Page 55 of The Merry Christmas Project

Cole swallowed and mentally crossed his fingers. ‘She really will.’

‘My absolute hero.’ Merry leaned forward and kissed his cheek. ‘Thank you.’

Cole’s heart felt like it was too big for his chest all of a sudden. Whatever it took to get Hester to agree to it, he’d do it. There was no way he wanted to let this woman down.

Chapter 18

Merry

21 NOVEMBER

Following Cole’s visit yesterday I was feeling a lot more perky this morning. Today was the day I was going to get really organised. I’d spent the first hour of the morning jotting down a list of things which needed to be done as soon as possible. There were a lot of them, but if Cole could really get his sister to do our official lights switch-on, it would solve the biggest of my problems and, I had to admit, it would be a bit of a coup for me too. I hoped I heard from him soon ; there was another meeting tonight and I wanted to tell everyone the good news. Talking of which, I should probably see if I could buy a clipboard from the market, it would help me to look efficient at the meeting.

I had already got a brand spanking new whiteboard, which I’d ordered last week and I couldn’t wait to get it up on the wall so I could start using it. This was going to be my new way of keeping track of my to-do list, and the sooner I got it hung up, the better. I’d more or less given up on my diary. I’d tried to keep it up to date, but there was only one small box for each day and when I ran out of room there, I’d been turning to any old empty page and continuing my notes there. Now I couldn’t find anything, and I’d started to get muddled.

I chose my spot, set the whiteboard down, found the tacks I’d also had delivered and slipped my boot off. I was about to bash the tacks in when my phone rang. It was Astrid, who was outside the bank with Otto. I let her in, pleased to see her.

‘Guten Morgen, mein liebes Mädchen.’ Astrid kissed me and held out a tin. ‘I bring you my first-ever mince pies to try.’

‘Yum,’ I said, mildly disappointed that the tin didn’t contain her special German cookies. ‘Can’t wait.’

‘You look different,’ I said, once she and Otto had had a look round my new workspace and given it the seal of approval. ‘Gorgeous as ever, obviously, but definitely different. You’ve changed your style.’

‘Have I ?’ she replied innocently, as she unwrapped a pale pink wool scarf.

‘Yes,’ I said, wondering why she was denying it. ‘And you’ve made mince pies – have I finally turned you into a Brit ?’

She was normally a ‘more is more’ sort of dresser : layers of colours, textures and patterns. Today’s outfit was much more understated : soft pink jumper and jeans, like something Mary Berry might wear.

‘Let’s see what they taste like before you adopt me on behalf of your country. Tea or coffee ?’ she asked.

I left her in charge of making us both tea and returned to the hanging of my whiteboard.

‘Are you allowed to hang things on the wall ?’ Astrid asked dubiously, looking up from the kettle. ‘I’d have thought there were rules about an historic building like this.’

I paused. I really wanted to just get on with it, but I supposed she might have a point. Besides, there would be an advantage to checking first …

‘You’re right, I’ll phone the landlord,’ I said, putting my boot back on with a sigh. ‘Are you staying a while ? I could do with some help.’

Astrid said she was happy to stay and I set her the task of gift-wrapping and packing up some samples of a new rose and frankincense fragrance that a client had asked for, while I tried to contact Cole.

He didn’t pick up for ages and I was about to hang up when he came on the line.

‘Merry ?’ He had to yell down the phone to make himself heard over the background noise. It sounded like the clunking of diggers and somewhere there was a vehicle making a reversing beep signal. ‘Everything OK ?’

‘Yes,’ I bellowed back. ‘Just need to ask you something.’

‘Hold on, let me go inside where I can hear you.’ The noise died down and I heard a door shut. ‘OK, fire away. I’m afraid I haven’t seen my sister to ask her yet, in case you were wondering. I’m meeting her at my dad’s later.’

‘Great, thanks. The committee meeting is at seven o’ clock ; if you find out by then, would you let me know straight away ?’ I asked.

‘I promise, don’t worry.’ I could hear the smile in his voice. ‘Was that all you wanted ?’

‘No, actually, I was just checking it’s OK to hang something on the wall in the kitchen. A whiteboard.’

‘I don’t see why not. Do you have your own tools with you ?’ Cole sounded impressed. ‘What are you using to hang this board ?’

‘Some pin things and the heel of my boot. It’ll be fine,’ I promised. ‘My boot is indestructible.’