Page 18 of Could It Be Magic?
‘Don’t worry, Gran, Nick’s sorting out the pay check!’
Lorelai paid for her box of mince pies and Thea breathed a sigh of relief as her gran made to leave.
‘Don’t you work my granddaughter too hard tonight!’ Lorelai chided Nick lightly as they exchanged a quick hello when he arrived at the counter to check in. ‘She’s got a lot of work on at school, good of her as it is to help you out.’
‘I’m very grateful to her.’ Nick smiled down at Lorelai. ‘She’s been a star.’
‘That’s Thea all over.’ Lorelai smiled back at Nick and glanced at them both, a look of amusement in her eyes. ‘Make sure you give her a proper Christmas bonus for all of her hard work!’
‘Gran!’ Thea admonished Lorelai lightly. She caught Nick’s eye, and she couldn’t help noticing a slight, almost unnoticeably raised eyebrow in her direction. Feeling a sudden urge to giggle, as if she’d regressed to being a teenager again and had been caught doing something she shouldn’t, she stammered, ‘If you’re headed to the stock room, we could really do with a few more organic Christmas puddings, if there are any out there.’
‘Er, OK,’ Nick said, looking as though he was about to laugh himself. ‘I was going to offer to relieve you on the till so you could have a look around the fair, but I’ll check for some of those puds before I do, if you say we’re short out here.’
‘They’re selling like hot, er, puddings!’ Thea quipped weakly, but she felt a sense of relief as Nick moved past her to the stock room.
‘Well, I’ll see you later in the week, dear,’ Lorelai said, shouldering her canvas tote bag and making a move towards the shop door. ‘Don’t work too hard.’
‘I won’t!’
A couple of minutes later, Nick was back with a tray of Christmas puddings and an inquisitive expression.
‘Your gran’s incorrigible!’ he said as he popped the puddings down on the counter.
Thea laughed. ‘You could say that.’ She paused. ‘Look, er, I just wanted to thank you again for taking me on here. I’ve really enjoyed it, and the money’s going to make Christmas a bit easier.’
‘You’re welcome,’ Nick replied. ‘I mean, you’ve got me out of a tight spot. If you hadn’t stepped in, I’d have had to have propped Dad up behind the counter, and he’s so zoned out on codeine at the moment he’d be giving away the profits!’
Thea laughed. ‘Well, I’m glad I’ve spared you that.’
‘Are things really that tight for Christmas?’ Nick asked, suddenly serious.
Thea paused, unsure whether she wanted to go too much into detail about her money worries. ‘Oh, you know,’ she said quickly. ‘It’s an expensive time of year. Especially with the children. I’m trying to manage their expectations, but it’s not easy.’
‘Fair enough,’ Nick said, a soft tone to his voice. ‘But it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Things are tough right now, for a lot of people. I think it’s very strong of you to face it head on and try to work things out by yourself.’
Thea’s eyes felt prickly all of a sudden, and she blinked furiously. ‘It doesn’t feel that way,’ she said quietly. ‘Sometimes it feels as though all I’m doing is keeping the wolf from the door by offering him a rapidly diminishing pile of meat, and as soon as it’s gone, he’ll be in to eat me, the kids and the bloody cat, too!’
‘Nah,’ Nick replied. ‘That cat’s a feisty little torty: she’d take down a wolf without shedding a claw!’
Thea gave a slightly shaky laugh. ‘You always know how to cheer me up.’
‘I’m always around to try, when you need me.’ He put a tentative hand on her forearm. ‘You’re my friend, Thea, and I care about you.’
Thea looked up and saw his clear blue eyes were full of warmth and compassion. Something held between them, until Nick cleared his throat and broke the gaze.
‘Well,’ he said, taking his hand off her arm, ‘did you want to take a break and have a look around? I’m happy to man the till for a bit.’
‘Thanks.’ Thea smiled, trying to disguise the fact that her own face felt hot and her heart was hammering nineteen to the dozen. ‘I won’t be long. I’m on the lookout for some reasonably priced things to fill the kids’ stockings with, so I’ll zip around and see what I can see.’
‘Take your time,’ Nick replied. ‘The more I’m behind the counter, the less chance there is that bloody Tally will try to strong-arm me into that stupid Santa costume!’
‘She seemed rather, er, persistent,’ Thea said carefully. She didn’t want to let on that she’d overheard too much of the banter between Tally and Nick earlier, but she was still intrigued by their dynamic.
‘That she is.’ Nick rolled his eyes.
‘She’s a very attractive woman,’ Thea observed. Some part of her knew she was testing the waters here, seeing if Nick was going to agree with her.
‘Yes, she is, but I don’t like it when things get complicated. And Tally’s always struck me as the type who loves complications.’
