Page 130 of Meet Me Under the Mistletoe
Nory winced.
“Seb’s printed off a spreadsheet and given each of them specific jobs. Nina and Glenda may each shine in their own right.”
“Who gets to cook the roast potatoes, though? Roast potatoes can be a contentious issue.”
“Yes, so it would seem. I will therefore be doing the roast potatoes.” Andrew pulled his phone out of his pocket and scrolled down the screen. “Yes, here we are. Nina is on roast parsnips. Glenda is on glazed carrots and minted peas; now she gets two vegetables because I am reliably informed—by Glenda herself—that roast parsnips counts as two vegetables in terms of importance.”
“It’s like vegetable Top Trumps!”
“It is exactly like that. Glenda gets to do braised red cabbage in spiced red wine, while Nina will be making panfried Brussels sprouts with chestnuts and crispy bacon lardons.”
“Wait, doesn’t that count as three things?”
“You would think, but no. The braised cabbage in red wine is apparently a higher skill level than the panfried sprouts and therefore it’s allowed.”
“Who’s doing the gravy? That’s surely a pistols-at-dawn situation.”
“Yes. Which is why we handed over the gravy making to Marks and Spencer, because no nana would argue with M&S.”
They closed the shop at four o’clock because the only customers they were getting were the post-work Christmas-lunch kind, and Nory didn’t want beer hands on her books. And they weren’t buying anyway; they only wanted somewhere warm to wait until the pub queues quieted down a bit.
Nory locked the door for Serendipitous Seconds for the final time that year. Andrew was holding a small sack over his shoulder like a well-groomed robber. They were Nory’s gifts to her goddaughter.
“You spoil her,” said Andrew kindly.
“Only with love.”
“These arethings!” he said, rattling the sack slightly and smiling.
“Things given withlove,” Nory corrected him.
Andrew pulled her into a hug with his free arm.
“Happy Christmas, darling Nory,” he said into her hair.
“Happy Christmas to you too, my lovely friend.”
They pulled apart from each other.
“Oh my god, it’s your first Christmas together as a family.” Nory was suddenly welling up. “It’s so wonderful! You’ve waited so long.”
“Now don’t start,” said Andrew, wiping at his eyes. “Because you’ll start me off.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too. Now go on, off with you. I don’t want you to see me cry.”
Nory laughed and crossed the square toward her flat. She turned and called, “Say merry Christmas to Seb and give Matilda a big kiss from me!”
“Consider it done!” Andrew called back as he rounded the corner and disappeared.
Ameerah called for Nory and her cat at six o’clock, and after settling a grouchy Mugwort in his basket on the backseat, they began the slow drive out of London along with the thousands of other people leaving the city for the holidays. At one point the traffic was so still that Nory jumped out of the car, ran to the garage across the road, grabbed two coffees and a bag full of snacks, and made it back before Ameerah had moved two car lengths.
“Jackson and Lucas will be in bed by the time we get to Hartmead,” Nory lamented.
“You’ll see them in the morning.”
“It’s probably for the best. I’m not sure I can take another fight with Thom just yet.”
