Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
‘Oi, oi! Christmas bitch incoming!’ Lucy heads towards me in the car park of the North Christmas Farm, sashaying but also seemingly able to wave at toddlers driving away and look wholesome and festive at the same time. ‘Have you heard my wanky shoes? They’ve got bells!’
I smile but think back to Old Nick’s dad and his bell-ringing and the very odd evening I had two nights ago.
I still don’t know what to make of it but one moment I was biting into a hot sausage and the next I’m spending Christmas Eve with Nick’s family.
It all moved incredibly fast and I spent most of the time hypnotised by flashing lights but also completely dumbfounded by my lack of ability to read the situation.
Do you like me, Marjorie and Lester? Was that a courtesy invite?
Lester wasn’t very keen on that Neve. From my interactions with her, I get that completely but there’s more there. I can feel it.
Lucy is doing a jig and trying to play me a song via her shoes. Yeah, I won’t get that without a tune and a starter note.
‘You’re jingly.’
‘Always,’ she says, coming over to hug me. ‘Pray, do tell why you’re here? Is it to see Nick?’ she enquires, doing a little jig on the spot.
‘Why are you still jigging?’
‘Because I’m an elf. It’s required by Christmas law.’ She starts moving her arms around and a nearby family look on curiously. That’s what being around all this pine will do to you.
‘I’m actually here to pick up Nick,’ I say.
She stops jigging to look at me intently. ‘TO GO ON A DATE?’
The volume is a lot. I think they may have heard that in Lapland; it may have forever changed the course of the northern lights. ‘No. He’s been helping me do the book drive. We’ve been going from place to place delivering books. We’re at a village Christmas fair tonight.’
‘That’s cosy.’
‘It really isn’t. It’s mostly people lusting over him dressed as Santa.’
‘Oh, we get that here too. He gets a lot of numbers…’
‘He does?’ I say that too quickly, almost panicked.
Lucy smirks at my reaction. ‘So, I’ll take it you’re completely immune to his charms then?’
I realise that I can’t say anything, mainly because it’s Lucy and she’s the most indiscreet person on the planet. ‘He is a handsome man, for sure. But it’s because I’m half-dating the other Nick. It would be morally ambiguous for me to show an interest.’
‘Morally ambiguous are my middle names,’ Lucy explains, smiling. ‘What the hell does half-dating mean?’
‘It means we are enjoying each other’s company and not putting labels on anything.’
Lucy pulls a face. ‘Did he decide that then?’ I try and roll my memory back to that moment.
I think it was mutually agreed. Bar the fact I have been reacquainted with his parents and will be spending Christmas Eve with them.
‘I find men use those sorts of vague labels when they want to dip their wicks elsewhere. It means they can carry no responsibility or guilt later on.’
‘It was mutually agreed but yeah, it’s… complicated. I think we might be reigniting something there.’
‘Tucking into seconds at the buffet?’ she says, scowling.
‘In so many words.’
‘Well, I just hope that buffet is fresh as fuck, and that that boy knows your worth and how bloody spectacular you are,’ she says.
I lean over and give her a hug for the compliment.
That’s the thing about Lucy, the love she has for so many people always shines through.
She looks me in the face, trying to read my expression.
‘You look slightly worried though. Is it because you used to bump uglies so you don’t know if it’s a rehash or a rebrand?’ Lucy says, pretty much summing up my feelings on the whole situation. I hate that she can read that just from my eyebrows and the wrinkles on my forehead.
‘Perhaps.’
‘And then there’s also New Nick in the picture, dressed in red with the chiselled looks and the nonchalance, and he makes you a little twitchy in your lady bits so you don’t know what’s going on…’ she says. Again, a little too astutely.
‘Twitchy in my lady bits?’ I say, giggling.
‘Don’t deny these things. Is he definitely not an option then?’ she asks.
‘I just think I can only really do one man at a time. Any more feels… tiring…’
Lucy winks. ‘Then you’ve obviously not had enough fun in your life, young lady.
’ That could be interesting. Maybe we should be a throuple and it would remove any confusion, any need to choose.
It would also be super handy to be able to say the name Nick aloud and it could refer to either of them.
But I don’t think I have the bottle or the nerve.
‘You are spending a lot of time together.’
‘I know.’
‘Just saying.’
‘Stop it.’
‘I mean, you could do both. You know, like in those gelato places when they let you try flavours before you decide. Maybe take it to a testing phase?’ she suggests.
‘But when you don’t choose the mint choc chip, its feelings don’t get hurt,’ I remind her.
‘Who is the mint choc chip in this situation then?’ she jokes.
‘Mint choc chip?’ a voice suddenly pipes up.
I freeze but it’s a female voice so I turn around curiously.
Behind me is a lady with a fur cape draped over her shoulders, her hair pinned back in a bun, furry boots on her feet.
She looks like a villager from Frozen, I feel like she’s about to sell me ice.
‘Natalia!’ Lucy says, reaching over to hug her.
‘Natalia, this is Kay, a friend of mine and Kay, this is Natalia North – Nick’s mother,’ she says half smirking.
I take a deep breath. What is it with the Nicks’ parents sneaking up on me this week?
I don’t quite know what face to pull, what emotion to go with as I’ve had indecent thoughts about her son so seeing her kindly face in person feels slightly wrong.
You’re tiny but you have the same green eyes as your boy.
She’s wearing a long embroidered skirt as if she’s going to lead a folk dance and bake me some pretzel.
I never met her the day I stopped at his house.
I saw photos, and she is how I imagined, this little matriarch that probably has all that family under her spell. I immediately want to hug her.
‘You are the book lady,’ she says, an Italian accent shining through.
‘I guess I am. It’s lovely to meet you,’ I say, smiling. So she knows about me too. I wonder how much I have featured in the family gossip channels.
I see her scanning my face, and she grins broadly; there is no judgement there or at least none that I can see from her eyes, just joy that she’s got to meet me.
‘Bella…’ she mutters under her breath. She puts a hand to my face and then reaches into a pocket to get her phone.
‘Why is my son keeping you waiting? Silly boy. I text him now.’
‘Oh no, I’m early. It’s been nice to catch up with Lucy, to be fair.’ I look down to see her screensaver is a photo of her with all her kids, Nick may even be smiling, his arm tightly around his mother’s shoulder.
‘Thank you for getting my boy out there and doing this with him. I know his face doesn’t always say it but he’s a lovely boy really. He says he enjoys your company,’ she informs me.
‘He can be super grumpy, Natalia,’ Lucy comments.
She tuts. ‘Oh shush, he cannot change his face. He is a brooding, serious boy. That can be a good thing. You don’t want a complete joker in your life, all of the time.’
‘I do,’ Lucy says, putting her hand in the air. Natalia narrows her eyes at her then looks back to me. There is something about her that is fizzing and excitable so I will assume Nick doesn’t get his dour exterior from her.
‘You like cannoli?’ she asks me.
‘I do.’
‘Then I will make you a box. Nick says you have a long night ahead so you will need your energy,’ she says. Naturally, this makes Lucy snort quietly with laughter, raising her eyebrows at me. I shake my head at her.
‘You like mint choc chip, we do some fudge with that flavour and maybe we can see what paninis are left too. We’ll put together a care package,’ she explains.
‘Lucy, do your job, sweetie. Wave to the people,’ she says, blowing her a kiss as she links an arm through mine and drags me away.
I look around, still no Nick in sight, but hell, I don’t think I mind this.
There is a lovely embracing energy there that reminds me of Nana, and which is sorely missing from my life sometimes.
We walk along a wooden boulevard that winds around these log cabin buildings outside the farm and she looks at me, her eyes almost sparkling.
‘You have lovely skin, sweetie. What do you use?’
I smile at her questions – all at once nosey, if a little maternal. ‘Actually, for a moisturiser, the blue Nivea in the tin. It’s what my nana uses and she passed down that skincare tip to me.’
Natalia throws her hands up in the air, almost as if she’s praising someone. ‘This is what I use too. It is the best, my daughter uses all these expensive things with gold and frog juice and honestly, it does nothing. You always lived in London?’
‘Born and bred. You?’ I ask.
‘Oh, I was born in Milan but I met an Englishman and he stole my heart so I moved here in the nineties. I met a farmer, can you believe it? My mother always said, marry a doctor, a pilot, an accountant, but I married a man who sells trees.’ She puts her hand out to indicate the farm, to the pine trees in rows, still waiting to be claimed.
‘It’s a unique business,’ I say.
‘It is, but you know why I fall in love? I think it takes a special man to nurture and care for something so it grows. It takes light and love.’
I like how we’ve just met and she tells this story with such fondness and affection. Is there a hidden meaning there too? Possibly. But you have to love a mother who bigs up her own son like this.
‘So you’ve been together long?’ I ask.
‘My love, he passed six years ago. My Norman.’
‘I am very sorry, I didn’t know,’ I say, a little worried I’ve upset her.