Page 31 of A Merry Little Christmas

Nell chewed her lip. ‘Merry isn’t going to like it, but that is a really good point.’

‘I’ve made a romantic Christmas playlist too,’ he said, touching the keypad on the laptop.

‘Christmas Lights’ by Coldplay struck up and Nell was instantly transported to New York, where Olek had taken her on a romantic autumn break, and they’d come across Coldplay rehearsing in Central Park.

‘I love this song.’ Her heart fluttered momentarily for her husband.

Olek had tried repeatedly to get her to open up about the fertility tests and she had found herself getting short-tempered with him purely to get him to change the subject. She conjured up his hurt expression and felt a wave of indecision. Had she done the right thing by deceiving him? They didn’t have any secrets from each other – at least not during their relationship. There was one thing she hadn’t told him which had happened before she’d met him. She’d contemplated talking about it on several occasions but had never found the right words or the right moment. And after a while they had reached a point when it was too late to reveal anything significant from their previous lives. Now she was glad of her omission.

‘Wakey-wakey.’ Woody waved a hand in front of her face. ‘Our guinea pigs – I mean, attendees – will be here any minute. You look like you need a double espresso to pep you up.’

She blinked at him, dragging her thoughts back to the moment. ‘I do. I really do.’

‘Coming right up.’

He was a live wire and just what she needed, but every so often, she caught a glimpse of pain in his eyes. He was hiding something, but as she was equally as secretive, she couldn’t very well challenge him about it, could she?

The next hour flew by and before Nell knew it, her guests had arrived and were all set up in the studio and Merry had joined them on Zoom.

‘I’m Merry, founder of Merry and Bright. Thanks so much for coming to our first Christmas Candle Workshop. And, as you can see, I’m sitting with my feet up, doing precisely nothing, other than sipping hot chocolate.’ Merry raised her mug before resting it back on her bump. ‘But I do have a built-in shelf these days, which is very handy.’

Merry being present only via a screen had been accepted without complaint by the workshop participants, who were all women. As was the fact that Nell was their substitute tutor. They consisted of a group of three friends celebrating a fortieth birthday, a mum and her two daughters and two elderly sisters who declared themselves Christmas addicts who couldn’t resist a festive craft session. All of them had gathered around the laptop in a semicircle, while Nell stood to the side. Woody had cleared away coffee cups and gingerbread biscuits with which the ladies had been welcomed and was now manning the shop.

‘Make the most of it,’ said one of the women. ‘My little girl is six months old. I don’t think I’ve had chance to sit with my feet up since the day she arrived; not alone, at least.’

‘I’ll be coming back to work soon after this one makes an appearance,’ said Merry, ‘so I probably won’t have much time to put my feet up anyway.’

Nell frowned. Merry would be popping in of course, but coming back to work, surely not too soon? She was on the verge of challenging her friend about it but then remembered they had a studio full of visitors to entertain.

‘Thanks, Merry,’ said Nell, deciding to take ownership of the session. ‘OK, let’s get cracking. Before we start melting the wax, we need to prepare our glass containers.’

‘Hold on a minute, Nell.’ Merry leaned forward and gave an awkward laugh. ‘I’ve just spotted the essential oils you’ve got out; they’re not the right ones.’

‘Change of plan,’ she intervened quickly. ‘Woody and I have gone for a wintry theme and realised the best candles to make today are Mistletoe Kisses. You’re all happy with that, ladies?’

There was a round of nodding and assent.

‘I was going to buy some of those anyway,’ someone said, ‘so even better.’

Merry picked up her phone and typed something. Nell’s phone pinged. She read Merry’s message and bit her lip. She’d anticipated this.

Nell, what are you doing? I picked the lemon candle for a reason.

I know, but Woody has done such an amazing job decorating the studio. It was his idea to make Christmas candles. It makes sense, I think, and it’s no biggie.

Hopefully Merry would be fine with that, she thought, dropping her phone in her apron pocket. Anyway, it was too late, they couldn’t change things now. She glanced at her notes; the first job was to preheat the glue gun.

She flicked the switch and moved to the second.

‘Ladies, help yourself to cotton wicks from the box on the table. We’re going to glue the wicks to the base of the jars to keep them secure when we pour the wax.’

In her pocket, her phone vibrated again. Nell ignored it.

‘Nell?’ Merry called from the laptop. ‘Sorry to interrupt but I’ve messaged you.’

Nell didn’t look at the laptop because someone asked a question.

‘Can you use different sorts of wick?’ asked one of the elderly sisters. ‘They were dipped in wax in my youth.’