpacking a box of handmade lollipops, sticking their handles in a large piece of florist’s foam I’d sprayed white earlier. One dome was for the gingerbread-flavoured ones, the other for peppermint.
‘No, I don’t think there’s anything you can do,’ Cal answered, ‘but thank you anyway.’
I nodded without looking at him and finished displaying the lollies. Reaching behind me, I grabbed a gingerbread man from the shelf. ‘Ginger’s good for the tummy. And if George doesn’t want it, you’ve already taste tested them so I assume you approve and you can just eat it as … support.’
Cal’s mouth quirked. ‘A support biscuit?’
I nodded my head at George. ‘If he’s anything like our lot when they don’t feel well, believe me, you’re going to need it.’
Cal brought out some change from his pocket but I pushed his hand away. ‘It’s on the house.’
‘You need to stop giving me stuff for free. Don’t you know anything about business?’ The quirk grew into a wider smile.
‘You’d be surprised what I know.’
George was now on his way back to us, the ladies completely enamoured with him, but not entirely missing the opportunity to give his dad a quick once-over with their eyes. One of them had clearly caught the end of our conversation. As I smiled at their approach, she gave a quick eyebrow raise at me and winked. Cal noticed the exchange and chuckled, shaking his head. I blushed, grinned, and studied my shoes for a moment.
‘I’m dreading what interpretation of that comment is going to be across the village by tomorrow,’ I whispered.
Cal smiled. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll reassure them it was all perfectly innocent if questioned.’
For some reason, this made me blush even more and I decided it was vitally urgent to get some gift bags ready for the next purchase and ducked my head under the desk, feeling my skin cool now I was no longer under Cal’s direct gaze.
‘Can I help you, ladies?’ I asked, as I popped back up, smiling and hoping to affect an immediate diversion of their thoughts.
They smiled and nodded and handed over the basket they’d filled between them.
‘We should be going,’ Cal said, with a half-smile at me.
I didn’t want him to go just yet. George seemed pale but a little brighter and as silly and unexpected as it felt, I’d begun to realise that the more often he and George came into the shop, the more I looked forward to it. Cal glanced down at his son who was now peering at the lollipop porcupine.
‘Do you want to help me with these, George?’ I asked, nodding at the ladies’ purchases.
George looked round at me, his little face still pale. He gave a watery smile and plodded over to the desk.
‘I’m having trouble wrapping these up. Would you mind giving me a hand?’
‘OK.’
I quickly bent and hefted him up onto the desk so that his legs dangled over the edge.
‘Right. So if I fold the paper here, would you be able to hold it whilst I put some sticky tape on it?’
George nodded and we did a couple of the ladies’ parcels, passing idle chat with them about the weather, their upcoming plans for Christmas and the New Year, and anything else random I could think of in an attempt to distract them. I could already see the gossip forming in their brains from the partly overheard conversation, as well as from the simple fact that the Prodigal Daughter was now back in the village and, with one broken engagement behind her, was now chatting with perhaps the most good-looking man in the entire county.
From the corner of my eye, I saw the odd surreptitious glance being sent Cal’s way and could only hope he hadn’t noticed. From the conversations we’d had, and from the odd snippet I’d heard from Giselle, Cal Martin was a pretty private man and making himself the target of extra gossip, even if it was innocent, probably wasn’t high on his To-Do list. I was used to it all but Cal hadn’t grown up here and I didn’t want it to be a reason for him to stop coming in.
I’d actually been telling the truth that first day when I told him their visit had brightened my day. Even though I wasn’t about to get sucked into Giselle and Xander’s imaginings about what Cal Martin’s interests might be, I couldn’t deny that I looked forward to seeing him.
I turned my attention back to George who was now participating but his pale and wan face looked a little fed up. I knew he loved the shop and all the toys and unusual items we had that he was allowed to explore and touch but, like any five-year-old boy, he would clearly much rather be out in the snow with his friends. I caught his eye and gave him a smile as I snapped some tape off the dispenser. He did his best to return it and my heart went all squishy. I got him to hold the edges of the wrapping paper and on the next fold, I stuck the tape right over the end of his fingers.
‘Oh no! Oh dear! Look at that! You’re all stuck to it too. It looks like these lovely ladies have got more than they planned with their Christmas shopping … although I’m not sure I’ve got a bag quite big enough to pop you in! Let me see here …’
George began to giggle as I pretended to look under the desk for a bag.
‘Nooooo! Lexi! I’m not for sale!’ He swung his legs a little as he giggled and Cal’s large hand quickly moved and provided a buffer between the toe of George’s welly and my cheekbone.
I stood up, surprise on my face, exchanging the quickest of thank-you glances with Cal as I did so.
‘You’re not?’ I said, shock in my voice.
‘No!’ George replied, his voice giggly. ‘Of course, I’m not!’
‘Oh dear. I’m so sorry, ladies. It looks like we’ll have to keep him here.’
‘Oh no, what a shame!’ They joined in the game and George giggled some more as I finished off wrapping the last purchase and processing the transaction. I handed them the gift bags containing their goodies, and we all waved them off out of the shop. Neither Cal, nor I missed the slight glance they cast between us as they pulled the door closed behind them and headed out into the damp street.
‘Come on, pest. Let’s get you home and tucked up.’ Cal effortlessly scooped his son up with one arm.
‘Can I just look at the sleigh quickly, Daddy?’
Cal plopped George down on the floor. ‘Two minutes.’
His son nodded, crossed the shop, and began investigating the sleigh Matt had built as another novel way of displaying stock. Within moments, he had climbed aboard and was busily amusing himself by having a long conversation with the oversized teddy driving it.
Cal leant back against the desk, and grinned down at me.
‘What?’
‘You. This place. But mostly you.’
‘Oh dear. What have I done now? If it’s about earlier, when I said about surprising you with what I know, I didn’t mean …’
Cal raised an eyebrow, waiting.
‘Anything,’ I finished, weakly.
‘I know.’ He grinned. ‘Don’t worry about it. I think you brightened up the Warner sisters’ day anyway with whatever spin they were putting on it in their own minds, from that wink she gave you.’
I laughed, feeling anxiety release from me. ‘I was hoping you hadn’t seen that.’
‘I don’t miss much.’
I made a mental note of that.
‘Actually I think it was George who brightened their day the most.’
Cal gave a wide smile and glanced to where George was now pressing his nose against the window, peering out into the dark and watching the snowflakes drift down.
‘And I don’t think you were too far behind in the stakes either.’
At my comment he turned back to face me. ‘Sorry?’
I shrugged. ‘Just saying.’
Cal laughed and shook his head. ‘I should get him home. He’ll keep fighting it otherwise and feel worse.’
‘Dan and I were the same when we were his age, apparently.’
Cal raised a brow. ‘From what I know of you now, I’d say not too much has changed.’
I gave a conciliatory shrug and smiled at George who was now drawing happy faces in the steam from his breath on the window. ‘George,’ Cal called, gently. ‘Lexi’s going to have to clean that.’
George looked round. ‘Oops. Sorry, Lexi.’
‘Don’t worry about it, peanut.’
Cal mouthed the word “sorry”.
‘No, seriously. I have seven nieces and nephews. Believe me, if a window is the worst thing I have to clean up, I’m totally winning.’
Cal let out a laugh – deep and rumbling – and if I let it, I knew it would wrap itself around me like one of the cashmere blankets stacked up for sale, just as warm and just as soft. He cast his eye down at his son. ‘They can definitely be a challenge in that department.’ The love in his eyes as he said it showed he didn’t mind a bit. I felt the familiar twist in my stomach and squished it down, pasting a smile on instead.
‘Ready for home, then?’ Cal asked.
George nodded.
‘Say bye to Lexi then.’
I bent down and George flung his arms around my neck. ‘I love coming here. It’s like Christmas all the time.’
‘It is at the moment – you’re right. And you’re welcome any time you want, but you have to go and get into bed and get better first. OK?’ I gave him a little squish. He released me and I stood.
‘OK.’ George took Cal’s outstretched hand and waved as they headed to the door. Cal raised a hand and smiled as he turned, pulling the door closed behind him. The shop was once more silent, except for the Christmas music playing subtly in the background. Reaching under the desk, I grabbed a duster and the bottle of window cleaner and headed over to where George had been drawing faces. I crouched and huffed over the same spot and the smiley face appeared again. I waited until it faded again and then cleaned the glass.
Calmly, I walked back to the desk and tidied the cleaning items away, before stepping into the back room to flick on the kettle. It would be time to go home soon but I needed something to do, to occupy my mind. I went through the motions but it wasn’t working. There were times when nothing worked. I only hoped that, one day, things might become a little easier to deal with.