Happily Ever After This Christmas

by C. K. Martin

  But the camping lamp she had bought for the occasion had been good and not particularly expensive. If Jo was coming at five, then she only had to keep the store lit for nine hours. That didn’t sound too long.

  The seeds of the idea began to take hold. If she could just make do for that short period of time, then she might be able to pull it off. It would be a logistical nightmare but perhaps if she could explain it to people in a way that made it fun…

  A light bulb went off in her head. Wasn’t it a traditional Christmas she always tried to sell them in the old bookstore anyway? One that wasn’t too much around commercial best sellers. She had always wanted to preserve the history and heritage of her family business in a way she thought her grandparents would approve of. If she could be convincing, then this would just be an extension of that.

  Damn, she was going to need some help pulling it off. But, if she did it right, she might just be able to. If it all went wrong, then she would lose a day’s trading. Head or heart? She hadn’t had to make a decision like that for such a long time. Head ruled and heart simply went along for the ride these days. But now, heart was demanding to have its say. Maddy had appeared to save her from this mess and she had Jo to thank for that.

  She marched back to where Maddy was waiting and thrust a mug of tea into her hand. ‘Okay, we’re on.’

  ‘Good girl,’ said Maddy with a huge grin. ‘I like you a lot. Shame, Jo would kill me.’ With that cryptic one liner, she turned away and headed for the fuse box. Within seconds, the room was plunged into darkness.

  *

  ‘Camping lanterns?’ The man looked at her as if she was asking for aliens. ‘You want to buy camping lanterns?’

  ‘Yes. Or something like it.’

  ‘We don’t really keep any out on the shop floor at this time of year. It’s not exactly camping weather, you know?’ He looked out of the window onto the car park, where rain was beating the tarmac hard enough to bounce back up.

  ‘I really don’t have time to explain. Do you have any or not?’

  ‘We might have some. Back in the warehouse. Let me look on the computer.’ He ambled towards the customer service desk and it was all Kayleigh could do to stop herself from giving him a little shove to keep him moving. The outdoor section of the store didn’t get much business, not even in the lead up to Christmas, and it would appear the days of inertia had seeped their way into the man’s bones.

  He picked at the computer, using two fingers to type something in. Kayleigh had no idea what, but the computer threatened to be as slow as he was. Eventually he looked up again. He seemed surprised she was still there. ‘How many?’

  ‘Ten?’ In truth, she had no idea how many she would need. But ten sounded reasonable. Maddy had warned her that the whole back of the store would be roped off anyway, so ten would cover the main stands and the sales counter. Her next stop would be the stationery store. She had no idea whether you could still buy receipt books, but she was going to have to have something to offer those who wanted one.

  ‘We’ve got twelve of that particular model in stock.’

  ‘Fantastic.’ Kayleigh was truly elated. This was the closest out of town retail park she could think of. If he’d turned her away, then she wasn’t sure she had a plan b. The man nodded at her, pleased to have fulfilled her request. The silence stretched out until she began to feel a bit uncomfortable. ‘So…?’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Can I have ten of them please?’

  ‘They’re not on the shelves. They’re in the warehouse.’

  ‘I think we’d already worked out they weren’t on the shelves,’ the smile on Kayleigh’s face grew tight. She struggled to keep it in place while she mentally reached out with both hands and strangled him. ‘Could you get them from the warehouse please? So I can buy them?’

  ‘I’m not allowed off the shop floor. I’ll have to call someone to come and get them.’

  ‘Of course you will.’

  ‘So that’s okay then? You want ten of these?’

  ‘Yes. Ten of those. From the warehouse.’

  ‘I’ll just call someone. Be with you in a jiffy.’ He picked up the phone next to the computer and made an announcement over the tannoy. She counted to ten in her head. Then backwards. Then up to ten again. No, she still wanted to kill him. He put down the phone and smiled. ‘One of my colleagues will be here shortly.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  She watched as he ambled off again. She assumed that meant it was up to her to relay the message to said colleague, if and when he turned up.

  ‘Hi, can I help you?’ A voice from behind made her jump. She turned around to see a young woman wearing a Santa hat, looking at her expectantly.

  ‘Are you the colleague who’s allowed to go into the warehouse?’

  ‘That would be me. I can’t go onto the tills though. Someone else will have to do that for you.’

  ‘What a surprise.’

  ‘What can I get you?’

  ‘I need ten camping lamps. From the warehouse.’

  ‘You’re brave aren’t you?’ She too shot a dubious look at the car park.

  ‘It’s not for…oh never mind. Yes I am brave. Also, really in a hurry.’

  ‘Of course. Which model was it?’

  ‘Which model?’ How the hell was she supposed to know? Wasn’t that their job? To know what stock they had in, where it was and how to lay their hands on it? If she ran her store this way, they’d still be selling copies of Beano from 1994.

  ‘Yes. We sell a few different types of camping lantern. We like to cater to everyone’s needs.’ She parroted the company line. ‘Let me look on the computer.’ Santa’s little helper darted behind the counter and Kayleigh looked up around the room, searching for hidden cameras. She had watched Saturday night television like this years ago. Come the weekend, would the nation be having a laugh at her expense? Sisyphus himself had more luck than this.

  ‘I really am in quite a hurry,’ she tried again, as the girl wiggled the mouse.

  ‘Yes. Sorry about this. Oh yes, it’s here in the last search. Large family camping lantern. We’ve got eleven in stock.’

  ‘Eleven? I thought he said twelve?’ That meant someone had just bought the one remaining one on the shelves. Who was mad enough to be buying a camping lantern at this time of year? She twisted around, looking over her shoulder for the culprit.

  ‘Did you need twelve?’ the girl looked uncertain about what to do with this new information.

  ‘No. Ten.’

  ‘That should be fine then. I’ll just go and get them for you. They’re in the warehouse.’

  Kayleigh opened her mouth to reply and then realised nothing good would come of it. Further engagement would only lead to more confusion and, quite possibly, the total loss of her temper. And sanity.

  As the girl disappeared towards the back of the store, Kayleigh watched until her red hat bobbed out of sight, trying to make sure she wasn’t waylaid by anyone else. Keeping two requests in her head seemed an unlikely scenario, given the customer service she had already received this morning. When she disappeared out of sight, the rest was now in the hands of the universe. Kayleigh pulled out her phone to distract herself during the wait. The time screamed out to her from the front of the screen.

  She was officially mad for trying to do this.

  Once there was no turning back, she had decided to delay opening the shop until 10am. There would be some unhappy customers, she was sure of that, but it seemed like the only option in the circumstances. Now it looked like that was ambitious in itself. She tapped on her messages app, pleased to see that there was an alert waiting for her there. She opened it up and nearly cried with relief: Anything 4u. B there at 11. Despite his determination to use only text speak — mainly because he knew it irritated her — she was prepared to let Rob get away with it just this once. Her plea for help had been answered. That meant she wouldn’t have to man the cash register alone if it got too busy. If it turned out she w
as able to handle things there on her own, then at least he would be able to explain to the customers what the hell was going on.

  The minutes ticked by and she began to rock back and forth nervously, her eyes darting around the store in case she saw the Santa hat doing something else. It wouldn’t surprise her in the least if she had been completely forgotten. But then she appeared, carrying a large box. Kayleigh didn’t know if she should be surprised that she had managed to work out that it would be easier than trying to carry ten individual boxes. Not that it mattered. She just had to hope they contained what she needed and not, by some random stroke of bad luck, bicycle pumps or other worthless objects.

  ‘Sorry it took so long,’ the girl said, dumping them on the counter. ‘We’re not allowed to carry boxes down the stairs and the lift is knackered. They’re all in there though. There are eleven. I didn’t know if you might want that one as well, seeing as you’re taking all the others?’

  ‘Why not?’ At this point, it just seemed easier to say whatever the people in this damn shop wanted to hear if it meant she got out of there.

  ‘Awesome. I’ll take it over to the till for you.’

  Kayleigh dutifully followed the girl, weaving through the customers that were now starting to fill the store. It seemed there was a last minute rush for outdoor gifts after all. It must be a very particular person who would want something from in here. Either that or the patrons were particularly unimaginative and had just decided it would be easier to pop in when they did their shopping at the supermarket over the road.

  As she finally escaped through the doors, the rain pounded down even harder. The clear skies they had been blessed with over the past few days had disappeared. It meant that it was a few degrees warmer according to the weather app on her phone, but if it was, she couldn’t feel it. She struggled to cross the car park but managed to dump the box into her car without getting her precious cargo wet. The same couldn’t be said for her. She wiped the damp strands of hair from her eyes and planned her next move. The stationery store in town and then she would be back at the store. She was nearly done.

  It was then she noticed the words on the side of the box.

  Batteries not supplied.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  ‘What do you mean she’s not there?’ Jo rolled her eyes as Maddy filled her in on the morning so far. At one point she had put her phone down on her desk while she found her purse and doubled checked she had enough change for lunch without needing to go to the cash machine. When Maddy was talking about work, sometimes it was better just to let the monologue run its course. The chances of her answering the actual questions before she was done were slim-to-none.

  Now, in amongst the drilling and cursing the work of her forebears, Maddy had finally got round to answering her original question. ‘If she’s not there, then where is she?’

  ‘Buying some camping gear.’

  ‘I’m not sure I follow.’ Jo knew that she had taken a huge gamble in sending Maddy over to the bookstore without letting Kayleigh know first. Unfortunately, other than the store number on the website, she had no real way of contacting her. Not without showing her hand as the Facebook stalker she really was.

  ‘Look around you Jo. We’re in the middle of bloody bleak midwinter here. I’m working in the darkness. It’s a good job I know my stuff.’

  ‘Which is fine. I get that. But why is she going camping?’

  ‘Who said anything about camping?’

  ‘I swear if you don’t give me a straight answer I’m going to come over there and…’ Threats were pointless around Maddy. She wouldn’t stand a chance. ‘You mentioned camping?’

  ‘I said she’d gone to get camping supplies. Specifically lamps. I was telling you how dark it is in here. And you owe me.’

  ‘I know I do. You made me very aware of that when I was begging you to do this in the first place.’

  ‘I undersold myself. This is at least a two day job under normal circumstances. Do you know how heavy books are?’

  ‘Very?’

  ‘More than that. While your secret crush is out there getting the things she needs so she can actually open the store today, I’m moving books around and pulling up carpet.’

  ‘Don’t call her that.’

  ‘What? Your secret crush? Why, because you know it’s true?’

  ‘No. Knowing my luck lately, she’ll come back and overhear you.’

  ‘Does it matter if she does? She seems nice. I could put in a good word for you.’

  ‘I dread to think what your version of a good word would be.’

  ‘I might oversell you. You never know.’

  ‘Chance would be a fine thing.’ Jo paused, trying to determine whether or not to ask the question she really wanted to know. They were far too old to seek approval from each other when it came to dating choices, but Maddy had been around the block a time or two. When it came to women, she knew how to form an opinion. Hell, it seemed to be the season for throwing caution to the wind. ‘What do you think of her?’

  ‘Kayleigh?’

  ‘No the Queen. Of course I mean Kayleigh.’

  ‘She seems nice. A bit slow.’

  ‘I’m not sure what you mean by that.’

  ‘When I came in, she just stared at me for ages while I was talking to her. She seemed a bit shell-shocked.’

  ‘You do have that effect on people.’

  ‘Years of practice. Maybe I’m giving her a hard time. If you’d told her to expect me then she might have looked a little less terrified. Plus, I think she’d been crying.’

  ‘Crying?’

  ‘Yeah, she had that whole red, puffy eye thing going on.’

  ‘She seemed fine when I saw her last night. I hope it wasn’t because of anything I did.’

  ‘Why on earth would it be about you? How paranoid can you be? I know you said you liked her, but I didn’t realise you’d got it this bad.’

  ‘I haven’t.’ Even as she said it, she knew that it was the most unconvincing tone she could have used. If she didn’t believe it herself, then Maddy would see through it in an instant.

  ‘Pull yourself together woman. You barely know her. You only have it on someone else’s authority that she’s even into women. For all you know, this friend of hers could be more than that and hoping to take part in a sleazy threesome.’

  ‘Ewww. He wasn’t like that at all. How did you even think that was a possibility from what I’d told you?’

  ‘Stop being so innocent. That was how Tricia Sweet ended up tied to the bed in a sex club one night.’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Tricia Sweet always ends up in these scenarios because she actively seeks them out. You know that as much as I do. Then she always has this strange story to tell but we all know she loved it.’

  ‘I can’t believe you dated her.’

  ‘I can’t believe I trusted you when you told me I should. Besides, it was one date. That does not constitute dating. The moment I saw the leather I was out of there.’

  ‘So you say. She tells a different story.’

  ‘What? You know, never mind. I am not here to talk about the seedy adventures of Tricia Sweet.’

  ‘Oh you saw she had a DVD out?’

  ‘Stop it. Shouldn’t you be working?’

  ‘I’ll have you know I am working. I am trying to work out where I can put my stepladders up when there is a huge sodding Christmas tree in the way. I would balance it against the wall, but it was a health and safety inspector who got me into this mess and I don’t want her to get me in further. Just doing my adequate risk assessments.’

  ‘Oh who cares?’ Jo had a moment of panic before she remembered she was ringing on her mobile and her call wasn’t being monitored for quality and training purposes.

  ‘You’ll be taking bribes next. That’s how it goes. One slippery slope after the other and then you’re accepting backhanders for overlooking shoddy work.’

  ‘Does that sound like something I would do?’


  ‘For the love of your life, yes.’

  ‘I don’t even know now if you’re referring to Kayleigh or yourself.’

  ‘Much as I will forever hold a special place in your heart, I was referring to the glamorous bookstore owner. This really is a nice shop though. I didn’t know places like this existed anymore. I’m not even into books, but I could spend a few hours here looking at all the old stuff she’s got.’

  ‘Well, you’ve got work to do. Tell me honestly, do you think you’ll be able to get it done by five?’

  ‘I wish I knew the answer. It’s going to be tight. I was only half joking about trying to work out where to put my stepladders. Normally before we do any kind of job like this we have the customer clear the entire room so we can move around. If I find out that just one wire is in a place I can’t get to then I have no idea what I’ll do. Don’t get me wrong, the chances of it causing a real problem are small, but the work was shoddy. I don’t think it was done on the books. Good spot with the sockets though. A dead giveaway that things weren’t up to code. You could get away with it on private property, but this?’

  ‘I really hope nothing goes wrong then.’

  ‘Oh, she’s back. Do you want to talk to her?’

  ‘No!’ Jo panicked, afraid Maddy would throw her under the bus without a second thought. She wasn’t ready, not yet, for talking to Kayleigh. That she was letting Maddy go ahead gave her some hope that she might one day be forgiven. She still didn’t expect that today would be the day.’

  ‘Are you sure? She might want to thank you.’

  ‘And she might not. I’d rather not take the chance. She might seem nice and sweet to you, but you haven’t been on the receiving end of her temper. If I say the wrong thing then she might throw you off the job and we’ll be back to square one. I’ll talk to her tonight, when I come round to sign everything off.’