by Eve Devon
‘Yes.’
‘Well, we’ll have to cope. It’s supposed to be all about switching on the Christmas tree lights and singing carols anyway. We’ll still have the drinks stand. Mum’s baked loads of treats to dunk in the hot chocolate. Felix is doing the hog-roast and jacket potatoes.’
‘But what about the children?’
‘Pretty sure we’re not allowed to roast any of those.’
‘They’ll be so disappointed,’ Crispin moaned, ignoring her.
‘Mary will be handing out glow-sticks.’
‘No candles this year?’ Juliet asked.
‘Health and safety,’ Crispin explained. ‘Trudie’s been going on about how the children in the Christmas show have been turning up to rehearsals chatting about how they can’t wait to have a sleigh-ride. She’s never going to let me forget. She’ll probably strip me of my robes.’
‘Oo-er, let’s not get carried away,’ Kate said. ‘Emma, why do you have your hand up in the air?’
‘I have an idea? It’s a bit out there but Crispin what would you say if I told you we could still put on sleigh-rides for the kids tonight?’
‘I’d say, “It’s impossible” you poor naïve fool.’
‘How about if I told you that I know someone?’
Crispin gave her a bewildered look. ‘But you’ve only been here five minutes.’
‘Maybe that’s why I can think outside the box. Will you trust me?’
‘Even if she can’t pull it off, we are not cancelling,’ Kate insisted. ‘When Daniel and I were competing for The Clock House this summer everyone realised it’s good for the community to come together on a regular basis and celebrate Whispers Wood. That’s what we’re going to do tonight. And if Emma manages to provide sleigh-rides … bonus.’
Crispin looked dubiously at them all.
‘I bet Whispers Ford wouldn’t lie down over a little hiccup like this,’ Kate added.
He thought for a moment and then skewered Emma with a serious look. ‘I’m placing my trust in you, young lady.’
‘I won’t let you down, sir,’ she said with a salute.
‘I suppose I’d better go and start checking Jake and the rest of the helpers have put the tree up securely.’
‘Don’t forget your clipboard,’ Kate said.
As soon as he’d left, she turned to Emma and said, ‘Right, what do we need to do?’
Emma looked around the table. ‘I’m going to need every spare strip of battery-operated LED lights we can get our hands on. Felix must have a carriage, right? Do any of you have antler hair-bands? Juliet you must have a glue-gun, we’ll need that. And oh, maybe a red nose – the kind they wear on Red Nose Day, and a few metres of elastic.’
‘Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?’ Kate asked.
‘Is it too out there?’ Emma asked, looking worried.
Kate shook her head and grinned. ‘It’s bloody genius. But it’ll take a few hours to organise.’
‘I can set up the drinks stall while you’re doing that,’ Gloria offered.
‘Um…’
‘No ulterior motive. Other than I’m eager to prove myself. And I can help run the stall this evening. It’s vats of hot chocolate, tea and coffee. Seriously, how difficult can it be?’ She stopped when she saw Kate’s eyes narrow. ‘Sorry. Sarcasm still stuck on eleven. Surely your mum knows how all the food should be set up? Phone her and she can supervise me.’
Chapter 28
Mistletoe and Whine
Emma
‘You have to be joking?’ Jake muttered as he walked around the tree inspecting it.
Emma waited for him to come full circle. She had to admit, walking out of The Clock House to see the Christmas tree already installed in the middle of the green, was impressive.
‘Please Jake,’ she begged, looking back to where Kate and Juliet were standing a careful distance away. Both were grinning and giving her the double thumbs up and she felt her chin tilt up determinedly.
‘You’ll have to get someone else,’ Jake said, coming back to join her. ‘I’m busy.’
‘But friends are supposed to help each other out, aren’t they? And that’s what we are, aren’t we? Friends?’ she pouted, playing to the message he’d been so keen on delivering after their date. ‘Crispin can finish off here. Felix is getting the food ready for tonight. Oscar and Daniel are getting the carriage ready. And you’re the exact right man for this task. The only man.’
‘How on earth do you figure that?’ he muttered, before shouting, ‘Okay guys, that’s perfect, let’s get the cherry picker ready for stringing the lights.’
‘I figure it because the first time I met you, you were like the Christian Grey of cow whisperers.’
Jake dragged his gaze from the cherry picker being carefully driven along planks set out across the green, to stare down at her. ‘Have you even checked what you want to do is legal?’
‘Felix says she’ll be fine with it.’
‘Right. Because he had a full and frank conversation with her and she was all, “hey, exploit away”.’
‘Look, if she doesn’t like it, we won’t make her. But it’s worth a shot at least. Think of the children…’
‘That is so low.’
‘So you’ll do it?’ Before he could say he wouldn’t, she shouted to the girls, ‘He’ll do it.’
Jake sighed. ‘I never stood a chance, did I?’
Pleased, Emma grinned. ‘Oh, I should have said at the start … your tree is massive.’
The side of Jake’s mouth tilted up. ‘As it happens that’s not the first time I’ve been commended for the size of my,’ he paused deliberately, ‘tree.’
Emma giggled as Kate and Juliet approached.
‘Gold star for you, Jake,’ Kate said. ‘Emma said you wouldn’t let us down.’
Emma stared down at her feet at the outrageous fib. She really hadn’t known whether he would help out or not.
‘Oscar and Daniel are already at the farm rigging up the carriage with lights and some foliage to make it look all fancy. Juliet’s going to get glue-gun-happy joining Christmas headband antlers together to get the proportions right. And I’m going to hunt up some blankets for the seats,’ Kate finished.
‘I may already have some you can use,’ Jake said. ‘Sheepskin, fake-fur and wool okay?’
‘Perfect.’
‘I bought a whole bunch of rugs and blankets this morning.’
Emma gasped, ‘For the secret garden? You’re going to set the scene like I suggested?’
‘Couldn’t say,’ Jake responded mildly. ‘On account of it being secret,’ he added when the inquisitive stares obviously got too much. ‘The blankets are in the kitchen at home if you want to collect them and cut the tags off. Seth will let you in. You might have to shout up at his window to wake him up. If he’s in any fit state to, get him to help. Also, there’s spare ivy behind the second potting shed. Use that if you want.’
‘Brilliant.’
Emma felt a nervous flutter as she looked around the green at all the preparations for the evening. ‘Are we crazy to try this?’
‘Certifiable,’ Jake answered.
‘But it’s going to work, right?’ And before he could cough the word ‘doubtful’ she turned to Kate and Juliet and said, ‘Meet us at the farm when you have everything ready. Text me if there’s any problems. You,’ she said, turning to Jake, ‘can you officially hand over to Crispin? But, um, maybe don’t tell him exactly, or in fact, anything at all about the plan.’
‘He doesn’t know?’ Jake asked stunned. ‘He’ll have a coronary.’
‘Nonsense. Think of the look of wonder on his face when he first sets eyes on—’
‘That won’t be wonder on his face, that’ll be apoplexy.’
‘I’m going to allow the cynicism,’ Emma let him know, ‘on account of knowing you’re the kind of guy who will try everything to make this work out,’ she paused and with an innocent smile, added, ‘for the children…’
Jake stared at her for a full minute before he huffed out a breath and then turned, muttering about going to find Crispin and that he’d meet her down at the farm.
Having spent the walk to the farm lecturing herself on how it would probably be easier to relegate Jake to the friend-zone once he’d actually left Whispers Wood, and how as that was only one day away, she was just going to have to manage until then, she was feeling a lot more comfortable.
‘You’re going to do such a good job, aren’t you girl?’ Emma said, stroking her hand soothingly down the cow’s neck, amazed at how un-scary it was to be in a field full of them when you had an emergency plan to save the tree-lighting ceremony. ‘Everyone will be so happy to see you in your smart Christmas outfit,’ she crooned.
‘What are you doing?’ Jake asked, climbing effortlessly over the fence with the harness Felix said would be best. ‘That isn’t Gertrude.’
‘Of course it is.’ Emma stepped back to stare at the cow she’d just been giving a pep talk to.
Jake threw back his head and laughed. ‘Nope. That’s Gertrude,’ he said, indicating the cow next to it. ‘You better hope your one doesn’t understand English because if you’ve promised it the part and now you’re taking it away…’
‘Oh my God, Cow-With-No-Name I am so sorry,’ Emma said, to the cow she’d been chatting to. ‘But I’m afraid Gertrude is more experienced with crowds. What?’ she said, tossing her hair back over her shoulder when she could feel Jake staring at her, ‘It doesn’t cost anything to be kind and I know what it’s like to think you’re in with a shot and then pffft, it’s taken away from you.’ Leaning forward she whispered in the cow’s ear, ‘It’s not because you’re not pretty, okay?’
Stepping towards Gertrude she reached out to carefully lay her hand against her neck while Jake started putting the reins on her.
‘Just think,’ Jake said, ‘when you go back to LA you can put so many new skills on your Equity card application.’
‘Hey Gertrude,’ Emma said, ignoring Jake. ‘Tonight, for one night only, you’re going to be Rudolph. How does that sound to you?’
Gertrude looked very happy about the news. Emma refused to think about how Jake kept assuming she’d leave Whispers Wood.
‘We’re counting on you, Gertrude,’ she soothed as Jake slowly and methodically buckled the harness and draped over the reins. ‘We have a shiny, sparkly harness for you and a head-dress and everything. Oh, wow, look, your carriage awaits,’ she said, looking up, as Oscar and Daniel drove up, the carriage secured onto the back of a trailer.
As they got out of the truck and started unloading the carriage, Emma said, ‘Guys, it looks awesome!’
‘You haven’t seen the best bit yet,’ Daniel added and with a flourish took out a control set and flicked a switch. The carriage lit up with Christmas lights and festive foliage.
‘Where’s the ivy I said you could take from behind the second potting shed?’ Jake asked staring at the carriage.
‘What do you mean?’ Daniel asked, trying to adopt an innocent expression and failing miserably.
‘What do you mean, what do I mean … that is not ivy … that’s viscum album.’
‘Hey, I’m not a garden designer. I attached the stuff that was handed to me.’
‘Mistletoe,’ Jake ground out. ‘You’ve covered the whole thing in the stuff. Where the hell did you get it all?’
‘It’s all right, Jake, it can’t hurt anyone, it’s all plastic. Trudie gave it to us when we couldn’t find the ivy. And we’ve got these too,’ Juliet said, hopping out of the back of the truck and passing Jake the antlers and red nose to put on Gertrude.
‘Oh, and Trudie also gave us these to give you,’ Kate said holding out a large ball of red velvet until Jake reluctantly took it.
‘Wait, what is it? Is it a Santa suit? Hey, where are you all going?’ Emma said as the four of them jumped back in the truck.
‘We need to head to the green to make sure Gloria and Mum haven’t come to blows over the stall. You’ll be all right attaching the harness to the carriage, won’t you?’
The truck pulled away and Jake shoved the velvet suit at her. ‘Well this is another fine mess, you’ve got us into.’
‘I—Why are you expecting me to wear this?’
‘Because it’s freezing. Because it was your idea.’ Jake started making sure the carriage was attached correctly. ‘And because I’m definitely not.’
Shaking out the suit, she said. ‘There are two here, one male and one female. And a bag of glow-sticks. I think we’re supposed to hand them out to the kids?’
‘If you wanted me to play Father Christmas, Hollywood, you should’ve been up front, straight from the start.’
‘But I didn’t know.’
‘And then you would’ve known straight away that there was no—’
‘Yeah, yeah, Mr Woulda Coulda Shoulda! Would it help you get into character if we renamed the trousers “whiny pants” and called you Father Eeyore?’
‘Let me think,’ he said, his head popping up from the other side of Gertrude. ‘No. No it wouldn’t. It’s going to have to be enough that you got me to coax Gertrude into this ridiculous set of antlers and red nose.’
‘She looks cute,’ Emma said, pulling the thick red velvet cloak around her. At least it was warm she thought, shivering now that they’d got Gertrude all gussied up. ‘You’ll be fine, won’t you girl? Saving the day. Getting to parade around the green. For the children…’ she said, raising her voice at the last part and looking at Jake pointedly.
‘Oh, good grief. All right,’ he said with a disgusted sigh. ‘Give me the bloody outfit.’
Without thinking she reached over to hug him and promptly froze when she encountered a ginormous bulge. ‘What is that?’
‘Damn, I forgot. I took a few baked potatoes off Felix’s stall. I didn’t have any hand warmers and I figured they’d keep us warm.’
‘So that’s a King Edward in your pocket, not a Prince Albert?’
‘I thought we’d already agreed my tree is the biggest in all the land. Here, put one in each pocket. It’s not much but it’ll help with the worst of the cold. If we’ve really got to parade around in this stupid contraption handing out glow-sticks, then we’re damn well going to be warm while we do it.’
She took them from him and glanced up at him. Her voice soft, she said, ‘Jake, thank you for doing this with me.’
He looked at her with those dark and beautiful poet’s eyes and then shrugged. ‘Bah. I’m out of here tomorrow anyway.’ Quickly he shimmied into the Father Christmas suit and hopped up into the carriage.
‘Even with the snow?’ she asked, clambering up into the carriage to sit beside him.
‘It’s going to be dicey no doubt, what with the weather forecast promising all of another two millimetres, but I think the Land Rover’s going to be up for it. So how do you propose we get this thing moving, Calamity Claus?’
‘I guess we pretend she’s a horse? Hey, Gertrude can you act the part of a horse channelling Rudolph?’
Jake sighed and picking up the reins made a sort of clicking sound with his teeth and Gertrude started calmly walking forward.
Chapter 29
Pitch Perfect
Emma
Gertrude and her improvised sleigh was an overnight sensation!
By the end of her third turn around the green, she was trending on Twitter, had an Instagram account, and Crispin was tagging everyone he knew in Whispers Ford with questionable use of emojis.
The children had loved being driven around the green in a one-cow open carriage, wrapped in blankets, their bellies full of star-shaped Christmas spiced Churros, that Kate’s mum was handing out from The Clock House drinks stall.
There wasn’t anything much more fun – that Emma could think of anyway – than riding around with Jake while dressed in Santa costumes, handing out glow-sticks like they were going out of fashion. Except for maybe standing amongst the Whispers Wood com
munity, a mug of hot chocolate in one hand, a song book in the other, singing Christmas carols while excitedly awaiting the big switch-on.
She scanned the crowd for Jake.
The hero of the hour. Not only had he steered Gertrude around and around the green, while listening to her going on and on about how fun it all was, he’d then taken Gertrude home to the farm for a well earned rest.
‘Always leave them wanting more,’ he’d said and promised to be back in time for carols on the green.
Mission accomplished, Emma thought as she searched the crowd for him. She craned her neck, but let’s face it, at a smidge over five feet tall she needed everyone to be kneeling to see anything.
They’d made it all the way through Away in a Manger, Ding! Dong! Merrily on High, and The First Noel and she was beginning to worry Jake was going to miss the moment his tree lit up the green.
Then, as if she’d wished for him, there he was, standing opposite her on the other side of the circle, with an identical mug of hot chocolate, a songbook, and a smile that was a little, and for a little read a lot, swoon-worthy.
But why, if he’d known where she was, hadn’t he come over to stand with her?
Maybe it was for the best, her brain sighed, even as the devil on her shoulder whispered, ‘Maybe you should go to him. You’ve been so good, why not be a little naughty?’
But then being a little bit naughty was what had got her into trouble last night, when she’d impulsively reached up to kiss him. As if to savour the memory she licked her lips and all the while the scales holding naughty and nice kept tipping one way and another, she sang, now quite determined to keep her gaze on anything and anyone but him.
When her willpower waved the white flag and she found herself once again watching him, she decided it would be better to move into a position where she couldn’t see him at all.
She’d worked her way out of the crowd when she noticed Old Man Isaac making his way through the doors of The Clock House and on impulse followed him inside.
‘Isaac,’ she called. ‘Is everything all right?’