Page 33 of The Cosy Travelling Christmas Shop

Seren climbed into the driver’s seat and Tobias stood on the step, leaned across her and pressed a button. The van lit up like a Christmas tree inside and out, and Seren gasped.

‘Oh, my, that’s gorgeous.’ She gazed around the van with delight. Tobias had used tiny gold fairy lights to highlight the inside, and strings of them were entwined everywhere. It looked like a fairy grotto and her imagination ran wild as she envisioned it filled with baubles and stars, Santas and elves, all twinkling and glowing in the pretty lights.

‘That’s not all,’ he said. ‘Knowing the British weather and how fickle it can be at this time of year, I installed this.’

He pressed another button and Seren heard a rumbling sound. She squished around in the seat to find where it was coming from and was astounded to see an awning in the same colour as the van slowly emerge from above the window.

‘You have thought of everything,’ she said, then a thought occurred to her. ‘How much are you charging for this?’ She hadn’t agreed to this, and neither had he phoned to tell her he was planning on doing it. They’d agreed on an amount, which she was only just able to pay as it would use almost all her savings, and she hadn’t budgeted for anything extra.

Tobias stepped down. ‘It’s included in the quote I gave you.’

‘It is? I don’t remember seeing anything about an awning.’

‘I took it off another vehicle I’m in the middle of upgrading and it would only have gone to waste as the owner wants something bigger. So I thought I’d put it on yours.’

‘It looks brand new,’ she said.

‘Yeah, it does. They hardly used it. I gave it a scrub, tested the electrics, and there you have it. But that wasn’t all I wanted to show you. See that box there, with the knobs? Turn one of them.’

Seren sent him a curious look but did as he asked, wondering what new surprise he had in store for her.

The uplifting tune of ‘Joy to the World’ rang out, filling the garage with tinkling music.

‘Wow…’ By now Seren was speechless.

‘I’ve pre-programmed it with six tunes altogether,’ he told her, and Seren spent a delightful minute or so, turning knobs and listening to the brief snatches of music. Her favourite, and the one she thought she might use if she ever found the courage to patrol the streets in her Christmas van was ‘Jingle Bells’. It simply had to be.

As Seren drove off, having said goodbye to Tobias and thanked him yet again, she was so overcome with Christmas spirit that tears trickled down her face.

She was doing this – she really was!

Aunt Nelly was bundled up in a long-sleeved jumper, a woolly cardigan, a heavy-duty mac, a scarf and a pair of lime green leather gloves. She was also beaming fit to burst as she regarded the transformed ice cream van which was sitting in the care home’s car park.

‘Are you pleased with it?’ she demanded and Seren nodded.

‘I think it’s lovely, and it’ll look even better when it’s fully stocked.’ That was where she was off to next – to collect stock from those crafts people who had agreed to let her sell their items on a sale or return basis. Before that though, she couldn’t resist stopping off at the care home to show her Great-Aunt Nelly. After all, she’d been instrumental in Seren having the idea in the first place.

‘You must bring it back when you’ve got something to sell,’ Nelly instructed. ‘Now, take me back inside before I freeze to death, and you can make me a cup of tea while you’re at it.’

‘Yes, ma’am.’ Seren saluted her, then supervised as the old lady shuffled her walker around so it faced the right direction and made her slow, careful way indoors.

‘When are you planning on going out in it?’ Nelly asked, when she was settled in the day room with a cup of tea and a mince pie on the side table next to her.

‘I’m going to a Christmas market on Saturday to break myself in gently, plus I’ve got a couple of others booked in. If they go OK, I might risk going to a care home or two, and maybe a trawl around the streets.’

‘You need to be more proactive than that,’ Nelly said, slurping her tea. ‘You’ve got to make the most of the run-up to Christmas.’

‘Don’t forget, I already have a job, and it’s not going to be easy fitting it all in. They’ll probably want me to work extra shifts the nearer we get to Christmas.’

Nelly made a snorting noise. ‘You’re wasted in that supermarket. They work you to the bone and they don’t appreciate you.’

It wasn’t as bad as her aunt was making out. The work could sometimes be hard, and she certainly wasn’t appreciated, but didn’t every employer expect their staff to give a hundred per cent? It was just a shame Pamela was such a dragon. Seren had quite enjoyed working there until Pamela became manager.

‘Tell her to stuff her job,’ Nelly was saying and Seren tried not to roll her eyes. Her aunt hadn’t worked for over thirty years and things had changed. If Seren did what Nelly suggested, then Seren would be frantically trying to find employment without a reference. If she did intend to change direction and leave her current job, she fully planned on having another one to go to. Simply walking out wasn’t an option.

‘You’ve got your van, now,’ Nelly said.

‘But I don’t even know if I’ll make a profit,’ Seren objected.

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