Christmas Wishes at the Chocolate Shop

by Jessica Redland

  The flat had a large open plan living space across the back with a kitchen and dining area at one end and the lounge at the other. I’d had furniture delivered along with kitchen essentials but was very conscious that it looked sparse and unwelcoming but, after we’d emptied Jodie’s car, we unpacked a few of her boxes. The addition of cushions, books, framed photos and a couple of plants instantly transformed it into a more homely space.

  We relaxed on the sofa with mugs of tea.

  ‘Here’s to new beginnings for both of us,’ I said.

  We clinked our mugs together and Jodie smiled. ‘I can’t believe I’ve finally made the move to Whitsborough Bay after all these years of dreaming about it.’

  ‘Have you had any more thoughts about jobs?’ I asked. While helping me last week, she’d told me she didn’t want to return to being a teaching assistant, or at least not immediately, but wasn’t sure what to do instead.

  ‘I have actually. I know you’re taking on a Saturday apprentice but you said you also needed someone full-time. How would you feel about me working for you?’

  I widened my eyes at her. ‘Are you being serious?’

  She nodded. ‘I don’t know whether becoming a chocolatier is my next career move but it would give me the time and space to decide what is.’ She twiddled a strand of hair round her middle finger which I knew meant she was nervous; a rarity for her. ‘You don’t want me to work for you, do you?’

  Realising that my mouth was still open with surprise, I quickly shut it. ‘No! I’m just a little stunned. It’s only going to be a minimum wage job. Well, until I’m established anyway at which point I’d hope to pay more.’

  ‘That’s fine. I wasn’t exactly bringing home a six-figure salary as a teaching assistant, was I? I promise I’ll respect that you’re the boss and that I’m learning. You already know I’m reliable. I’m organised, tidy, great with people and—’

  Smiling, I put my hand up to stop her. ‘You don’t need to sell yourself to me. I lived with you for four years. I know what you’re like and what a good work ethic you have. If you’re really sure this is what you want, the job’s yours. I’d have suggested it myself ages ago but I’d never imagined you’d be interested.’ I couldn’t think of a more perfect scenario. It would give her time and space, as she said, but it would do the same for me. I’d have an employee I trusted who would be as passionate about my business and as committed to making a success as I was and I’d get to work alongside my best friend every day.

  Jodie stopped twirling her hair and grinned. ‘Really? It’s not too much, me moving up here, living in your flat, and demanding a job from you, is it? Oh God, when I say it like that, it sounds like I’m trying to copy your whole life.’

  ‘As long as you don’t start sleeping with my boyfriend, I think we’re good.’

  She spluttered on her tea. ‘Ew! No offence, Charlee, but Ricky really doesn’t do it for me, probably because he reminds me too much of Karl. I’ve decided that older men are the way forward, rather than silly boys who can’t keep it in their pants. Not that Ricky can’t keep it in his pants, of course… I’m going to stop talking, clamber out of that hole I’m digging, and take a shower because I’m a bit sweaty and smelly.’

  I laughed. ‘No offence taken and I knew what you meant.’ I picked up her mug and took it to the kitchen area with mine. ‘And the shower’s a good idea.’ I playfully wafted my hand under my nose. ‘I’m going downstairs so come down when you’re ready but there’s no rush. If you want to unpack some more stuff, feel free to do that first.’

  Ten minutes later, as I was leaning on the new shop counter updating my enormous jobs list, I jumped and put my hand up to my head. What the hell was that? Another droplet hit me and I looked up at the ceiling.

  ‘No!’ I dashed into the workshop, grabbed a large mixing bowl, and held it under the rapidly growing pool. ‘Jodie!’ I yelled. ‘Turn the shower off!’

  There was no way she’d be able to hear me, though. The ceiling was extra thick to stop noise passing between the floors. Placing the bowl under the drip, I ran out the shop and let myself into the flat, sprinting up the stairs.

  ‘Jodie!’ I banged on the bathroom door. ‘Turn it off! The water’s coming through the ceiling.’

  ‘Shit! Just a sec.’

  More than ‘just a sec’ passed and I could still hear running water.

  ‘Jodie!’

  ‘It won’t turn off!’ she cried. ‘Help!’

  I burst through the bathroom door.

  ‘I’ve tried it both ways but nothing’s happening.’

  ‘Try it again.’

  I watched through the screen as she wriggled the lever in all directions before pushing open the shower screen. ‘You’d better try.’

  I let her past me so she could grab a towel then thrust my hand into the water flow. I turned the lever in the direction that was meant to shut down the water, then the other way, but to no avail.

  ‘Sorry,’ Jodie said.

  ‘It’s not your fault,’ I assured her. ‘Can you keep trying? I’ll ring Ricky.’

  I grabbed the washing up bowl and a bucket from the kitchen before running back down to the shop. I pushed the washing up bowl under the steady flow of water now coming through the ceiling, poured the contents of the mixing bowl into the bucket, and ran through to the kitchen to empty it. Returning to the shop to keep watch, I dialled Ricky.

  ‘Please answer,’ I pleaded as I waited for the call to connect. Voicemail. Crap! ‘Ricky! It’s me. Disaster! The shower’s leaking into the shop and it won’t switch off. I don’t know what to do. Can you ring me as soon as you get this?’

  I sent him a text too. Looking up at the ceiling again, my heart skipped a beat. No! There was another pool forming about a foot away from the original one. I thrust the bucket under that one.

  The door opened and Jodie appeared in the clothes she’d been wearing earlier with wet hair stuck out in all directions. ‘It still won’t switch off. I’ve looked everywhere and I can’t find a stopcock. Oh my God! Is it coming through in two places?’

  ‘It wasn’t but it is now. Can you do me a favour? Go to the pound shop round the corner and get me a load of buckets. We might need them if it spreads.’

  Jodie grabbed the £10 note I thrust at her and ran out of the shop.

  Feeling sick with panic, I dialled Ricky’s number again but to no avail. Biting my lip, I scrolled through my contacts. Ah! Smurf! Ricky had given me Smurf’s number when he’d first moved up to Whitsborough Bay and was staying with him.

  The call connected after three rings. ‘Hello. Mike Smurthwaite.’

  ‘Smurf? Thank God! It’s Charlee. I’ve got an emergency and I can’t get hold of Ricky.’

  ‘What sort of emergency?’

  ‘The shower in the flat is leaking into the shop and it won’t switch off.’

  ‘You’ll need to find the stopcock.’

  ‘We’ve tried but we can’t find it. Are you at work?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Is Ricky with you?’

  There was a pause.

  ‘Smurf? Are you still there? Ricky said he was working this morning. Is he with you?’

  ‘He’s not with me this morning. Sorry, Charlee.’

  ‘If you see him, can you ask him to call me?’

  ‘Will do. I’d offer to help but I can’t leave the site. Who put the shower in for you? Was it Toadie?’

  ‘Yes. I don’t have his number, though.’

  ‘I do. I’ll send you it.’

  When I’d thanked him and hung up, I looked up to see another pool forming. I thrust the original mixing bowl under that and hoped it wouldn’t fill before Jodie returned.

  A moment later, Toadie’s number appeared on my phone and I immediately dialled it but he was on voicemail too.

  Jodie burst through the door with a pile of plastic buckets as I finished leaving Toadie a message. ‘How’s it going?’

  ‘Three leaks now.’

>   ‘Aw, Charlee. That’s rubbish.’

  ‘I know. Still can’t get hold of Ricky or Toadie.’

  ‘Toadie?’

  ‘The plumber who fitted it. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know anyone else. Can you keep an eye on the leaks while I see if Sarah over the road knows anyone who can help?’

  I ran across the cobbles to Seaside Blooms. Sarah looked up from the bouquet she was arranging and smiled. ‘Charlee! How’s it going?’

  ‘Disaster! Do you know a reliable plumber?’

  ‘What’s happened?’

  ‘The shower I’ve just had fitted in the flat is leaking into the shop and it won’t switch off. I can’t get hold of the plumber who did it, or my boyfriend.’

  ‘Cathy! Can you finish this off?’ An older woman appeared through an archway at the back of the shop. They exchanged a few words then Sarah signalled to me to join her through the archway. She stood by a large desk and ran her finger down a list of names and numbers on a cork notice board behind it before picking up the handset of a phone on the desk.

  ‘I’m in this group called Bay Trade. It’s all small local businesses. We had a plumber join us recently and he’s lovely. I’m trying him but don’t panic if he doesn’t answer. I know a couple of others I can try.’

  ‘Thank you.’ I crossed my fingers and tried not to think about the damage the water was doing back at Charlee’s Chocolates.

  ‘Matt? Hi, it’s Sarah from Bay Trade. How are you?’ She gave me a thumbs up. ‘Sorry to bother you on a weekend but I have my friend, Charlee, with me and she’s got an emergency…’

  ‘Great news,’ she said, hanging up the phone a few moments later. ‘He’s in town right now with his fiancée so they’ll be with you any minute. He doesn’t have any tools with him but says he should be able to switch off the water for you.’

  ‘Sarah, you’re a lifesaver.’

  She smiled. ‘It’s no problem. His name’s Matt Richards. Let me know how you get on.’

  ‘Thank you. I owe you one.’

  There was a knock on the door less than a minute after I’d returned to the shop. I yanked it open and was momentarily rendered speechless by the dreamy, good looks of the man standing there. He was a little taller than Ricky – I reckoned about six foot two – with dark curly hair, smouldering dark eyes, and facial hair, just like one of my celebrity crushes: Kit Harrington from Game of Thrones. My stomach did an unexpected backflip.

  ‘Charlee?’ he asked, snapping me out of my trance.

  ‘Yes! You must be Matt. That was quick.’

  ‘We were in town so it wasn’t a problem, was it Libby?’ He turned to the bored-looking woman beside him who crossed her arms, raised her eyebrows and sighed. Clearly it was a problem for her. The sparkle in his warm dark eyes faded, as did his smile. I’d obviously started a domestic.

  ‘I’m sorry for ruining your plans.’

  He turned back to me. ‘You didn’t. You’ve temporarily saved me from a long and painful cushion-purchasing decision.’

  ‘Oh for God’s sake,’ Libby snapped. ‘You say you want to be involved in decisions and when I get you involved, you don’t give a shit.’

  Matt grimaced. ‘I meant big decisions like room sizes and furniture. Cushions aren’t really my thing, are they?’

  Libby gave him a hard stare; the sort that could wither a plant at fifty paces. ‘Thanks for the support, Matt. I’m off to Gina’s. I’ll see you at the caravan later.’ With a toss of her long blonde hair, she stormed off down the street.

  ‘Libby! Don’t be like that,’ he called after her.

  She stuck one finger up at him and continued walking. Charming.

  ‘Sorry about that,’ Matt said. ‘We’ve just started work on a barn conversion at my parents’ farm and I think the stress of living in a caravan on site is taking its toll, which doesn’t bode well because we’ve only been in the van for a week. But you don’t need to know all about my domestic arrangements, do you? You need a leak sorting. Where is it?’

  ‘Upstairs. Follow me.’

  Relief flowed through me as the sound of silence engulfed the flat, followed a moment later by Matt’s voice. ‘All done.’

  I poked my head round the bathroom door. ‘I can’t thank you enough.’

  Matt stood up and wiped his hands. ‘It’s a pleasure. Can I ask you a question, though? Who fitted the shower?’

  ‘Toadie.’

  ‘Toadie?’

  ‘I don’t know his proper name. He’s a friend of my boyfriend’s.’

  Matt wrinkled his nose. ‘I hate to say this but your boyfriend’s friend has made what we call in the trade a dog’s arse of it.’

  My shoulders drooped. ‘Really? Ricky said he knew what he was doing.’

  ‘Sorry, Charlee, but he hadn’t a clue. The finish looks great but the behind-the-scenes stuff is shocking. I’d guess that this Toadie is a fitter – a good one too – but I’m afraid he doesn’t know his arse from his elbow when it comes to plumbing.’

  I sighed. ‘Great. Is it something you can sort out for me?’

  He smiled. ‘Happy to. I’ll need to go home and get my tools and a few parts, but I can have this sorted out for you today.’

  ‘Today? Are you sure? I thought you had plans.’

  ‘Nope. Libby had plans and now she’s gone to her friend’s. They’ll spend the afternoon in the pub slagging me off and she’ll roll in drunk at some point tonight, cushion-gate completely forgotten.’

  ‘Oh.’ I didn’t know how to respond to that.

  He cocked his head onto one side. ‘You’re a female.’

  I laughed. ‘I was last time I looked in the mirror.’

  ‘Would you pick out cushions before you’d chosen a sofa or bedding?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because they might not match.’

  He nodded slowly. ‘Yeah, that’s what I thought. Oh well. Let me check your drips downstairs, then I’ll get my tools and some supplies. I’ll be back within the hour.’

  9

  ‘He was yummy,’ Jodie said, returning to the shop after emptying the final bucket of water down the sink out the back.

  ‘Matt?’

  ‘Unless you’re hiding any other hunky plumbers behind these boxes.’

  I felt my cheeks colour as my stomach did another backflip. ‘I’ll admit that he was pretty easy on the eye.’

  ‘You’re blushing.’

  ‘I am not.’

  Jodie placed two fingers against my cheek and made a fizzing noise. ‘Matt and Charlee, sitting in a tree…’ she chanted.

  ‘Give over! I’ve got a boyfriend and Matt’s got a fiancée.’

  ‘An evil fiancée.’

  ‘True, but still a fiancée.’

  ‘There’s no harm in a little window-shopping, though, is there? Just don’t try the goods. Unless your name is Karl, of course, in which case you shag everything that moves.’

  ‘Have you heard from him lately?’ Every so often, Karl emailed or texted Jodie, begging her to forgive and forget, but she always ignored him.

  Jodie didn’t answer. She stacked the buckets together and moved them against the wall.

  ‘Jodie…?’

  She turned towards me, shoulders slumped. ‘I did something really stupid.’

  ‘What sort of something stupid?’

  ‘I went out with him.’

  ‘Oh my God! When?’

  ‘Last weekend. He rang me when I was back in Hull packing up my stuff. He’d heard that I was leaving and asked if I wanted to go out for a drink for old time’s sake. I was about to say no but then I thought that it might be a good way to get closure before I moved away.’

  I cringed inwardly. That had definitely not been a good idea and from Jodie’s frown and the flatness to her tone, it clearly hadn’t gone well.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me he’d made contact?’ I asked gently.

  ‘Because you’d have tried to talk me out of it.’
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  ‘Probably, but I understand the need for absolute closure so I’d have supported you if you’d still wanted to meet him. You know that, don’t you? And why didn’t you tell me afterwards?’

  She lowered her eyes and my heart sank.

  ‘Jodie! Please don’t tell me you slept with him.’

  She slid down the wall and slumped onto the floor, legs crossed. ‘We spent all weekend in bed, but there wasn’t a lot of sleeping.’

  I crossed the shop, sat down beside her and gave her an affectionate nudge. ‘I’m listening.’

  ‘It was the best weekend of my life. And the absolute worst.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘I already knew that I was going to sleep with him as soon as I agreed to a drink. I told myself it was my final goodbye and that it was my choice and not something he’d talked me into.’ She sighed. ‘It was amazing, Charlee. Not just the sex, although that was pretty spectacular. He’d certainly learned some stuff. The amazing thing was the connection. We talked loads. Really talked. We laughed, we cried, we talked about the future. It was just like old times but better. By Sunday morning, he’d all but convinced me to stay in Hull and give things another go.’ A tear slipped down her cheek. Poor Jodie. Getting back with Karl wouldn’t have been the right thing for her at all.

  ‘But Karl conveniently forgot to tell me he already had a girlfriend.’ Jodie wiped at another tear. ‘A girlfriend who he lived with who conveniently happened to be away that weekend.’

  ‘The idiot! Dare I ask how you found out?’

  ‘She walked in on us.’

  ‘Having sex?’

  ‘Worse than that. Oh, God! It was awful. As I said, Karl’s learned a thing or two and he asked if I’d be up for something a bit different. He’d…’ She coughed slightly. ‘He’d er… he’d handcuffed me to the bed, hands and feet, and blindfolded me.’

  I clapped my hand across my mouth, mortified for her.