Page 71 of A Merry Little Christmas

‘Wow. That’s very generous of you, thank you.’ Tears popped into her eyes. She hardly knew him, and it was obvious he was going through a tricky time himself, yet here he was offering to help her out.

‘You’re welcome, on one condition: you take some time for yourself while you can.’ He gestured towards her stomach. ‘You’ll be busy looking after baby soon enough.’

She nodded. He was right. She had been busy enough before her dad passed away; now she was in danger of being snowed under. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have entertained letting a relative stranger run her business, but these weren’t ordinary times. She had no choice other than to delegate.

She would cancel the candle-making workshops, he couldn’t handle those, and stocks might run low on some of their candles, but at least if the shop remained open, the turnover wouldn’t be as dire as it would otherwise be. She thought back to those few moments when she’d walked in, how she’d not wanted to be there, how the comfort she’d once got from Merry and Bright seemed to have disappeared. She wrapped both hands around her stomach and wondered what it would be like to put Woody in charge for a couple of days. A break from it would do her good. Just then, the baby shifted, sending an undulation across the surface of her belly and forcing a sharp intake of breath.

‘I think that’s the baby’s way of reminding me what’s important.’ She held her hand out for Woody’s and, with his permission, laid it on the bump.

‘Oh my word.’ He fell silent for a few moments as the baby carried on kicking and moving as if it was frolicking in the bath and his eyes glittered with tears. ‘That’s life in there, that’s your future, treasure it. Hold on to every second. Thank you for sharing.’

‘And thank you for your offer of help,’ she replied. ‘And I accept gratefully. Because it’s not just the baby I should be treasuring, it’s all the people in my life; the business can’t hold a candle to them.’

‘A candle. Oh she’s good,’ grinned Woody, ‘she’s good.’

Merry pulled a face, thinking that she hadn’t been very good at all, but it was never too late to make a change. From today, she could do better, she would do better. She was going to do everything in her power to make this Christmas the best ever, in spite of the circumstances.

Chapter 28

Nell

‘I’ll show you where the other parents hang out,’ Max told Nell once they’d parked in the Derby training ground car park. ‘Some of them are really nice. A couple of the dads get a bit extra, overriding the coach, but they’re not allowed into training, so you won’t see them shouting their mouths off tonight.’

He’d become more animated the closer they’d got; seeing his enthusiasm for running about in the dark and cold, practising his favourite game on a school night, was almost enough to pull Nell from her funk.

‘Lovely offer, Max, but I’ll stay in the car, thanks.’

‘Training is two hours long.’ Max was worried about her. ‘Won’t you get bored by yourself?’

‘I don’t mind, honestly,’ Nell insisted, tucking a blanket over her knees and pushing her seat back to stretch out. ‘I’ve got my Kindle and a juicy thriller about a family who get snowed in at Christmas and someone ends up dead.’

‘Cheery.’ Max hesitated by the door. ‘There’s a place inside where you can get drinks and stuff, if you get cold, or if you scare yourself to death.’

‘Will do.’ Nell had no desire to bump into any of the other parents. Normally, she’d be the first in there, making friends and proudly trading stories about her stepson, but tonight she didn’t want to talk at all and the idea of two hours of enforced solitude was a relief.

Max got out of the car and opened the rear door to get his kitbag. ‘I’m not a kid, you know. If there’s something going on, you’d say, wouldn’t you?’

His perceptive comment unbalanced her; she’d done her best to hide her emotional state, but he’d picked up on something anyway.

‘If I had anything to tell you, I would. Promise.’ She was grateful for the cover of darkness to hide the guilt on her face. ‘Dad sends his love and says to listen to what the coach says, because even though you might not agree with him, he’s been on the pitch longer than you.’

Only a slight bend of the truth; Olek had said this to her after watching him play last week, commenting that Max hadn’t liked receiving feedback.

Max grunted. ‘I’ll try.’

‘Go on.’ She gave him a double thumbs up. ‘Show those Derby boys that famous Dowmunt footwork.’

‘OK.’ He laughed and waved as he walked across the floodlit car park and into the training ground.

The smile drained from her face as soon as he was out of sight. She didn’t know if she was coming or going today. Her hangover had evaporated, thankfully, but her head was pounding, and her heart hadn’t stopped racing all day.

Everything had gone horribly wrong. She’d fallen out with her best friend, lied to her husband, and now lied to her stepson too about the whereabouts of his father (who was unlikely to actually be his father), and her husband had disappeared to goodness knows where.

She picked up her phone and dialled Olek’s number again, waiting for the voicemail to kick in.

‘I’m at football training because Max needed a lift. You let him down today. Even if you’re too busy, you could have sent him a message to let him know. Come on, Olek. You can do better than that.’ She hadn’t intended to let herself get angry, but now she’d started, it was difficult to stop.

‘It’s fine to be pissed off with me, I get it. I lied to you, and you expected honesty from me. I have my reasons for that and I’d very much like the chance to explain. You and Yvonna …’ she paused. ‘That’s not really any of my business, but I can appreciate you’ll want some answers from her. But taking it out on Max isn’t OK, Olek. He’s hurt and confused. Whatever the truth is, you’ve been there for him his entire life in a way that no other man has. Even if you ignore this message, like you’ve ignored all the others I’ve sent you, please don’t ignore Max, your son.’ She was about to end the call when another thought struck her. ‘If you’ve had a car accident or something and you didn’t mean to ignore me at all, then I’m sorry, and I love you.’