Page 92 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm
‘I’m five foot nothing. Tricky to spot in a crowd. I saw you coming half a mile away though.’
They both hesitated. ‘I’m not sure if I’m supposed to kiss you.’
‘For future reference, if you ever wonder that, the answer is probably yes.’
‘All right then.’ He bent his head to meet her and pressed her lips to his. As they came apart he looked up to find half the village staring at them, including Jill. He watched as Anna, Flinty and his mother all looked from him and Gemma to Jill and back again. ‘I…’ He didn’t have an end for the sentence.
Jill was a better person than him though. ‘This is new.’ She smiled brightly. ‘Happy days.’ She walked determinedly over to Pavel and wrapped him in a hug. ‘You could have told me,’ she hissed in his ear.
‘Sorry.’
She pulled back from the hug. ‘It’s fine.’ She moved to include Gemma in their circle. ‘Seriously, this is great. When did this happen?’
‘Yesterday,’ Pavel confirmed.
‘It’s great. Great. Really great.’ She squeezed his shoulder. ‘I’m going to get a hot chocolate. Have fun.’
The moment of relief was short-lived.
‘What happened between you and her?’
Fair question. ‘Nothing. We went on one date. It was awkward. We agreed we’re better as friends.’
Gemma nodded. ‘So why is half the village looking at me like I’m Yoko Ono and Jill’s the rest of The Beatles?’
‘Because this village is lightly insane. I think people had made more of it than it was, to the point where we almost got sucked in too.’ He could see the doubt on her face. He searched for the right thing to say. ‘Jill’s a friend. A really good friend, but there’s nothing else there. It was a story people told each other and we ended up telling ourselves.’ That was it. ‘It wasn’t real.’
‘And this is?’
He reached down and took her hand in his. ‘It is for me.’
He felt her fingers squeeze his in response and allowed himself to exhale.
‘Gemma, we need you.’ Nina called her away from Pavel, and over to the tiny platform Hugh had built in front of the shop.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing, but someone needs to introduce your special guests to turn the first set of lights on.’
‘You should do that. You’re in charge of all this.’
Nina waved a hand. ‘Pish. You put this together. You should have your moment. Just remember to speak right into the microphone. If you have it more than about half an inch away it picks nothing up.’
Jodie felt herself being pushed towards the microphone balanced on the platform. ‘Wait. Guests?’
‘Yes.’
‘Plural? I only invited Santa.’
Nina laughed out loud. ‘He brought a friend.’ She leaned in and whispered. Jodie’s cheeks coloured at the very mention of the name.
‘Right. OK.’ She picked up the microphone and cleared her throat. ‘Hello, everyone…’ Nobody turned round.
She glanced at Nina, who gestured to hold the microphone closer to her lips.
‘Hello?’
Still no reaction. Nina frowned. A second later she saw Pavel pushing the cable properly into its power supply and the microphone in her hand crackled into life.
