Page 91 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm
‘Not at all.’ Anna was puce. ‘Mrs Timberley refused to chair the committee when we started up again. She got some terrible letters of complaint.’
‘Mostly from Anna,’ Nina whispered.
‘What was that?’
‘Nothing.’
They came to the final cottage in the first row after the bridge. Anna shook her head dramatically. ‘Oh, that won’t do at all. Barry! Barry Morgan, you come out here right now and straighten up these snowflakes.’
Jodie and Nina left Anna to her troubleshooting and walked on.
‘So my Pavel came home all full of beans last night.’
‘Did he?’ Jodie kept her gaze straight ahead, determined to play it cool.
‘Oh yes. The cat that got the cream. Happier than I’ve seen him in years.’
Sod cool. ‘Really?’ Jodie’s heart leapt a little bit. The nugget of terror in her gut that maybe yesterday had been some sort of mirage, or that Pavel Stone would get home and instantly regret the whole sordid episode, eased a little.
‘Really.’
‘Oh. Good. And he told you…’ Jodie couldn’t end the sentence with anything that sounded even vaguely like Pavel Stone might have said it out loud to his mother.
‘He told me you two were seeing one another.’
‘Right. Yeah. Is that OK?’
‘With me?’ Nina laughed. ‘Is this you coming to ask his parents’ permission?’
‘No. Yeah.’ This was ridiculous. ‘I know you’re close.’
‘He values what other people think far too much, that lad, but for what it’s worth I do like you.’ She paused. ‘Of course, if you hurt him I will destroy you anyway.’
Jodie laughed.
Nina did not join in.
Jodie stopped. ‘OK. Understood.’
‘Shall we go and see the tree? You know Anna’s done it in red and green, don’t you?’
‘Actually I might have added to some of the green.’
Nina frowned as they walked in silence to the front of the village shop. The tree stood proud, not yet lit, and covered in small green baubles. ‘Are they…?’ she laughed.
Jodie shrugged. ‘We had so many sprouts. There was no way they were all going to get eaten.’
Nina plucked a makeshift sprout bauble off the nearest branch and turned it around in her hand. Jodie had stuck red ribbon to each one so they’d hang from the tree. ‘That’s a brilliant idea, love.’
‘Really?’
‘Really,’ Nina confirmed. ‘Absolute genius.’
Pavel arrived outside the shop about half an hour before the official switch-on was scheduled. Villagers were gathering. Hugh was doling out mulled wine and hot chocolate from a table in front of the shop. Everyone was bundled up against the early evening chill in the air. Cheeks were pink and smiles were wide. He scanned the gathering crowd for the face he wanted to see, only for her to appear right next to him.
‘Hi.’
‘I was looking for you.’
