The first stall they came to was laid out beneath its green awning with vintage jewellery, old books and kitschy knick-knackery. Jonathan pulled Kelsey closer to it. ‘Do you like anything here?’
‘Oh, I don’t need anything.’
‘Nobodyneedscute stuff, no, but do youlikeanything you see?’ He understood her love of vintage things and the way old objects could recall lost worlds and forgotten stories. Her eyes sparkled as she looked over the items in a voracious way that made the stall owner mentally rub his hands together.
Kelsey had a copy of an old book in her gloved hands already. ‘This is nice.’ She gave the black leather and gold embossing a little sniff before flicking through the pages. ‘It’s a nineteen-fifties copy of the plays of John Webster.’
‘Can I buy it for you?’ Jonathan reached for the book. ‘I already have something special for you but it’s nice to unwrap lots of little things, right?’
‘Actually, I was thinking maybe for Blythe? She played Webster’s Duchess of Malfi once, you know? But I’ll pay for it.’
Soon the book was wrapped in tissue paper and in Kelsey’s trusty satchel and they were on their way to the next stall, which was laden with gingerbread biscuits. The scent of cinnamon, ginger and brown sugar hit them hard.
‘Nowit smells like Christmas. My wee brother used to love these,’ Kelsey smiled.
‘My sisters love ’em too. Mom always baked cookies on Christmas Eve and we’d leave some out for Santa Claus. The thing about having four baby sisters is they need alotof Christmas cookies. She’d be baking most of the holidays. At least that’s how I remember it. In fact this stall looks kinda like Mom’s kitchen. Cookies everywhere.’ He was smiling and gripping Kelsey’s hand. ‘Can you fill up a bag for us, please?’ he asked the baker before turning to Kelsey. ‘You want angels or reindeer?’
‘I like the love hearts,’ she replied, drawing Jonathan’s focus back to her rosy cheeks and smiling lips. The poor stall owner had to navigate their lovestruck, goofy distraction to get Jonathan to remember to actually pay for them.
On they strolled, talking all the time about their respective family Christmases, sampling the gingerbread and not minding the bitterly cold north wind.
‘Hey, look at that!’ Jonathan suddenly pulled Kelsey to him and pointed through the crowds on the marina. Kelsey spotted it too and they instantly broke into an awkward slow run through the thronging masses.
There was one table unoccupied at the busy little pink café with the candy-striped awning where they’d first met:theirtable, with two chairs arranged just as they had been on the very day they first bumped into one another, and yes, they were going to reclaim their spot.
They skipped through the crowds, dodging the shoppers, and crossed over the road through the end-to-end crawling cars, their eyes fixed on their prize and already celebrating their victory, but just at the moment they stepped onto the pavement and were reaching for their table a woman threw herself into one of the chairs with an exhausted sigh, letting her shopping bags fall to the ground, the gift-wrapped contents of one spilling onto the pavement at her feet.
Kelsey and Jonathan drew up short just as a man passing the woman stopped and helped her bundle the gifts back into the bag. The strangers were oblivious to them watching them with their mouths crumpled in confounded surprise; already absorbed in what any passing fool could see was their split-second attraction. They overheard the man asking the woman if she was meeting someone before he claimed the spare chair, even though less than sixty seconds ago he had been bustling past with no intention of sitting.
Astonished, Kelsey smiled at Jonathan. ‘Cute,’ she whispered, and they both diverted inside the café doors shaking their heads with amusement.
Once inside the cosy, shockingly pink café where condensation steamed up the windows and a white Christmas tree twinkled at its centre, Kelsey told Jonathan to sit down and ordered two hot chocolates at the counter, not even having to ask Jonathan if he wanted one.
Soon they were pulling their chairs closer to each other, taking the first sips of their drinks and laughing at the whipped cream on their noses and lips.
‘Aww, man, we really arethatcouple,’ Jonathan laughed, swiping a slow thumb over Kelsey’s mouth. She just knew he was going to offer it up for her to lick away, which he did.
‘Sickeningly in love, you mean?’
‘Infuriatingly so.’
‘I love it.’ Kelsey grinned.
‘Me too.’
No one in the café minded their laughter as they hunched their heads closer and talked over the sounds of Brenda Lee’s ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ from the café radio.
‘My sisters would love this place, especially Daisy,’ Jonathan said.
‘She’s the littlest, right?’
‘She’s fifteen. I think she’s a budding actress. Someone should really have a word with her about that,’ he said in his drollest voice, deep and crackling with humour, as he stirred the candy cane in his drink. ‘It’s no life, pretending to be someone else half the time. Then there’s the stage fright and the late nights and the being away from the people you love.’ Another kiss pressed to her lips; this one tasted of peppermint. ‘I guess you’ll get to meet them all in April.’
‘Areallyour family coming to see you inLove’s Labour’s Lost?’
‘Sure are. Opening night. Dad’s already booked the flights so there’s no getting out of meeting the entire family.’
‘I can’t wait.’
