Page 54 of Christmas Ever After
As we wander away, Cleo looks over her shoulder at the market stalls behind us. ‘I’ve never had an arch-nemesis, but I don’t think that’squitethe way you’re supposed to look at someone you hate.’
‘Things might have changed a little…’ I blush at the thought of how many people have noticed the way things are going between me and Raff. Cleo and Mrs Bloom have noticed, and they aren’t the only ones.
‘Yes, a few of us have been wondering what happened to the “fraudster who’s a scourge on our street”.’
‘I’m not sure I ever called him a scourge,’ I say with a huff, although to be fair, I’ve called Raff a few things over the years and ‘scourge’ probably was one of them. ‘Maybe the snow globe con isn’t what I thought it was. It’s more Raff going along with something his grandfather started even though his heart isn’t in it. I think things will be different now. He’s going to change his approach and go in a different direction with Love Is All A-Round. We just have to make sure the council will keepbothour shops.’
‘What if they don’t?’
It’s a hard question to hear because it’s a possibility that I don’t want to think about. Whatifthey don’t? What if everything we’ve done isn’t enough, and at that meeting tomorrow, they only choose one of us?
‘I’m backing you all the way,’ she continues. ‘He hasn’t made his five matches, and you’ve got a tonne of engagement online now. I went to comment on one of your posts the other day andtwoother people had commented before me.’
Two whole people. Wow. The council will be overawed with that. It makes my mind wander to the possibility of tomorrow again, and what will happen if they do only choose one of us, and how I’ll feel if it’s me – or if it isn’t.
‘Thanks,’ I mumble distractedly. I have so many ideas to move forward with The Nutcracker Shop, and the thought of losing it is unthinkable, but so is the thought of continuing here at the expense of Raff not getting a chance to take Love Is All A-Round inhisdifferent direction.
‘Never mind social media engagement, you’ve certainly got the shopkeepers and customers’ tongues wagging on Ever After Street. Everyone is talking about you because of the video.’
Every mention of the video makes me cringe inside. Last time Mrs Bloom told me, the views had gone well over the 120,000 mark, so it’s the sort of thing customers and co-workerswouldbe talking about, I suppose…
‘There’s a Team Nutcracker versus a Team Snow Globe in the YouTube comments. People are placing bets and everything.’
‘Oh come on, seriously?’ I say in frustration. You can’t avoid hearing whispers of gossip working in such a small community, but the thought ofusbeing the subject of it makes me almost as uncomfortable as the thought ofsomany people watching me flail about on that arch.
As she says goodbye, it leaves my mind whirring, and not in a good way.
When I get back to my stall, Raff has sold another three nutcrackers and two snow globes in my absence, and one customer has collected their order, but I’m too hung up on what Cleo’s just said. ‘Have you heard any gossip about us?’
‘I’m not a gossipy type, Fran.’ He raises an eyebrow. ‘Why? Should I have?’
‘I don’t know. Cleo said people are talking.’
‘Well, you know what people think when two members of the opposite gender start spending time together. People can’t comprehend that a man and a woman can be just frie—’ He cuts the sentence off halfway through the word ‘friends’ and it makes my heart flutter as I go from disappointment that he only sees us as friends to certainty that he’s been feeling something decidedly more-than-friends for me too.
He stutters for a replacement word for a moment and then shakes his head. ‘Well, whatever we are, three weeks ago, we weren’t on speaking terms and now we’ve actually spoken, so… on a small, close-knit street like this, people are going to talk, I guess?’
‘Yeah, I guess,’ I echo with a jovial shrug but Cleo’s words stay with me as I take my seat back inside my own cabin. Navigating what’s happening with Raff is hard enough without other people having a vested interest in us too.
If last year’s Christmas market was busy, this year’s first day ismadness. Last year was the first time since Witt came back to Ever After Street and offered use of the castle as an event space, and the shopkeepers of Christmas Ever After put their heads together and came up with the idea of a festive market. We’d never done it before and thought maybe a few locals mightturn up, but the Ever After Street social media is popular, and it was picked up by various ‘best Christmas markets to visit in the UK’ articles; a journalist turned up and wrote a whole front page about it, splashed with photos of the castle decorated for Christmas, but most of that publicity only came about while it was happening or afterwards – too late for most visitors. Over the course of the year, I’ve heard a lot of people say they were definitely going to come this year, but it’s still surprising to see just how many that’s translated into. People have been flooding in all day.
It’s the fun part of Christmas now. The majority of people have probably broken up from work or school this week, and it’s close enough to Christmas that most of the shopping is done, most of the presents are wrapped, and people only have one or two things left on their to-do lists, and now it’s time to relax and embrace the season.
The Carollers’ Cabin is set back in the grounds, so the sound of children’s choirs filter through the whole area, making it feel like we’re in an all-day carol concert, even though the schools change every hour. Erin brings Sofia by when it’s her turn and Mitch minds both our stalls while Raff and I sneak off to watch her class perform ‘The First Noel’ and ‘O Christmas Tree’.
We take turns in going for lunch, which ends up being freshly baked bread and a cheese board selection from the artisan cheesemaker, and the owners of the pop-up hot chocolate bar have ‘popped up’ at the market as well, and throughout the day, Raff keeps nipping off and returning with first a Maltesers hot chocolate, then a Ferrero Rocher hot chocolate, and finally an After Eight mint hot chocolate.
‘Christmas is the time for overindulging,’ Raff whispers when I side-eye the leaning tower of cream with crushed mint chocolate sprinkled over the top. ‘You can count calories in January.’
‘Cheers to that.’ I clink my paper cup against his, and he gives me a smile that warms me up more than the hot chocolate itself.
The market stays open until 11p.m. on both weekend nights, and it’s nearly 10p.m. when Mitch comes over again in full Santa regalia. He stands in the space between our stalls and beckons us both to come nearer, and then glances around to ensure there aren’t any customers around to overhear what he’s about to say.
‘Bit of a problem on the Cedric and Mandy front. They didn’t exactly hit it off. Got stuck in the escape room for hours and had to be rescued by a member of staff – probably just in time before one of them murdered the other one. But not to worry, I’ve bribed them both to come along tomorrow and fake it. I mean, theywerematched by you, weren’t they? There’s no reason the stuffy sods at the council need to know that it didn’t work out.’
Raff goes to protest but Mitch doesn’t let him. Instead, he stands back and looks over both our almost-empty stalls. ‘You two have done well.’
‘Prime positioning.’ Raff gives him a wink. ‘Which I think you, sir, are responsible for.’
