Page 52 of The Merry Christmas Project

‘Please say you’ve come to mend the lock on the loo ?’ Merry said, pushing the hair off her face with her forearm.

‘Damn,’ he muttered, annoyed with himself. ‘I’m sorry. I haven’t got my toolbox with me. Tomorrow. Definitely.’

She looked down at her phone screen and back at him and sighed. ‘No worries.’

As Cole reached the top of the stairs, a pungent aroma hit the back of his throat and made him cough. Either she had gone overboard with the air freshener or she was making something weird. Although she couldn’t be baking because there wasn’t an oven.

‘What’s that smell ?’ Cole sniffed the air. ‘Is something burning ?’

She shook her head. ‘It’s essential oils. It’s meant to be a relaxing aroma.’

Merry opened the kitchen and an even stronger smell wafted out.

‘Wow, what are you doing up here ?’ he grinned, pretending to be horrified. ‘Running a massage parlour ?’

‘Oops. Is that a problem ?’ She looked at Cole’s stunned expression and let out a peal of warm laughter. ‘Don’t worry, it’s all above board. I make candles. Come on in, I’ll show you.’

Cole followed her into the kitchen and was amazed at what he saw. The derelict room had been transformed into a mini factory : there were two long tables, one covered in small empty glass jars and the other in boxes. The kitchen worktop had two hotplates on it, with pans of water on them. The rest of the surface was covered in more glass jars which had been filled with wax.

‘Welcome to my scented world.’ She waved an arm around the room. ‘These are soy wax candles, small batch, hand-poured and made with love and the very best quality organic oils. And today I’ve been working on a new scent for a client.’

Cole picked up a very professional-looking box and read the logo. ‘Merry and Bright. I’ve seen this brand before.’

‘At the moment I sell on Etsy and on Nell’s Nuts – you might have seen them there.’

Cole had never been on Etsy so assumed it must have been on the nut stall. ‘Do you know what, you’re a lifesaver. I need Christmas presents for all my suppliers – a handmade candle would be just the job.’

His main priority was getting stuff for the kids ; Harley had given him some ideas, but Freya was still working on her letter to Santa and he didn’t like to point out that Santa needed a longer lead time this year. Lydia had already suggested that she buy them a big present each from both of them, which would help, but he still wanted to choose things especially for them.

‘You buy gifts for your suppliers ?’ she asked, looking surprised. ‘Shouldn’t it be the other way around ?’

‘Tactics,’ he said, putting on a sly expression. ‘I butter them up at Christmas so that I’m their favourite customer, then when I need a favour, like for example an emergency requirement for dryers in Holly Cottage, they come up trumps for me.’

She looked impressed. ‘It’s a good strategy; perhaps I should buy my landlord a present so he hurries up and finishes my house.’

‘Quality workmanship can’t be rushed,’ he said, pretending to be insulted. ‘But if you can’t stay at your friend’s any longer, I’ll happily pay for a hotel.’

‘I’m teasing,’ she said, her green eyes sparkling up at him. ‘Nell’s happy for me to be there and I’m loving working here. I make the candles in this room, and then do my admin in the front to make the most of the view.’

He pressed a hand to his forehead and groaned. ‘I’ve just realised I put candles in the living room for you. And they weren’t small poured, scented whatevers, they were just bog-standard supermarket ones. They must seem really cheap and nasty to you.’

‘No, no, not at all !’ she insisted. ‘It was a lovely gesture. Besides, you can never have too many candles in your life; it’s like having too many books : completely impossible. And to be honest, I rarely get to keep them for myself anymore, I’m too busy trying to fulfil the orders I’ve got.’

Cole nodded. ‘Same here. I’m so busy building houses for other people that I don’t have time to build one for myself.’

‘You don’t have a house at all ?’ Her lovely face fell. ‘Now I feel bad for complaining.’

‘Don’t worry, the situation is only temporary.’ He hoped, anyway. ‘Now what sort of candles should I buy ?’

As Merry listed her range of scented candles, he started to regret his decision : raspberry, lemon, vanilla. Most of his suppliers were men ; they’d probably prefer the bottle of booze he usually got them.

Cole scratched his head. ‘Do you have anything a bit more … manly ?’

‘I’ve never really thought of my candles as having a gender bias.’ She gave him a bemused look. ‘OK, how about lemon ? Rosemary ?’

‘Can you make them gin-scented ?’ he suggested, thinking that this might be a compromise.

She thought for a moment. ‘I can try. And actually, that might be a nice one for the school Christmas Fair.’