Page 33 of The Merry Christmas Project

‘Now what ?’ I said to Nell, watching as Pam and Jim exchanged hurried whispers and head shakes.

‘We vote, I guess,’ she replied.

My stomach did a loop-the-loop. ‘You will choose mine, won’t you, so I get at least one vote ?’

‘Not sure,’ Nell teased. ‘Let’s think, do I want a forest of Christmas trees or an eight-foot Santa baring his arse ?’

‘OK,’ said Jim clapping his hands together. ‘Let’s vote.’

Chapter 10

Merry

6 NOVEMBER

‘Well, folks …’ Pam tapped her pen on a sheet of paper two minutes later. ‘Looks like we have a clear winner. Congratulations, Merry, you will be in charge of organising this year’s Christmas celebrations !’

‘Me ?’ I spluttered. ‘Shit the bed.’

‘Woohoo !’ Nell cried, leading the applause.

‘Um, wow. Thanks everyone !’ I gave a weird two-handed wave. ‘I think.’

‘Well done.’ Nell gave me a hug. ‘I’m really proud of you. Does this mean we’ll be renaming it the Merry Christmas Project ?’

‘It looks like it.’ I stared at her as the reality of what had just happened started to sink in. ‘Christmas for me this year was going to be a non-event. How on earth have I ended up organising Wetherley’s main event ?’

Nell shrugged. ‘I don’t know, Grinch, but you’re wanted.’

Pam was beckoning me up to the front. ‘Up you come, love. You’ll need to set the date for the next meeting.’

I dashed to the front and addressed the crowd again. ‘I’m flattered, really flattered. And I think that there are elements of Tasha’s and Nigel’s schemes that will work with mine, so really we’re all winners.’

‘And don’t forget you’ll have to find someone to switch the Christmas lights on this year,’ Jim reminded me.

I groaned inwardly ; this was the gift that kept on giving. ‘Of course,’ I found myself saying, ‘if anyone has any suggestions, let me know.’

Somehow I managed to come up with a date for a follow-up meeting and secured the help of several others to get Benny’s tribute onto the next stage before dropping back into my seat, feeling shell-shocked. Pam called the meeting to a close and soon people were pulling on coats and wrapping scarves around necks and saying their goodbyes.

‘I need a drink,’ I said as Nell pulled me to my feet. ‘And don’t suggest mulled wine, or I won’t be responsible for my actions.’

‘OK,’ said Nell meekly. ‘How about eggnog ?’

I had my hands around Nell’s neck pretending to throttle her when I heard my name being called.

I whirled round to come face to face with Daniel.

‘Hey.’ His eyes crinkled with warmth. ‘I’m not interrupting anything, am I ?’

‘Just trying to convince Scrooge here that Christmas is not all bad,’ said Nell.

Daniel blushed. He knew, because I’d mentioned it about three thousand times, that I’d been looking forward to Christmas this year because I’d be spending it with him.

‘You put on a good show of being up for it,’ he said. ‘You did really well tonight.’

‘Thanks,’ I said, outwardly calm. Inwardly, my resident butterflies were high-fiving each other left, right and centre.

‘Got to go. See you soon, O Queen of Christmas.’ Nell gave me a swift kiss, adding in a whisper, ‘Play it cool, I beg you.’