Page 37 of Could It Be Magic?
‘Thanks, Mollie – you’re a marvel.’
Thea quickly put her old jeans and jumper back on, and in no time was paying a very reasonable price for the dress and shoes. True to her word, Mollie threw in the shawl for free.
‘Have a lovely time tomorrow night,’ Mollie said as Thea left. ‘I, er, hope your Prince Charming appreciates the effort you’ve gone to.’
Thea smiled. ‘I hope so too.’ Feeling markedly more cheerful than she had an hour ago, Thea headed back home to hang up her dress and maybe watch a few YouTube makeup tutorials for herself.
31
Nick couldn’t concentrate. This revelation was nothing new to him; he’d often been accused of chronic inattention when he’d been at school, and staring out of the window wanting to be elsewhere, but today the sensation was distinctly obvious. Annabelle had worked in the shop all morning, but was knocking off at lunchtime, leaving him and Roseanna to go through the motions of afternoon trade and then lock up later. It was all routine stuff on a Saturday morning, but Nick had already put some freshly baked sausage rolls in the black waste bin, and only just realised he’d shoved the Chew Moo’s Ice Cream in the fridge instead of the freezer in time.
‘Something on your mind?’ Annabelle asked with a glint in her eye when, muttering, he re-homed the ice cream in the freezer.
‘No,’ Nick shot back quickly. He’d had enough ribbing from Annabelle last night about Thea saying yes to the ball, and he was starting to go through the roof with nerves about it now. He hadn’t told her about Thea kissing him when she’d agreed to go to the ball; he still couldn’t quite believe it had happened himself. If he’d mentioned it to Annabelle, she’d be planning their wedding already.
Annabelle had taken off her apron and was putting it on the hook behind the counter. She turned back around to where Nick was standing nearby, a more sympathetic look on her face.
‘She wouldn’t have accepted the invite if she didn’t want to go with you,’ she said gently. ‘Just try to enjoy it. You’ve been waiting long enough to take her on a date.’
‘You make me sound like the world’s saddest loser,’ Nick grumbled. ‘It’s not as though I’ve been sitting at home, pining for Thea Ashcombe all these years.’
Annabelle grinned. ‘Of course not, but… oh, I don’t know. Thea seems really special to you. Thea is special. And, without wanting to get too mushy or sentimental, you’re special to me, too. The thought that you two might have a future together makes me so happy.’ She reached out and hugged Nick, who was pleasantly surprised by the gesture.
‘Steady on, Annie, you’re going to make me cry!’ he joked, to hide how touched he was. Gently disentangling himself from her embrace, he started to rearrange the Christmas gift tags and other festive items that they’d introduced to the counter as impulse purchases at the end of November.
‘Well, just make sure you’re properly dressed, and you get there on time,’ Annabelle continued.
‘Yes, yes, I know.’ Nick put the tags down again. ‘You’ve already told me she hates lateness. And it’s not like I’ve never been out on a date before. I am a man of the world, you know!’
‘Really?’ Annabelle arched an eyebrow in his direction. ‘And when was the last time you left the county?’
‘I crossed the border into Wiltshire in the summer!’ Nick protested. ‘We had an away match against the Malmsbury Marauders cricket team. Thrashed them on their home turf, too.’
‘Just don’t mess this up, little brother.’ Annabelle glanced at the clock. ‘I’d better go. I promised Jamie I’d get home and help him move some stuff out of the spare room this afternoon. He’s, er, planning on repainting it in the new year.’
Nick paused in his rearrangement of the goods on the counter. ‘Really?’ he said carefully. ‘Any particular reason?’
‘Not yet,’ Annabelle replied. She gave a brief smile. ‘But soon, hopefully.’
Nick smiled back, his nerves about his date with Thea fading into insignificance when set against the bigger challenges his sister was facing. ‘I hope so, too.’
Annabelle said goodbye, but before she did, she couldn’t resist a last reminder. ‘You have got all the bits for your dinner suit, I suppose? Remember, this is a black tie gig and you need to go full Daniel Craig on Thea if you really want to impress her.’
‘Yes, of course.’ Nick rolled his eyes. ‘As far as I can recall, everything’s in the suit carrier from the last time I had to get it all out, and my dress shirt’s in the wardrobe.’
‘Well, I’ll see you later then, Prince Charming!’ Giving him a merry wave over her shoulder, Annabelle left.
Nick sat out the rest of the afternoon in the shop, filling the time as best he could by getting a jump on next week’s jobs. It was at the point when he found himself checking the dates on the milk in the fridge for the third time, and still not taking them in, that he realised he should just call it a day. As the hands of the clock above the front entrance crept their way towards 5 p.m., he turned to Roseanna.
‘Go on, you can get off now.’
Roseanna, who at eighteen was old enough to lock up herself, and did the Sunday morning shift on her own, looked pleased. ‘Thanks, Nick. I’ll make sure I’m in earlier tomorrow to make up the quarter of an hour if you like.’
‘No need, honestly. It’s bound to be quiet tomorrow morning anyway, with all of us nursing our hangovers after the ball.’
‘Have a great time,’ Roseanna replied. ‘See you next weekend.’
Glancing at the clock, he saw it was two minutes to five. He’d better lock up and get going. Thankfully, Roseanna had taken care of the outside stock, and he just needed to close out the till and set the alarm for the evening. As he did so, he mentally ran through what he needed for tonight. Yes, he thought, it was all going to be fine. Everything was under control. Switching off all but the low-intensity security lights in the shop, he locked up and headed home.
