‘Thank the Lord,’ said Ollie.
‘I’ve been toying with the idea that we should maybe get something organised for Christmas Day for the folk who’d be on their own. I’ve had a couple of things running round my mind. I don’t know how you’d feel about inviting someone to share Christmas Day with you? I mean, we all know everyone, it’s not like you’d be entertaining a stranger. Or, an alternative might be to have a massive get-together and hold Christmas dinner at the village hall. Just so no one was on their own for the big day. Not sure how that’d work though.’ He glanced around at his fellow committee members.
To look at Jimby, who was fondly regarded as the village joker, someone who didn’t take life too seriously, who was accident-prone, with stories of his mishaps regularly entertaining everyone, Brogan mused that you’d never guess at the thoughtful, and at times serious, person that lurked inside. But that’s exactly what he was. Yes, he was a larger than life character but he was one of the most kind-hearted people she’d ever met. In fact, she found herself thinking he pretty much summed up the local community, always looking out for one another, making sure folk were okay. She knew village life and all it entailed wasn’t for everyone, but she savoured being a part of it. She regularly found herself grateful she’d made the decision to settle here after her break up with Archie. She’d have been very much on her own if she’d stayed in Skeltwick.
‘You realise you’re going to have to tread carefully on this one? You don’t want to risk offending or embarrassing folk,’ said Molly.
‘Mmm. That’s true,’ said Brogan. She tried not to think too much about Christmas; the second one without her grandparents. Her mum was jetting off to a villa in the Canaries with her boyfriend Alan as she usually did. Like last year, the pair had said she was welcome to join them, but it wasn’t for her and Brogan had turned them down. Besides, there was Bert to consider. He’d always spent Christmas Day with her grandparents; there was no way she’d leave him to be on his own. He’d been set to join her last year – the first one without Elsie and Stan – until he’d picked up a nasty vomiting bug and ended up being rushed to hospital on Christmas morning, pale faced and weak. Brogan had spent the day alone with Wilf and Nell, the significance of the day highlighting the loss of her grandparents, making her feel inexorably lonely.
Anoushka and Kristy had been up in arms when they’d found out, telling her she would have been welcome to join their large family gathering. But Brogan hadn’t wanted to be a nuisance to anyone and had spent the day quietly with the two dogs, watching festive films and having lots of cuddles.
‘Yes, Moll’s right, we need to treat this sensitively,’ said Lucy, bringing Brogan back to the moment.
‘How do you plan on finding out who would want to be involved?’ asked Camm. ‘I mean, not everyone’s on social media.’
‘True,’ said Kitty.
‘How about putting a short note through everyone’s door, with a couple of contact numbers for those who are interested? That way no one would get missed out,’ said Brogan, her eyebrows raised in question. ‘It’s getting close to the big day, so we’d need to act quick. I wouldn’t mind popping them through letter boxes.’
‘Same here,’ said Nick.
‘Good plan.’ Jimby smiled.
‘I could type it up and get a load printed off tonight when I get home,’ said Lucy.
‘Well, it’s my day off tomorrow, so I could call in at the shop to collect them; make a start straight away,’ said Brogan.
‘I’m happy to help; I’m off tomorrow too,’ said Nick.
‘And I can take some; hand them out at my dance lessons,’ said Anoushka.
‘Brilliant!’ said Jimby. ‘All we need to do now is decide what to say.’
The next twenty-minutes was spent fine-tuning the note and settling on using the contact numbers of Molly and Camm and Lucy and Freddie.
With that done, Jimby looked at his watch. ‘Right, unless anyone has any objections, I think I’ll declare the meeting closed. Thanks for coming everyone. I’ll be very interested to hear the outcome of the notes. I reckon we’ll need to have another meeting pretty soon, maybe next week, but we’ll see if we’ve had many responses before we decide. Might be a last-minute one, but I’ve got a good feeling about this.’
Before long, Brogan and Nick were getting ready to leave, saying their goodbyes and gathering up Wilf and Maudie.
‘It’s been a great night. Thanks for suggesting it,’ Nick said as they headed towards the car, the snow crunching underfoot.
‘You’re welcome. I knew you’d enjoy it. They’re a sound lot.’ Brogan smiled across at him, the icy air stinging her cheeks. She’d had a great time too, a feeling of happiness rushing through her at the thought of going home with Nick. She couldn’t deny it, being with him felt so right. Just as it had done the first time they’d met, not that she wanted to think too much about it right now.
28
NICK
There’d been a light dusting of snow since they’d left Pond Farm, and Nick was relieved to see there were no fresh suspicious tyre tracks. There was also no evidence of unusual activity in the farmyard, the only footprints belonging to the wild animals that had sneaked in – he spotted rabbit and stoat tracks.
A tawny owl hooted from a nearby oak tree. It was followed by a shuffle in the hedgerow. Another hoot made Maudie cease her sniffing of the ground, looking around her, before glancing at Nick. ‘S’alright, lass. It’s just an owl.’ His words seemed to pacify her and she ran to the porch where Wilf was waiting by Brogan who was unlocking the door.
‘Hot chocolate?’ Brogan asked once they’d divested themselves of their coats and boots.
‘Thought you’d never ask.’ Nick grinned at her.
‘I’ll just go and get my pyjamas on, then I’ll get started on making them,’ she said.
‘I can do it. If you don’t mind that is?’ Nick asked. He didn’t want her to think he was being presumptuous.