Page 48 of Christmas at Hollybush Farm
‘Look, we know this has come as a shock,’ says the young man outside the door. He’s bending and shouting through the letterbox to Mae. ‘We realize that. I mean, the company does.’
‘A shock!’ Mae shouts back. ‘I’ve got Christmas coming and two kids and my mother to look after. You can’t just shut us down with no notice.’
‘If you’d just come out and talk to me …’ he says.
‘We’re not going anywhere,’ I join in.
He shakes his head. And tries again diplomatically. ‘You have to come out sometime.’
‘Well, it’s not going to be now.’ Mae slams the letterbox shut, turns and leans against the sideboard.
With that, it all goes quiet and Josh walks back to his car, gets in, shuts the door and pulls out his phone.
‘He’s telling them they’ve got a problem,’ says Evie, watching through the front window.
‘How do you know?’ I ask.
‘Lip-reading … I learnt to do it so that I could work with a deaf patient I had.’
‘What’s he saying now?’ I ask.
‘He says there’s a problem, and it’s called Mae.’
We burst out laughing.
‘For someone who never said much at school, you’re making yourself heard now,’ I tell her.
Her eyes light up and we high-five each other. Then she says, ‘It’s just, with Rob leaving … Owen, you know what it’s like.’ Owen holds up his hands. ‘It suddenly all got to me. All so unfair! On you too, Owen.’
‘It is. But you’re doing great. Your kids are proud of you, and you should be too, however this turns out,’ I say. ‘But we’re going to have to make sure we stay put, dig in deeper. We can’t leave the café empty.’
‘Agreed.’ Everyone speaks in unison.
We turn back to the man in the car, and it’s only then that I remember Llew Griffiths is in the café with us, locked in, sitting with Dad, holding a cup of tea that Evie’s made for him, looking very much at home.
Now what?
‘We should pull straws to see who stays over with Mae. She can’t be here on her own.’
‘I’ll be fine!’ she says, lifting her chin.
‘I’m more worried about what you might do to anyone who comes to get you out!’ Owen chuckles. And I see Mae allowing herself to soften, just a little.
‘We should take it in turns, in pairs,’ I say.
‘Straws!’ Owen grabs a handful and tears off the ends. Then he arranges them in his fist so they all look the same length and holds them out. ‘There’s two of each length here. All grab one. Those with the short ones, stay.’
‘And this way Mae gets to go home to see the kids,’ says Evie.
We reach forward to pull out a straw from the hand that Owen is holding out.
I reach in and accidentally touch the tips of Llew’s fingers as he reaches in at the same time. It’s like an electric shock.
‘Sorry!’ I say, yanking back my hand. ‘You go first. Actually, it’s fine. You really don’t need to be here. We’ve got this covered.’
‘I know, but, well, I’m here. I may as well make myself useful,’ he says.
I wish he would just go, slip out through the back door. But he doesn’t make a move. ‘After you,’ he says.
