Page 11 of The Cosy Travelling Christmas Shop

‘Great! By the time Christmas comes, I’ll be heartily sick of it.’

As he walked away, Seren couldn’t resist humming ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day’. The guy shot her a sad look over his shoulder and shook his head. Then he grinned and winked at her, and she was glad she was sitting down, because if she’d been standing her legs would have turned to jelly.

The guy was seriously hot.

It was a pity she’d probably never see him again.

That was a lesson in how to make a fool of yourself, Daniel thought, as he strode out of the supermarket towards his car. What on earth had possessed him? He didn’t normally chew the ear off total strangers and share personal information with them.

Mind you, the woman on the till did have cute ears, he’d noticed.

He’d noticed an awful lot more as well, such as the blonde hair piled on top of her head and the little wisps around her face. He’d also noticed her blue eyes, the smattering of freckles across her nose which he guessed might be a leftover from the summer, and her ready smile. He hadn’t been flattering her when he’d said she was pretty – he’d been telling the truth. But it would have been better if he had kept the thought to himself, and not announced it to the whole shop. She must have thought he was a right idiot. It was a good job he’d probably never see her again, as the supermarket she worked in wasn’t one he usually frequented (he’d only popped in because it was so near to the care home), so there was little chance of him bumping into her unless he paid it a visit.

Putting thoughts of attractive checkout operatives out of his head, he turned his mind towards his grandad and what the old gent would make of the presents. The whisky would be gratefully received he knew, but what about the headset? Daniel hoped he’d like it. As he’d mentioned to the woman on the till, buying gifts wasn’t easy.

Edwin was in the games room again, but this time the games that were being played were of the pass-the-parcel variety. However, as Daniel soon discovered, the goal was not to unwrap a layer of the parcel in the hope there’d be a little gift inside as a prelude to the main one, but to try toavoidunwrapping it. Therefore the parcel was doing the rounds at an impressive speed for arthritic hands.

Each resident was wearing a party hat, along with grimly determined expressions.

‘This looks like fun,’ Daniel said, after trying to kiss his grandad on the cheek and being waved away: the parcel was only four chairs away and as soon as it reached Edwin, he grabbed it and almost flung it at the man sitting next to him.

‘It is,’ Edwin said, bleakly.

‘Why don’t you want to unwrap a layer?’

‘Because there’s a forfeit inside some of them. Ooh, the music has stopped. Open it, open it, open it.’ Everyone, apart from the woman in whose lap the parcel now resided, took up the chant.

Warily, she pulled the newspaper off it, revealing yet another layer underneath and a piece of A4 paper.

‘What does it say?’ someone shouted out.

‘Hold your horses, I’ve got to put my glasses on.’ Slowly and with tremulous fingers, the old lady took her glasses case out of her cardigan pocket, opened it, unfolded the arms, and slid them onto her face.

By this time, Daniel was invested – he simply had to know what was written on that piece of paper.

‘Be spoon-fed trifle by the person sitting next to you,’ she read out, and Daniel didn’t think that was too bad, until she added, ‘They have to be wearing a blindfold. I hope there aren’t any pips in the trifle, because if there are, I’ll have to take my teeth out.’

Daniel’s eyes widened. ‘Is this kind of thing normal?’ he asked his grandfather quietly.

‘Oh yes. It happens whenever anyone has a birthday. It’s my birthday today, so we’re celebrating.’

‘I know, that’s why I’m here. I’ve got you a present or two.’

Edwin’s face lit up. ‘Shall we go to my room as soon as this is over?’ He frowned. ‘On second thoughts, it might take a while. Let’s go now.’

‘How are you finding it, Grandad?’ It had been two weeks – surely the novelty was wearing off and the old man would be beginning to realise what a mistake he’d made?

‘I’m loving it.’

‘Really?’

‘Don’t sound so surprised. I’m with people my own age – I can relate to them and identify with them.’

‘Identify with them,’ Daniel repeated woodenly.

‘Is that so hard to believe?’

‘Not at all.’ He just hadn’t thought his grandad would need to be around people his own age – it simply hadn’t occurred to him that he and his mum weren’t enough.

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