Page 20 of The Merry Christmas Project

‘Already done and in the incinerator.’

‘Oh.’ Josh looked past him through the fence. ‘I’m sure there’s something I can do.’

Cole put a hand on his shoulder. ‘Mate, we’re not behind schedule. It’s Saturday. Go home and put the kettle on ready for when Vicky wakes up.’

Josh shook his head and laughed which turned into a yawn. ‘One day, just one day, I’d love to be one step ahead of you!’

‘So now you have no excuse not to go back and spend some time with Alice – enjoy the baby years.’

‘Yeah, I suppose,’ Josh conceded. ‘It’s just that this job means the world to me. Well, me and Vix and Alice now. I want to prove myself and put in the hours.’

‘I appreciate that,’ Cole replied, steering Josh back to his car. ‘And I expect hard work from my team, Monday to Friday. But the weekends are your own. I’m here on a Saturday because I ballsed that up – I put work above my family and look where it got me.’

‘Point taken.’ Josh gave him a sympathetic smile. ‘I know how lucky I am. Even if Alice did get us up at five o’clock this morning. If I’m honest with you, sometimes I feel like coming to work is easier than staying at home with her.’

‘I remember the broken nights well,’ Cole grinned. ‘But the thing is, this time next year, these homes will be built, people will be living in them and we’ll have left the site. Whether you came in today and put in another few hours in won’t have made any difference. But it matters now to Vicky and to Alice, and if you play your cards right, they’ll be with you for ever.’

Josh tossed his keys from one hand to the other. ‘You’re right, boss. Thanks for the advice. I’ll see you Monday.’

Cole pulled some notes out of his wallet and handed them to the younger man. ‘Get a takeaway tonight, so neither of you has to cook, have a glass of wine on me. Talk to each other, listen to each other and tell Vicky what you just told me : that you know how hard it is to stay at home with a newborn. She’ll appreciate it.’

Josh tried to protest, but Cole insisted. He watched him drive off and thought about what Josh had said, about it being easier to come to work than stay at home with the baby.

Funny how we don’t realise how lucky we are, he thought. He’d give anything to have someone to rush home for. There was no one waiting for him to clock off and spend the afternoon with, no one to pour a glass of wine for and cuddle with while they watched a bit of Saturday night TV together. It was the simple things like that he missed. It hit him suddenly that he was lonely. And it wasn’t just because he couldn’t see his kids, he realised. He’d told his dad the other day that he didn’t miss sharing his life with anyone.

But now he wasn’t sure if that was true.

Chapter 7

Merry

2 NOVEMBER

Behind the counter of Nell’s Nuts stall, in Wetherley’s market square, the cold was beginning to seep through my bones. I’d been here for hours and hardly moved from the spot. I knotted my scarf around my neck a little tighter and stamped my feet.

‘I am freezing,’ I said, trapping my hands under my armpits. ‘How do you do it ?’

‘Thermal long johns, big pants and at least two pairs of socks,’ said Nell, chucking me a pair of fingerless gloves with her good hand. She kept the other one, which was wrapped in a thick crêpe bandage, pressed to her chest. ‘Although going to the loo can be a bit of an ordeal. Today isn’t that cold ; you want to try standing out here in February when the wind is so sharp it makes your eyes water.’

‘I’ll pass if it’s all the same to you,’ I said, pulling on the gloves. ‘Making candles is a much warmer way of making a living.’

‘Well, I do appreciate your help,’ she said. ‘I could have managed but I’m glad I didn’t have to.’

She had had an accident last night while filleting a sea bass. The knife had slipped and cut her forefinger right over a joint. She had been adamant that she didn’t need stitches, so Olek had cleaned it up and put a bandage on it. I’d volunteered to help her out on the stall as Saturday was Wetherley market’s busiest day of the week.

‘Anytime,’ I said, ‘besides, it’ll do me good to get out of the cottage for the day and talk to someone other than myself. Ooh, customer.’

I straightened and smiled as a man approached the stall.

‘One of my regulars, I’ll serve him.’ Nell beamed at the man. ‘Hello ! What can I get you today ?’

It was the beginning of November, so technically we were still in autumn, but there was definitely a wintry chill to the air. There was no getting away from it : Christmas would be here before I knew it.

That thought led me to my ideas for the Christmas Project. Or to be more accurate, the absence of any decent ones. I gave an involuntary shudder, hoping that I hadn’t bitten off more than I could chew. So far, in the days since the meeting, I’d opened a new file on my laptop, jotted down some random thoughts in a notebook and created a mood board on Pinterest, but nothing concrete had really come to me ; I was certainly a long way from presenting something that the committee would ooh and ahh over.

Now that I’d inadvertently found myself in the spotlight, pride had kicked in and I wanted to shine, or at the very least not fall flat on my face. Nigel and Tasha had said in the meeting that they already had ideas. I didn’t mind too much if my scheme wasn’t chosen for Benny Dunford’s tribute ; in all honesty I’d rather be using my time to focus growing Merry and Bright, but I needed to acquit myself admirably at the very least. My idea needed to dazzle.

Hopefully spending a few hours here would help my creative juices to flow. The market square was always at the heart of Wetherley’s Christmas celebrations. The giant Christmas tree provided the main focal point, erected at the edge of the square, opposite the old bank. But the whole town made an effort, all the shops decorated their windows and coloured lights criss-crossed all the main shopping streets.