Wrapping Up

by A. A. Albright

  Lady’s face went purple, and she said, ‘Look, Mam – see Rover sitting over there? I just heard him say he’d love you to go and sing him a song.’

  As she walked away, Lady’s smile grew even tenser. ‘When I said six glasses, clearly I was underestimating. I’m happy for you and Emily, Max. Really I am. Listen, I’ve just got to get into the kitchen. There’s lots of snacks and drinks, so help yourselves. Lunch will be ready in about twenty minutes.’

  Oh dear. I had known for some time that Lady had a crush on Max. He’d been fobbing her off by telling her he could never go out with her, seeing as she was Rover’s sister. But although Rover could seem quite scary when you first met him, I knew he’d have no problem with Max and Lady. And Max knew it, too.

  Across the room, Carol was now singing to her son, who was laughing good-naturedly and sipping from a champagne flute.

  ‘I’ll get us some drinks,’ said Max. ‘Champers or beer?’

  ‘Orange juice,’ I said with a wry smile. ‘I’ll go sit with Lassie.’

  As I made my way over to Lassie, I watched Max, laughing and chatting with his friends as they stood around the bar.

  ‘You look like you want to lick him,’ Lassie said, patting the seat next to her.

  ‘I ... what? No I don’t!’

  She laughed. ‘Only joking. But he does look nice in that new sweater. I’m guessing that’s one of your pressies to him. I heard about the stationery box, too. He sent me a very excited message about it, with a photo and everything.’

  There was a bowl of peanuts in front of her, and I grabbed a handful. There was something about the food in the Water Bowl. Even the peanuts tasted amazing. Just the right amount of salt and – more importantly – there were always lots of them. ‘Yeah, it was a great find. Hey, what’s that perfume you’re wearing? It smells lush.’

  Her cheeks turned pink. ‘It’s ... em ... well, it’s from Finn.’ She pulled her chair closer to mine. ‘Wanda, he got me perfume, a gorgeous new snow globe and those super-expensive chocolates that they only sell on Madra Lane. I feel a bit bad about what I did, now.’

  ‘Oh? Finn didn’t say anything. What did you do?’

  She sighed. ‘I knocked him back. We were dancing. He got a little romantic and ... I mean, he didn’t get inappropriate or anything. He just looked into my eyes and said a couple of mushy things. Like how he knew I was probably still grieving over Connor but he wanted me to know he was there for me if I ever wanted him to be more than a friend. I pushed him away and said I wouldn’t have even had him as a friend if I knew he felt that way. I told him to get lost.’ Her body slumped, and even the tinsel in her hair looked like it was about to grow droopy. ‘What am I going to do? I do want him as a friend, Wanda. I mean, I can even see wanting more with him at some stage in the very far future. But ... the last time I was that close to a guy was Connor. I know he’s dead. I know he’d want me to move on. But I feel like I’m betraying him. And now Finn’s never going to talk to me again. And I like talking to him. He brings me hot drinks when he’s patrolling in the market. He tells me dumb jokes when he can see I’m having a bad day.’

  I pushed the peanuts away and gave her a squeeze. The poor thing was close to tears, and I understood why. I’d never lost a boyfriend the way she had, but I knew what grief felt like. And it had only been around six months since Connor was murdered. She had seemed as if she was getting over it, but clearly that wasn’t the case. ‘Hey, don’t worry about it. When I first met Finn I thought he was the cockiest guy I’d ever known. But he’s actually an amazing person. I mean, he is cocky, no doubt about it, but he’s also sweet, steady, loyal and nearly as stubborn as me. He won’t let this ruin your friendship.’

  ‘Yeah, well, he’s got a lot to be cocky about. He’s gorgeous!’ Lassie clasped a hand over her mouth as soon as she spoke and then said, ‘Y’know. If you like that sort of thing.’

  ‘I guess I might be able to see what you mean. If I squinted. And if I was drunk. Very drunk. But seriously, I feel like I should shoulder some of the blame. I knew he liked you. I even told him what chocolate to get you. I didn’t think he was going to lay all his cards on the table, though. I think he might have had even more to drink than I did that night, so he blurted out his feelings a bit too soon. Okay, maybe a lot too soon.’

  ‘What was too soon?’

  We both jumped at the sound of Max’s voice.

  ‘You know, you might be a weredog, but you move as silently as a cat,’ I said, reaching for my drink. ‘And as for what we were talking about, it was girl talk.’

  He sat down next to me, sipping at two drinks. One was a glass of chocolate soy milk. The other was a bottle of beer. ‘Well, I definitely don’t need to know about that.’ He nodded to the door that led to the kitchen. Lady and a few others were walking through with plates piled high with food. ‘Time to chow down.’

  As we made our way to the dining table, Carol started singing again. I’m not sure what song it was, but at least it covered the noise of my rumbling stomach.

  ≈

  A couple of hours later, I sat back in my chair, doing my best not to burp. There had been nut roast, seitan, Brussels sprouts, roasted veggies, mashed potato and the most amazing gravy I’d ever tasted. It was followed by three desserts – pudding, trifle, and chocolate profiteroles stuffed with a soy cream. After that we’d had brandy, port, a vegan cheese board, coffee, more brandy and port and ... well, I didn’t know how I was ever going to explain to my coven that the weredogs did a better holiday meal than witches did.

  Carol was singing throughout, but the funny thing was that, the drunker she got, the more recognisable the songs became. I actually recognised the chorus of Good King Wenceslas, and she did a beautiful Silent Night.

  Just as we were all beginning to hum along, the sounds of shouting came to my ears. I could hear Goldie, one of the bouncers, but I could have sworn I also heard the voice of a young girl.

  ‘Hey, Rover! Wanda!’ Goldie shouted from the door. We turned in our seats to see him blocking the doorway, his arms wide. Behind him, I could see Candace, jumping up and down and waving. ‘This little witch says she has to see the two of you!’

  ‘Hey, Wanda!’ she shouted. ‘Hello, Mr Rover! Nice to make your acquaintance. Can I come in please? I have something to show you both.’

  Rover looked at Candace, then at me. ‘She one of yours?’

  ‘She’s a Plimpton, actually. But a good one.’

  ‘Hmm.’ He scratched his stubble-covered chin and looked her up and down. She was still jumping and waving, and she was holding an envelope in her hand. ‘All right then. Let’s see what she has to say. Goldie, let her in.’

  The enormous, blond bouncer stood aside. As Candace stepped into the bar, Rover and I went to meet her.

  ‘Your coven said you were here,’ she said breathlessly, smiling up at me. She had her dark, glossy hair in pigtails, with holly-covered bobbins keeping it in place. Her sweater had a reindeer on it, and she was wearing gorgeous green snow boots. ‘Did you hear about Santa?’ she asked, her eyes wide. ‘Well, of course you did.’ She glanced at the brand new ring on Rover’s finger. ‘But did you guys see him? I thought I saw him, but he was at a distance, so I can’t be sure. My mother says there’s no such thing. She says humans and weredogs made him up, but I dunno. I mean, the naughty and nice list worked out, didn’t it? And the new jewellery was delivered by a man in a reindeer-drawn sleigh who happened to be dressed in a red suit. So I’m a believer. And I mean, there can be the triple-form goddess and Santa, can’t there? I don’t see why they can’t both exist. I–’

  Rover broke out into laughter, cutting Candace off mid-flow.

  She stuck her hands on her hips and pouted. ‘What? What are you laughing at?’

  ‘You, kid.’ He tousled her hair, then looked at me. ‘Is she always this animated?’

  ‘She sure is. Except her long, animated speeches used to be nasty. These days they’re mostly nice. So ... did S
anta bring you that envelope, Candace?’

  ‘Oh!’ She looked at the envelope. ‘No. Well, I don’t think so. I found it on the doormat this morning. But ... just read it. You won’t believe it.’

  I took the envelope from her hand, and opened it. Inside was a letter in handwriting I recognised. Swallowing, I began to read:

  Dear Candace,

  I’ve been hearing all about your efforts to raise money for a new community hall in Riddler’s Edge. And while I’m sure that you’re determined enough to raise more than enough money, I thought I might help things along.

  My company, Berry Materialization, would like to build the new community hall free of charge, with work beginning in January. We’ll kit the place out with the latest furnishings and fittings, also free of charge.

  Of course we’ll be reaching out to the various factions who make use of the hall in the New Year, in order to assure them we want nothing in return, but I wanted to write this letter to you first of all, to let you know you can take a break from all your hard work, and enjoy the rest of the holiday.

  Sincerely,

  Will Berry.

  When I finished reading, Rover grabbed the letter from me, staring at it in disbelief. ‘Berry. Will Berry. He the one whose dad and aunt killed all those people?’

  I nodded numbly. A small crowd had formed around us as I read, and Max was looking curiously in my direction.

  ‘Well,’ said Rover, ‘thanks for letting us know, Candace.’ He tousled her hair again. ‘Would you like to stick around for a while? We’re about to play Pass the Parcel.’

  ‘Okay.’ Candace looked up at him. ‘But if you touch my hair one more time, Mr Rover, I’ll do a spell that’ll make your hand freeze.’

  The entire bar turned silent. A split second passed before Rover broke out into laughter once again. ‘I like you, kid. And you know what? I think I might like that Will Berry, too. Point him out to me sometime, Wanda. I think I need to shake his hand.’

  I trailed after them, listening to Candace tell Rover all about Santa’s sleigh. When we got back to the table, Carol began to sing again. This time it was, It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

  ≈

  You’ve reached the end of Wrapping Up. I hope you enjoyed this read. If so, join my mailing list to keep up with the very latest releases: http://www.subscribepage.com/z4n0f4

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