Page 55 of Christmas Ever After
Mitch denies it but his blush gives him away. ‘It was only for selfish reasons. You two are my most famous residents. The council can’t possibly let either of you go after this. Do you know how many people have seen the video now? One hundred and thirty thousand, that’s how many! Isn’t it marvellous?’
Marvellous is notquitethe word I’d use. In fact, it makes me feel quite ill. Sicker than the three hot chocolates combined have made me feel today.
‘Everyone’s talking about it. I’m surprised you haven’t been asked for your autographs!’
‘Fran’s right-handed, it’d be a little difficult.’
At the nickname, Mitch’s ears prick up like a dog that’s just heard the word ‘walkies’ and he looks just as excitable. ‘It’s abeautiful night. Why don’t you two go off for a little wander before closing time? I’ll mind your cabins.’
I go to refuse, but Raff stretches with the groan of someone who’s been sitting for too long, and I glance towards the walled walkway leading to the castle. Things are quiet now. It doesn’t look like an influx of nutcracker buyers are suddenly going to swarm the gates at this time of night, and it would be nice to move around a bit.
Raff holds his hand out and squeezes my fingers when I let him pull me to my feet. ‘Thanks, Mitch, we won’t be long. I doubt there’s much left to buy now.’
It’s not about buying, seeing as most of the sellers are people we work with every day, but I haven’t spent much time alone with Raff today, and I haven’t left my stall since it was daylight and can only imagine how magical the castle gardens are looking in the dark.
‘Do you want a mulled wine?’ Raff nods to the stall that’s been on the other side of him all day, dishing out hot mulled wine into paper cups, the fruity scent pervading the air all around us. ‘It’s all I’ve been able to smell all day and I think I’m already a bit giddy just from the fumes.’
I nod and he goes to get us one each, and when he comes back, he hands me a steaming paper cup with a cinnamon stick poking out of it and an orange slice floating on top, and we start meandering along the route of the market stalls.
It’s late and the children’s choirs have been replaced by a live band playing instrumental Christmas music now and most of the visitors still around are couples wandering hand in hand.
We walk past Jorge’s bakery stall where he’s still serving gingerbread and mince pies. I’ve seen him in passing since ‘the incident’, but he’s never bothered to ask if I’m okay, and I would never purchase another baked good from him if he was the lastbaked good vendor on earth. I don’t intend to acknowledge him as we walk past, but the sound of oinking reaches my ears.
‘Want me to go and deck him?’
I laugh, because if I said yes, I think Raff actually would. ‘No, thank you, oh manly protector. Just when you think chivalry is dead, a gentleman offers to punch someone’s lights out to defend your honour.’ I bump my shoulder into his arm. ‘But thank you for offering.’
The atmosphere makes it feel like there’s magic sparkling in the air tonight. I’ve been immune to the atmosphere on Christmas Ever After in recent years. I’ve forgotteneverythingthat I used to love about Christmas, and this sparkly festive feeling is what working in The Nutcracker Shop used to feel like. Every day was tingling with the possibility of magic happening, and for the first time in years, I’ve been feeling that again lately, and it’s mostly because of Raff, with his kind, silly soul, his daft sense of humour, and his love of Christmas that’s reminded me of how much I love Christmas. Although maybe magic is the wrong thing to be feeling off the back of our match between Mitch’s son Cedric and Mandy being such a dismal failure.
It makes me think of Claude Dardenne and his match of my parents. I’ve always thought he didn’t care who he was setting up as long as they put their money in the till, but what if Raff’s right in everything he’s said? Maybe his grandfather really did care, and my parents were just one of the cases where he got it wrong, like I have with Cedric and Mandy. Was I wrong to think I saw something between them? Was I wrong to have tried? Is it entirely my fault that they had a horrible night or do mistakes just happen sometimes? Sometimes ‘perfect on paper’ is not always a good match in reality and it’s not necessarily anyone’s fault if a relationship doesn’t work out…
‘What are you thinking about?’
I decide to be honest, even though I doubt he wanted the literal answer. ‘Your grandfather. My parents. You. Tomorrow.’
‘Don’t worry about it. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen.’
‘We’regoing to make them listen to us. We’ve both succeeded. I have plenty of social media engagement now, and we’ve matched three couples – that’s enough. They won’t need any more proof than that.’ I nod definitively, trying to make myself believe it too. I appreciate his laidback attitude, but the closer it ticks to tomorrow, the harder it is not to worry.
Stars are twinkling in a clear sky, competing with the Christmas lights around us. It’s freezing but the hot mulled wine is warming me up as we walk. Raff’s led us further into the castle gardens, away from the market and off the path visitors are supposed to stay on. There are topiary snowflake shapes illuminated by lights spread throughout the hedges and water features with a spotlight shining on them so it looks like the burbling water is glowing red and green. The paths wind past glass gazebos lit with fairy lights, low brick walls and neatly maintained small garden areas, and every inch is sparkling with festive lights.
The mulled wine is finished in companionable silence, and Raff finds a bin to chuck our empty cups in, and when he returns, instead of offering me his arm, he holds his hand out and I slip my fingers into his and our hands swing between us as we walk.
It’s a crisp and chilly night, and the band’s Christmas music is faint from so far away. Our pace is gentle, although my head is whirring at ninety miles per hour about everything Raff’s just told me not to worry about.
‘Why haven’t you told anyone?’
The question comes out of the blue, and I glance up at him, confused by the seemingly random query. ‘About what?’
‘A couple of days after you looked after my shop. I emptied the bins and heard the broken glass jangling. Thought I’d better check which one had been broken. When I said you looked like you’d been burying a body, it was the body of a snow globe, along with the broken innards. I know you know.’
I chew on my lip, my stomach suddenly twisting around on itself. ‘Oh.’
‘Oh,’ he repeats.
‘Why areyouonly just saying something? Why did you basically offer to tell me last night if you already knew I knew?’
‘I don’t know. I thought it might sound better if I explained. And I didn’t say anything before because I wanted to see what you were going to do with the information.’ His voice sounds… hopeful, like he knows full well that I haven’t told anyone because my feelings for him are very different than they were three weeks ago. ‘I didn’t know if…’
