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Charlotte

‘Are you all right?’

Charlotte reached out instinctively as the young man started to lose his balance, catching himself on the door frame. He stared at her hand lingering in the air, then gave a frantic nod.

‘Yes, yes. I’m sorry. I think I … I … stood up a little too quickly.’

‘I’m Charlotte,’ she said. Then, suddenly recognising him from Aunt Marjorie’s Tearoom, she added, ‘Oh, it’s you. The milk guy.’

‘Ah … yes. The … milk.’

He looked so distraught that had he been holding something not fixed to the wall, he might have dropped that too.

‘Um … thank you for putting everything on. It was very nice.’

‘I’m sorry about your shoes,’ he blurted out. ‘It was a terrible accident. I usually go in through the front, but I didn’t want to disturb the customers, and the step was slippery, and … why were you coming out of that back door anyway?’

Charlotte smiled. ‘I wanted to have a look at the courtyard. It looked so pretty in the snow.’

The young man smiled. He watched her, his eyes studying her face. ‘Yes. Yes, it did.’

‘You must be Charlotte,’ came a voice from over his shoulder, and he had another sudden start, spinning around and nearly backing into her as a stocky woman marched up the hall. In a sweater and jeans, her hair tied into a quick ponytail and one hand extended in greeting, she had a warm smile on her face. ‘Are you planning to leave her out there all night, Jacob?’

Jacob, that was it. Charlotte remembered his name now, even as he blurted out, ‘I’m Jacob,’ at her, a little late, a little awkwardly. Luckily the woman who’d just arrived appeared more grounded in reality.

‘I’m Lisa Cole. I run this place. We spoke on the phone?’

‘Yes, that’s right.’

‘This is Jacob Black, one of our other volunteers. Once he stops staring at you, he’ll show you around.’

‘I’m not—’

Lisa grinned, nudging him in the ribs. ‘You so are.’

‘I was looking at the … the snow.’

Lisa was grinning from ear to ear. ‘Yes, it’s very pretty, isn’t it?’ She chuckled, patted a seemingly numb Jacob on the shoulder, then turned back to Charlotte. ‘Come on in, dear. Jacob will show you where to hang your coat; then we’ll go and meet some of the kids.’

Jacob was slowly defrosting. He turned to Charlotte, gave a nervous smile, then muttered, ‘I’m Jacob,’ again.

‘I’ve got some jobs to do in the office,’ Lisa said, clapping her hands. ‘Charlotte, I’ll leave you in Jacob’s hands.’

Jacob still looked traumatised, so Charlotte gave him a smile that she hoped would put him at ease. Even though it was freezing in the entrance hallway, a line of sweat ran down the side of his face.

‘What’s first?’ she said.

‘Ah, right.’

He led her down the hallway, pointing out various rooms, even when it was quite obvious from signs on the door what they were.

‘Those are the toilets,’ he said. ‘That’s the boys, and that’s the girls.’

‘That’s nice,’ Charlotte said.

‘Anytime you need to … um … go, you don’t need to … um … ask.’