Home for Christmas

Chapter 11

I woke early the next morning. My memories of the night before were muddled, and my head was pounding, which I didn’t think was particularly fair, given that I’d gone to so much trouble to make sure everyone enjoyed the quiz.

I seemed to remember that Jude had turned up at the pub at some point, but given that he wasn’t a fan of the festive season, I couldn’t for the life of me imagine why he’d want to attend a Christmas-themed quiz night… Perhaps I’d imagined his presence or dreamt it. Everything to do with and about the entire evening felt a bit… hazy now.

My phone buzzed on the bedside table, and I clumsily reached for it. It was a message from Jeanie asking how hungover I was feeling. I replied that I wasn’t feeling the worse for wear at all, then grimaced as I groped my way to the bathroom for water and painkillers. I didn’t have time to succumb to feeling rough because it was the day the Wynbridge Christmas Market was due to launch and the town switch-on was happening later, too, and nothing was going to ruin either of those annual highlights.

Ordinarily, I would have spent the day swanning about the town and soaking up the atmosphere. Unless it was a year where I’d been roped into wearing an itchy elf outfit, of course. Thankfully, neither Jeanie nor I had unwittingly elected ourselves for that particular role, but my time was still going to be mostly occupied this year.

‘Oh, Bella!’ Lizzie beamed when I arrived at the gallery to drop off my selection of fairies and show her how I’d wrapped and presented them ahead of setting up the stall. ‘What a clever idea.’

‘Given that the Wynbridge weather can be a little on the unpredictable side at this time of year,’ I said, smiling at her, ‘this seemed like the most sensible way to go.’

Each fairy had its own clear bag, tied up with ribbon or string (depending on the fairy’s aesthetic), and a handwritten wish. My main aim for packaging them like that was to protect them from any adverse weather, but I’d also realized how wonderfully they would be showcased if pegged to Lizzie’s trademark Cherry Tree bunting.

‘They’re the loveliest addition,’ said Lizzie, adding a few to the table she’d already piled with her own stock to work out how it would all look. ‘Jemma’s biscuits are similarly wrapped, so we’ll be able to alternate those and the fairies when we set them out and hang them up.’

‘That will be perfect,’ I agreed, nodding happily as I looked through her collection of hot-water-bottle covers, snow-scene jars, quilted bags and fabric Christmas decorations.

‘Are you going to sell all your stock wrapped like this over Christmas?’ she asked.

‘No,’ I explained. ‘Just the fairies for the stall. I don’t want to get in the habit of using packaging if I don’t need to. Even if they do look lovely.’

They were slightly more expensive bagged, as I’d had to offset the cost, and that was why I’d included handwritten wishes with each one. There wasn’t much of a profit to be had, but I knew how much buyers appreciated anything that added value, especially if it was exclusive.

‘Which they certainly do,’ said Lizzie. ‘Can you come back later this afternoon and help me set everything up?’

The main market was already open as usual, but the festive stalls would be launching later in the day.

‘Absolutely,’ I said, clapping my hands together. ‘In fact, I’m raring to go now.’

Lizzie laughed at that.

‘After last night,’ she chuckled, ‘I wondered if you were going to be good for anything today, and I certainly wasn’t expecting to see you so early.’

‘The quiz turned out to be good fun rather than hard work,’ I told her, but I wasn’t entirely sure that that was what she was getting at.

‘So I heard,’ she said, grinning. ‘So I heard.’

As I was going to be out for so long later, I decided to have lunch at home and then take Tink for a long walk. Holly had already said she’d drop in to feed her and then bring her into town. She was leaving Jasper at home because he had a tendency to get over-excited when among a lot of people, but Tink took crowds in her stride and enjoyed getting out and seeing everyone. She was an exceptionally sociable little spaniel, and I loved her dearly.

The time flew by, and before I knew it I was dressing in my warmest layers, applying lipstick as bright as my red coat and heading back out the door. There were no lights on in the house, and I wondered if Jude had purposefully headed away from town to avoid the festive fun. Not that I was bothered, but Anna’s words about him perhaps having a specific reason for being such a Grinch had popped into my head that day on more than one occasion.

They were soon forgotten, though, as I helped Lizzie set up the Cherry Tree Café stall and tried not to get distracted by everything else going on around me. The stage for the switch-on had now been erected next to what I thought was the biggest tree the town had ever seen, and I knew that tucked away down a side street somewhere would be the horse-drawn sleigh from Wynthorpe Hall and Angus would be donning his Santa suit in anticipation of his annual lap around the Market Square and subsequent gift-giving and time with the children. Knowing him, I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if he’d slept in the suit the night before to make sure he was running on time, and I couldn’t wait to see him.

‘Bella?’ said Lizzie, her tone suggesting that it wasn’t the first time she’d said my name.

‘Sorry,’ I gasped, ‘I was miles away.’

I took the box of bagged biscuits she was holding out and began pegging them and my fairies on the bunting we had securely draped around the stall and across the front.

‘You’re as invested in Christmas as Angus Connelly, aren’t you?’ she said in a teasing but not unkind tone.

‘Absolutely,’ I was happy to confirm. ‘I’m already looking forward to decorating the house. Thankfully Jude will be leaving the day I always set aside for doing that.’

‘Which is?’

‘The first of December,’ I said, rubbing my hands together in excited anticipation. ‘I always make a start at the beginning of the month.’

‘That’s keen.’ Lizzie smiled. ‘Obviously, we decorate the café early.’ It was looking beautiful already. ‘But it’s a different story at home.’

‘Well, that’s me,’ I laughed. ‘Thanks to the love for the season I inherited from my nanna and grandad, I’m never happier than when I’m decking the halls!’

‘And talking of decking the halls,’ said Lizzie as she took a step back to admire how the stall was looking, ‘I think we’re almost done here. We don’t want to overcrowd it.’

Knowing how well my slightly pared-back display at The Laurels’ Christmas fair had been received, I had to agree with that.

‘There’s plenty of space for the boxes of stock to be tucked away underneath the stall, so we can put more of everything out as we sell it,’ I said, nodding.

‘ Hopefully sell it,’ Lizzie amended.

‘Oh, we will,’ I said confidently, feeling that our mindsets had been momentarily switched. ‘I know we will.’

Given the popularity of the evening switch-on and the fabulous stock we’d got, there was no doubt in my mind about that. The café stall was always a hit, and I had every confidence that this year would be no different.

‘You’re right.’ Lizzie smiled. ‘We’ll be sold out in no time.’

The square began to fill up with local families and visitors from further afield long before the lights were due to be turned on, and by the time the town mayor’s voice was booming around the buildings, Lizzie and I had already replenished lots of the stock and she was looking as happy about my prediction being right as I felt.

One of the people who had come along to the café workshops dropped by to ask if I’d considered selling some of the fairies in kit form, complete with a list of instructions explaining how to put them together. This wasn’t something I had considered before, but I thought I might give it a try ahead of the next round of fairs. I could put together a small batch as a sort of trial run, and there’d be nothing lost if they didn’t sell because I could always make them up myself.

‘Ten, nine, eight…’

‘Come on!’ said Jeanie as she suddenly appeared, grabbed my arm and pulled me further towards the front of the crowd.

‘Where’s Holly?’ I shouted over the countdown.

‘Haven’t seen her!’ Jeanie shrugged. ‘Three! Two! One!’

It was a musician who had recently moved to the area who had been roped in to do the honours, and they pressed the big red button with aplomb. The tree suddenly shone as brightly as the rest of the lights which burst into life around the square and beyond, and the speakers loudly pumped out The Jackson Five singing ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’.

We all cheered, clapped, whooped and sang along, and I thought my heart was in danger of bursting out of my chest. Nanna and Grandad had always brought me to the switch-on, and I felt a sudden hankering to give them both a hug.

‘You’re not crying, are you?’ Jeanie said as she gave me a nudge and pulled me in for a timely hug of her own.

‘No,’ I said, and swallowed, squeezing her back and knowing that if I explained, then I would be. ‘You’re crying. I’m just really, really happy.’

And I was even happier a few seconds later as I dried my eyes while Santa and his sleigh arrived in the square, and the children (and admittedly a few of the adults) cheered even more loudly.

‘Do you want to go and say hello?’ Jeanie asked.

I did, really, but I didn’t think it would be fair to take up a little one’s place in the queue, and I also needed to get back to the stall. I’d all but abandoned Lizzie.

‘No,’ I said, rolling my eyes as if it was the last thing I wanted to do. ‘I’d better get back. Lizzie will be swamped.’

Jeanie gave me another hug and kissed my cheek.

‘You’re such a big kid,’ she laughed. ‘I love you for that. If anyone in this town could convince Jude that Christmas was something to be celebrated, it would be you.’

‘Well,’ I said, wishing she hadn’t mentioned his aversion to the season at such a special moment, ‘I don’t know about that, but I do know that folk are now pouring into The Mermaid, so you’d better get back to work, too.’

‘Oh crikey!’ she said and headed off. ‘I’ll see you later,’ she called as she went.

‘And if you happen to see Holly,’ I shouted after her, ‘send her in my direction, would you?’

Jeanie waved and was gone, and I rushed back to help Lizzie, who was – as I had both predicted and hoped – swamped with customers, but happily so.

‘All of Jemma’s biscuits have gone,’ she told me breathlessly.

‘Even the bag you’d hidden for me in one of the boxes?’

‘Damn,’ she said, ‘I’d forgotten about those. I could have got double the price, given the demand.’

‘Don’t you dare!’ I told her. ‘I’ve been looking forward to that iced and spiced combo all evening.’

Once the manic post-switch-on rush was over and people began to drift away – families to their homes and lots of other folk to the pub – I began to feel mindful of the time and even more worried about where Holly had got to.

‘Everything okay?’ Lizzie asked as she blew on her gloved hands, and I pulled out my phone to see if Holly had sent me a message.

She hadn’t. Either that or I hadn’t been standing in one of the square’s signal hotspots long enough for her message to land.

‘I hope so,’ I said, biting my lip as I put my phone away again. ‘Holly was supposed to be coming along with Tink, but I haven’t seen either of them.’

‘Well,’ said Lizzie, looking over my shoulder, ‘I don’t know where Holly is, but I can see Tink.’

I spun around so fast that I almost landed back where I’d started.

‘Jude?’ I frowned, as he walked towards me with Tink on her lead and wearing a different Christmas coat to the one I’d put out for her in the apartment for Holly to find. ‘What are you doing here? Is everything okay? Where’s Holly?’

He waited while I quickly fussed an ecstatic Tink before answering.

‘Bear stopped by the house to walk Tink into town himself, but when he told me why Holly hadn’t come, I said I’d bring Tink in so he could get back to her.’

‘I see,’ I said, but I didn’t because I needed more information.

‘And given that last night you said you’d only let me drive you home if I came to the switch-on tonight so you could work out if I really was a lost cause,’ Jude continued devastatingly, ‘I thought it would be wrong of me not to honour my promise.’

Just for a second, the world slipped off its axis.

‘I said that?’ I swallowed, feeling myself go hot as the brain fog began to clear.

I didn’t add that he could have got away with not turning up, as I hadn’t remembered what I’d requested.

‘Pretty much,’ said Jude, scratching his head. ‘Or something very much like it. And I’m sorry to disappoint you,’ he added, looking around, ‘but this isn’t my scene at all.’

I was exceedingly grateful that he had assumed that I wanted to work out if he was a lost cause as far as Christmas was concerned, as opposed to deciding if he was someone I wanted to (as Tim had previously put it) hook up with, because in a sudden moment of blinding realization, I remembered exactly what I’d said in the pub and had no doubt that that was what I had meant.

Given what Anna had said about Jude potentially having a personal reason for not liking Christmas, I felt rather bad that I had thrust the switch-on on him and that he had felt obliged to endure it. That said, it was good to know that he was a man of his word.

‘Well,’ I said, attempting to refocus, ‘I appreciate you coming along. What’s going on with Holly and Bear?’

Jude looked even more serious than he had before.

‘Sadly, there’s been a canine emergency,’ he told me. ‘Bear had dropped Holly and Jasper off at the vets before he came to yours. Apparently, Jasper has eaten something he shouldn’t and is about to either undergo surgery or have his system flushed.’

‘Oh no,’ I said, feeling upset for them all. ‘That’s awful.’

‘Bear looked awful, too,’ Jude said sympathetically. ‘That’s why I offered to bring Tink into town with me.’

‘That was very kind of you,’ I said, feeling slightly better knowing that his trip to town had been as much about giving Tink a walk as honouring the promise I had forced out of him. ‘Thank you.’

‘It was no big deal,’ he said, giving Tink’s head a rub, but given how much he must have hated the evening’s entertainment, I knew it must have been, really. ‘Here’s your spare key, by the way,’ he added, pulling it out of his pocket and handing it over.

It was the one I’d given to Holly to use in emergencies or if for any reason she needed to let herself into the apartment when I wasn’t there. Such as tonight.

‘I hope Jasper’s okay.’ I swallowed, taking the key as my phone suddenly pinged.

The dog was always getting into scrapes, but I knew Holly loved him just as much as I loved Tink, in spite of his rascally ways. Perhaps a whole winter living under the influence of Bear’s bull terrier, Queenie, might calm Jasper down a bit. Queenie was calm, placid and super chilled for a canine who had had a less than lovely start in life.

‘It’s a message from Holly,’ I said, quickly unlocking my phone. ‘Two messages, actually.’

That was the thing about Wynbridge: you never quite knew where to stand to get a reliable signal, and it varied depending on which network you were on, what day of the week it was and whether you were standing on one leg. Okay, so that was a bit dramatic, but sometimes it felt like that. To prove the point, Holly’s separately sent messages had now ended up arriving at the same time. I read through what she had typed twice to make sure I’d properly got the gist, and then let out a long, relieved breath.

‘Jasper’s going to be fine,’ I told Jude. ‘Will, that’s the vet, has given him something to make him sick, as he’d only just eaten whatever it was he shouldn’t have, and that seems to have cleared it all out of his system. Did Bear say what it was that Jasper had snaffled?’

‘No,’ said Jude, shaking his head and looking rather green at the thought of Jasper’s system being cleared out by making him throw up. ‘That never came up. No pun intended.’

I felt a little bilious myself then, and he gave me a wry smile.

‘What’s going on?’ Lizzie asked. ‘Is everything okay?’

I quickly explained what had happened while Jude walked Tink around the square and I helped Lizzie start to pack the stall up.

‘That was quick,’ I said when Jude arrived back. He’d only been gone a few minutes. ‘What did you make of the tree?’

‘Very nice,’ he said, giving it a cursory glance.

I wasn’t sure if that was a heartfelt sentiment or not.

‘Is there any reason why Tink isn’t wearing the coat I set out for her?’ I asked, as Lizzie’s partner Ben arrived to help carry the few bits of stock we hadn’t sold over to the café for safekeeping.

‘Well,’ said Jude, looking down at Tink, ‘we did try that one on, didn’t we, love?’ She wagged her tail, and I felt taken aback by the ease with which he had called her ‘love’. ‘But she preferred this one. Is that okay?’ he asked me, his brows knitting together in a frown. ‘Or does she usually wear certain Christmas coats on certain days?’

‘There’s no set order,’ I said, shrugging, then added, because I was feeling suspicious, ‘Is that the truth? Did she really prefer this one?’

‘Of course not!’ Jude laughed, and I knew I shouldn’t have taken him seriously. ‘It was the one I preferred, because it was the thickest and it’s freezing out here tonight. I had no idea how long we’d be, so I thought I should wrap her up as best as I could.’

‘Well,’ I said, thinking it was kind of him to consider that, even if he had tricked me into briefly believing that he’d had a whimsical moment, ‘I’m sure she appreciates it. And so do I. I’m nearly done here, so I’ll take her off your hands in a bit. Unless you want to head back with her now.’

‘You can both go, if you like,’ said Lizzie, having heard what I had just said to Jude. ‘We’re practically done here now. It’s been a very good night.’

‘We’ve sold loads, haven’t we?’

‘We have,’ she agreed. ‘I’ll let you know how much sometime tomorrow, if that’s all right?’

‘Of course,’ I said. ‘No rush. Are you sure you don’t want me to hang on?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘You get off. As Jude said, it is freezing.’

I wouldn’t have minded popping my head into the pub, but I didn’t for two reasons. Firstly, because Jude had automatically turned in the opposite direction to it when we left the stall, and secondly, remembering now what I’d said at the quiz made me vulnerable to teasing from anyone else who had heard me spouting off.

‘Oh damn,’ I said, when we were too far from the square to want to walk back again. ‘I forgot my biscuits.’

‘What biscuits?’ Jude asked.

‘Jemma makes the most amazing iced and spiced biscuits for Christmas,’ I told him. ‘We sold out tonight, but I’d kept a bag back and hidden them under the stall.’

‘Stallholders’ perks,’ Jude laughed.

‘Exactly,’ I said. ‘Or it would have been if I’d remembered them.’

‘You’ll have to get them next week.’

‘They’ll be long gone by then,’ I sighed wistfully. ‘I daresay Ben is munching on them right now.’

‘Too good to resist, eh?’

‘They really are,’ I said seriously. ‘Did you manage to actually see the switch-on or any of what happened after it?’

‘Sadly not,’ he said, not sounding sad at all. ‘I was late arriving because I was talking to Bear and getting Tink dressed.’

I was tempted to ask him if he’d have come into town at all had it not been for offering to pass on Bear’s message. I supposed Jude could have texted me that and not honoured the bargain I’d made with him, but that hadn’t been the option he’d taken, had it? I decided not to risk offending him by asking. I realized then that he still had Tink’s lead in his hand and that she had rapidly grown on my sometimes grumpy, sometimes Grinchy, but always gorgeous temporary lodger.

And he’d grown on me, too. Had it not been for the Christmas situation, I might have already built on the wonderful time we’d spent together the previous weekend and started something up with him.

I gave him a sidelong look, and my heart again lurched in response. It then became painfully obvious that my feelings for him were still firmly planted in ‘deeper than dalliance’ territory, so it was actually probably for the best that I hadn’t rocked the boat.

He then spoke up, with uncanny timing. ‘I know we’re poles apart when it comes to celebrating Christmas, but I don’t eschew the food and drink the season brings with it, and I happened to pick this up on my whistle-stop tour around the stalls earlier.’

He pulled a small, wax-sealed bottle out of his pocket.

‘Christmas pudding gin from the Brambles distillery.’ I smiled approvingly. ‘If that’s as delicious as the rum they sold last year, then you’re in for a real treat.’

At least there was something about the season he wasn’t averse to.

‘I was wondering if you might fancy joining me for a nightcap?’ he offered as the top of our road came into sight.

‘Oh,’ I said, and swallowed.

‘If you’re feeling embarrassed about what you said in the pub,’ he nudged, ‘then don’t be. We all talk squit when we’ve had a few.’

Did that mean I’d spoken more rubbish than I realized? Or worse still, had he worked out what I’d really meant?

‘Squit?’ I said, shaking my head in an attempt to bluff my way through. ‘Where did you get that word from?’

‘Angus, of course,’ Jude chuckled. ‘It means a load of rubbish, doesn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ I said, nodding. ‘I think it’s more a Suffolk and Norfolk word than a Fenland one, but I’m not surprised Angus uses it. Especially given how much of it he talks.’

We’d reached the drive now.

‘So,’ said Jude, ‘do you fancy sampling this with me? Bury the festive hatchet?’

‘You know,’ I said, taking Tink’s lead and avoiding Jude’s eye, ‘any other night I would have said a definite yes, but it’s been a long day.’

‘Of course,’ he said, putting the bottle back in his pocket and pulling out his house key instead. ‘You must be shattered.’

‘I am.’ I nodded. ‘I’m really done in, and I’ve got loads to do tomorrow. Maybe another night?’

‘Absolutely,’ he agreed. ‘I’m still going to be here for another week, after all. Night, Bella.’

‘Night, Jude.’

As tired as I had professed to be, I found it impossible to fall asleep when I went to bed that night. Considering that at the start of Jude’s stay I had thought his weeks under my roof were going to drag, I realized now that they had absolutely flown by, and I still wasn’t entirely sure if I’d made the most of them or wasted them.