Page 14 of Could It Be Magic?
Thea couldn’t help smiling. ‘Nick,’ she said gently. ‘Why don’t you just spit it out?’
‘Oh, yeah, sure,’ he replied. ‘I, um, guess, you’ve got a party to get back to, as well.’ His face coloured slightly. ‘I really am sorry to just barge in.’ He looked her in the eye, and Thea held her breath.
‘The thing is, the Christmas late night shopping evening is coming up next Tuesday,’ he said in a rush. ‘And there are stallholders coming for the night, who set up in the car park. I was wondering if you’d be able to do an extra shift in the shop, since we’re bound to be busy with more trade.’
Thea breathed out again, and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t feel a deflating sense of disappointment. Then, frustrated with herself for jumping to conclusions, she gave Nick a brighter-than-bright smile. ‘How long does the evening go on for? I remember popping in early doors with the kids a couple of years back, but we didn’t stay too long.’
‘Should be all done and dusted by nine o’clock,’ Nick replied, thankfully seemingly oblivious to Thea’s disappointment. ‘I mean, even if you could cover the till for an hour or two, you’d really be doing us a favour. The film crew are going to be mainly focussed on the stalls outside, so there shouldn’t be any extra pressure.’
‘Of course,’ Thea said. ‘Look, let me work a couple of things out – I’m at school all day, so I won’t be able to get to you until early evening, but I’ll let you know.’
‘Thanks, Thea.’ Nick’s smile of relief and gratitude made Thea’s heart speed up again. Stop it, she told herself firmly. He’d always had a lovely smile, and what was lovelier was that he seemed completely oblivious to the effect it had on her. ‘I’m sorry, as I said, to just drop this on you, but I forgot to check the staffing for the extended hours. Annabelle’s the one who handles most of the admin, and I’m not used to being in charge of that, too!’
‘It’s fine.’ Thea smiled. They stood together in a slightly loaded silence until she added, ‘Would you, er, like to stay for a cuppa and a piece of birthday cake? Gran’s baked one big enough for all of Lower Brambleton to have a slice!’
Nick kept smiling but shook his head. ‘Thanks, but I’ve left Roseanna, who works Saturdays, in charge while I get the deliveries done. Mum’s sitting in the back office in case of an emergency, but she’ll need to get back to Dad, who’s still laid up with his back, as soon as she can, so I really ought to head back to the shop.’
‘No worries.’ Thea opened the kitchen door again and walked him past the living room to the front of the house. ‘I’ll hopefully see you on Tuesday evening, if not before.’
‘See you then.’ Nick looked back at her as she stood in the doorway. ‘And thank you, Thea. It means a lot to know I can depend on you.’
‘You’re welcome.’ This time, Thea could feel her own face growing pink. She tried to put it down to the contrast between the warmth of the house and the sudden chill from outside, but something inside her was suggesting otherwise. It might have been the fact that they’d been working together, but she felt a definite stirring of attraction for Nick, as she watched him head briskly towards the Saint Farm van. Careful, she thought. He’s been a good friend, over the years; do you really want to jeopardise that? She shook her head. Loneliness had a lot to answer for, and she didn’t want to push something with Nick just because it felt convenient. All the same, something did feel different. He’d known about Cora’s party, and he could have just WhatsApped her to ask her about the Christmas market. He didn’t need to come and ask her face to face. Pondering that as she closed the front door and headed back into the party, she allowed herself a moment or two to think about him. It couldn’t do any harm to imagine, could it?
14
As soon as Thea walked back into the living room, all eyes were upon her. Tristan, who never could resist needling his twin sister, raised an eyebrow.
‘Secret meetings in the kitchen, sis? Have you finally let Nick Saint out of the friend zone?’
‘Eww!’ Cora squealed, glancing up from the Spotify playlist she was compiling to try out her birthday present. ‘That’s gross, Uncle Tristan!’
‘No,’ Thea shot back, feeling more defensive than she should have. She thought fast, realising that her family were intrigued by the way she’d hustled Nick out of the room, and she needed to give them at least a brief explanation, or they’d be on her case for the rest of the afternoon. ‘He’s, er, asked me if I’d help out at the shop for the late-night shopping event next Tuesday. He was moaning about being short-handed when I, er, popped in there last week and he’s obviously hit the panic button and is pulling in all hands to help.’
‘Why you, though?’ Tristan asked. ‘I mean, isn’t it a bit odd just to grab random customers to help out at a moment’s notice?’
Thea’s mind went into overdrive. She didn’t want to ’fess up to the extra job right now, not in front of the children, and the inevitable conversations this would raise. ‘I, er, happened to mention I’d done some shop work years ago, and I guess he remembered. He’s desperate for an extra pair of hands, with Annabelle and Jamie being out of the country and his folks being off their feet, so I said I’d help out for the evening.’
‘He’s desperate for something, all right!’ Tristan grinned. ‘Any excuse to spend a bit of time with you, I reckon.’
Thea rolled her eyes. On the whole, she’d been delighted when Tristan had fallen in love with Charlotte. He’d always been a little too serious for his own good, keeping his thoughts and emotions strictly in check, even with her, for most of their lives. Charlotte had brought a little levity and fun into his life and altered his outlook on things. The inevitable result of this was that he tended to joke around a whole lot more than he used to, and while this was mostly lovely to see, it did mean she was often the target of his good-natured teasing. It was as if, now he’d finally found someone, he wanted Thea to hurry up and do the same.
‘Shall we light the candles?’ Thea asked, making a very obvious subject change. She hurried back to the kitchen and grabbed the matches and focussed her attention on the cake. After the obligatory round of ‘Happy birthday’ singing, and the wish making, and then handing round the carefully cut slices of Lorelai’s exceptionally moist and rich chocolate sponge, Thea felt that the attention was away from herself and back onto Cora, where it should be.
‘So, what are you going to put on your shopping list to spend your birthday money on?’ she asked as she tucked into a generous slice of cake.
‘Dunno yet,’ Cora replied through a mouthful of her own cake. ‘Genevieve’s got this lush Carolina Herrera perfume – the bottle’s in the shape of a shoe – I might get some of that, if we’re gonna go up to Cribbs Causeway.’
Thea suppressed a sigh. This current generation of teens was so much more brand aware than she’d ever been. The advent of social media and the internet meant that they were bombarded with products every hour of the day, on every platform they visited, and it made the job of a parent both daunting and potentially very expensive. But at least Lorelai’s gift of cash would help to soak up some of that expense.
‘And maybe Genevieve could come with us? And we could go for lunch?’ Cora’s hopeful expression made Thea’s heart lurch.
‘Let’s think about it during the holidays,’ she said. It was her standard response when she wanted more time to work things out. Thankfully, term ended on 20 December this year, so she’d have finished her fill-in shifts at the farm shop before the school holidays started. She hoped she could bluff her way through the next couple of weeks without Cora or Dylan discovering her extra job. She’d managed to persuade them she’d been at appointments and running errands for the first couple of days this week, to explain her absence from home when they’d finished school, but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep it up for the next couple of weeks. It wasn’t that she was ashamed, as such, but she hated the thought of them being worried about money, especially so close to Christmas. If Nick offered her a more permanent gig for the new year, then she’d own up to it.
Lorelai might be a different matter, however. She imagined herself diving behind the counter if her grandmother popped into the shop and realised that just wasn’t going to work. She resolved to let Lorelai know about it when the time was right. Tristan and Charlotte could be kept in the dark, though – she didn’t want to provide more ammunition for her brother, who’d only tease her about working with Nick.
The party went on for another hour or so, before Tristan and Charlotte said their goodbyes. They were Bristol bound tonight and meeting with some of Charlotte’s work colleagues for a Christmas meal. Term had ended the day before, so it was a good chance to get together before the Christmas season got into full swing. As they left, Charlotte grabbed Thea for a quiet word in the hall. ‘Don’t let Tristan rile you up about Nick,’ she said. ‘He’s always suspected that Nick carries a torch for you, and you know what he’s like when he thinks something, it takes an army to persuade him otherwise!’
‘I know.’ Thea smiled ruefully. ‘But he’s wrong. Nick and I are just friends, and that’s all we’ve ever been. I’m not ready for anything else, and even if I was, I don’t think Nick wants the kind of baggage I’m carrying.’
