Chloe’s Cornish Christmas (The Blossomwood Bay #7)

Chapter Twenty Seven

The day of the Perrinsby pantomime’s matinee performance dawned with a sprinkling of frost on the branches of the trees that surrounded the village green and along the gable ends of the honey-coloured cottages, giving them a picturesque gingerbread-like quality. The duck pond had frozen over, the Christmas tree shimmered with tiny shards of ice that glistened like diamonds, and a companionship of robins bounced from branch to branch.

Chloe dashed into the shower, excitement and trepidation swirling through her body in equal measure, and when she headed downstairs, she accepted the frothy cappuccino Liz gave her with appreciation. She smiled when she saw her landlady’s Christmas jumper – yellow with a curly brown bear wearing a red Santa hat on the front – which had clearly been saved for the day of the pantomime, along with a pair of matching teddy bear ears; even her earrings had tiny bears dangling from them. She knew she should at least wait until Liz had poured her own coffee, but the curiosity was just too much.

‘Did you call Ruth?’

‘I tried to call her last night and then again this morning, but she didn’t pick up. There’s either something wrong with her phone, or she doesn’t want to speak to me, which I don’t think is the case. We’ve been friends since high school; there’s nothing we don’t know about each other or can’t share with each other. I’ll try again tonight after the show. I know for a fact that she’ll be desperate to hear how things went. She was upset about missing the panto this year, although it would have been a bitter-sweet occasion.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Like me and Gordon, and Fran and Derek, she and Martyn were either part of the cast or crew for the last thirty years. I remember one year when Martyn was Peter Pan and Ruth was Wendy, and Mitzy scored the role of Nana, which turned out to be a huge mistake. Mitzy spent the whole of the play from start to finish with her nose buried in the fire bucket and it wasn’t until the show was over that we realised that someone had hidden the remnants of their lunch there. Come on, let’s go. Gordon is already over at the hall completing the safety check.’

Wrapped in their winter coats, bobble hats and stripey scarves, they made their way across the village green and when they stepped inside the hall the excitement was palpable. Christmas songs swirled through the air, along with the aroma of coffee and warm mince pies – the sweetmeat kind – and it was a hive of activity, chaotic but with a sense of choreographed purpose. Everyone had a job to do, and everyone was delivering it to the best of their ability.

‘Okay, I’ll see you later, Chloe.’

After checking and double-checking that the scenery was exactly as she’d left it the previous day, Chloe scanned the room to see if anyone needed her help before she joined Fran in the wardrobe department. She saw Audrey and Joe chatting to Derek and a woman who was obviously the mayor – dressed in her finery with her golden chain of office around her neck – while they helped her to fill the last few canvas goodie bags with packets of popcorn, sweets, and a juice box ready to hand out to the children when they arrived.

She poked her head around the door of the kitchen expecting to see Hannah, but she wasn’t there, and she was about to go in search of Fran when she saw the branches of the over-decorated Christmas tree at the back of the main hall ripple slightly. She narrowed her eyes to get a better view and saw Hannah’s blonde ponytail swishing through the thick garlands of silver tinsel. She smiled and strode over to talk to her, but at the last minute she realised she wasn’t alone and it was too late to make a discreet diversion.

When Hannah spotted her, she stepped out from the embrace of the tree, her eyes bright, her cheeks pink as Jake materialised next to her. Clearly they had been using the tree as camouflage while they sneaked a few private moments together before the day’s mayhem began.

‘Hi, guys. Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you.’

‘Hi, Chloe, it’s good to see you. I’d better… erm…’ Jake stuck his thumb over his shoulder and made a quick getaway.

‘Oh, Chloe, I’m so happy I could burst!’ said Hannah, tucking several escaped tendrils of hair behind her ears before holding out her wrist to show Chloe a silver charm bracelet with six book-shaped charms dangling from the links. ‘Look what Jake’s just given me. Every one of these books is set in India! It turns out he was going to come clean about how he felt about me on New Year’s Eve, just before he set off on his trip, and then give me this bracelet to remind me of him while he was away and that he would be coming back… to me. I can’t believe it! It proves he wanted us to be together before I said anything to him, and I love him even more for that!’

‘That’s a wonderful gift, Han.’

‘Mum’s bought me something, too; a journal. She said I should keep a record of all the amazing experiences I’m going to have in India, then, if I want to, I can incorporate some of them into a sequel of the gothic romantasy novel I’m trying to write, make it more authentic when I send my characters off on a murder mystery quest to Goa. What do you think?’

‘I think it’s a great idea. I can’t wait to read it. My friend Beckie would love to read it, too, although she mainly reads travel memoirs. Would you believe she has over two hundred of them on the shelves of her cosy reading nook at the bistro where she works in Blossomwood Bay. It’s a dream of hers to go travelling one day, like you and Jake.’

‘To be honest, it feels like a dream. I can’t believe I’m going on an intrepid adventure, just like Ruth has. It’s a shame I won’t get to see her before I leave Perrinsby on New Year’s Eve. We’ll only miss her by a couple of days.’

‘Hey, Hannah, there you are. Any chance of a coffee and a slice of your mum’s Christmas cake for us hardworking crew members?’ said Anton who was in charge of the stage props.

‘Gotta go, Chloe. See you after the show! Break a leg!’

Chloe laughed. ‘Thanks, Hannah.’

Chloe made her way from the main hall-cum-auditorium and spent the next four hours in Fran’s “wardrobe department” performing the same role as she had for the dress rehearsal, except this time she knew exactly what was required of her and she was much more proficient. By the time twelve-fifteen came around, every member of the cast was wearing their designated costume, and most had their hair and makeup done ready to line up for Liz’s final inspection at one o’clock on the dot.

‘Why don’t you go grab a drink while you can?’ said Fran, her mouth full of wig pins as she put the final touches to Goldilocks’ impressive headpiece of golden curls.

‘Thanks, Fran.’

Chloe made sure her own costume was ready for her to slip into and headed out of the door, coming to an abrupt stop when she saw Nick standing in the vestibule, having clearly just arrived back from his trip to Guildford. Despite her disappointment with the way things had turned out between them, she felt her heart perform a somersault of attraction, which she tried in vain to quash. She checked her watch and saw there were just forty minutes to go until curtain up. He was cutting it fine to make sure the sound equipment was set up correctly, and yet when he caught her eye he immediately stopped what he was doing and strode towards her, his expression filled with purpose.

‘Chloe, can we talk? Please?’

‘I—’

She really didn’t want to talk to him, but she also didn’t want to be rude or impolite towards him in front of the other members of the company. However, Liz was not so reticent. She appeared at their side and drew them determinedly into an alcove, her face stoney as she glared at Nick.

‘Is it true? Are you selling the orchard? Does Ruth know about this? Have you spoken to her? I’ve tried to call her, but she’s not picking up. Is everything okay over there in Sydney?’

‘Aunt Ruth is fine, Liz, she—’

‘Liz, darling, we need you over in the dressing room!’

‘On my way, Derek.’ Liz opened her mouth to say something else to Nick but decided that it wasn’t the time, or the place, to get into a full-blown remonstration, and stalked away.

‘You told her?’ asked Nick, turning to Chloe.

‘Yes, I—’

‘Did you tell anyone else? Fran? Joe? Hannah?’

‘No, no one else, but I think you—’

‘Chloe, I really need to talk to you. I need to explain.’

‘You don’t have to explain anything. I understand exactly what’s going on.’

‘It’s not what you think. Please, just give me—’

‘Nick? Is the sound up and running?’

‘I’ll be right there, Gordon. Chloe, please, I just need ten minutes of your time at the end of the show. Please?’

Chloe’s resolve wavered when she saw the genuine anguish in Nick’s soft brown eyes, and when he stepped forward to take her hand and give it a gentle squeeze, she relented. If she was to adhere to her pledge to communicate better, she had to remember that it wouldn’t always be with people who were on her side or with the same viewpoint as her. Also, there were a few things she wanted to say to Nick, too, face-to-face, about the way he’d treated her, and if she wanted people to listen to her, she had to listen to them.

She nodded at Nick to indicate her agreement, then spun on her heels and rushed back to the dressing room to wriggle into her tree costume. At one o’clock precisely, Liz called everyone together on the stage and asked them to join hands. Chloe could feel the crackle of electricity zipping through the air as the cast and crew looked to their producer/director for her pearls of wisdom.

‘Okay, guys, it’s showtime in ten minutes. I want you to go out there and give the performance of your lives. Imagine you’re on the West End stage, with dignitaries and celebrities in the audience who have come to see you, and only you, in the role you have spent the last three months mastering. However, the most important thing to remember is that nothing is perfect, and if you make a mistake, it’s not the end of the world. In fact, many years of experience has taught me that blunders and slip-ups add to the audience’s enjoyment, not detract from it. So just go out there and have fun!’

The cast and crew gave each other a round of applause, wished each other good luck, then those in the opening scene headed to their respective places in the wings. Chloe grabbed her papier maché branches, fixed them onto her head with a couple of Fran’s wig pins, and took her place on the stage in between Jake and his friend Theo for the spooky woodland scene. They gave each other an enthusiastic thumbs up, and then turned towards the front of the stage.

The thick red velvet curtain in front of them did very little to dull the high-pitched cacophony in the auditorium, and Chloe knew the village hall was now filled with over a hundred excited children, all of whom had been gifted a free ticket via the mayor’s charity and would be clutching a bag of popcorn in one hand and a drink in the other. Fran had told her that their goodie bags also contained a wooden spoon that had been decorated by the craft committee of the Perrinsby WI with either a woolly brown bear or a goldilocks with knitted blonde pigtails, which they could wave in the air at opportune moments.

When the noise reached screech-level, she heard Liz’s voice welcome everyone to the thirty-first annual Perrinsby Christmas pantomime, which this year was the spectacular Goldilocks and the Three Bears , before thanking everyone who had played a part in bringing it to fruition, and the mayor and her husband for their contribution to the fund for the goodie bags.

‘Enjoy!’

With a crescendo of exhilarating music, the curtains opened and Chloe’s heart gave a sharp nip of apprehension when she saw a throng of patrons staring back at her, their faces filled with avid expectation. Then she reminded herself that they weren’t there to see her, a thought that was confirmed when Goldilocks entered from stage left, and from that moment onwards she threw herself into the role, swaying in time to the rousing music and immersing herself in the first act of the story. She also experienced an uptick of pride when the interior of the “cabin in the woods” was rolled into place at the back of the stage for the “porridge” scene.

Things went well aside from an incident when the young actor playing Baby Bear accidentally nudged her porridge bowl onto the floor and was about to burst into tears, but Audrey pushed her bowl in front of her and carried on with her next line, deftly avoiding a very public meltdown.

By the time they took their last of three curtain calls, every single person on and behind the stage was beaming as the ecstatic applause ricocheted around the room. Afterwards, the excitement backstage rivalled that in the auditorium as everyone critiqued their respective performances, analysing what went well and what they could have done better, and the actor playing Flutterby admitted that for one of the scenes she’d mislaid her magic wand and that was the reason she’d resorted to using one of the Goldilocks wooden spoons, an improvisation that the audience had been delighted with.

Eventually, the village hall emptied of the children and their parents and companions, and while the cast removed their costumes, hairpieces and makeup, the crew began the task of setting everything back up for Saturday night’s performance.

Chloe spent a few extra moments removing her makeup, then inhaled a deep breath and headed outside the village hall. She found Nick pacing backwards and forwards next to his red Porsche, clearly waiting for her to emerge.