Chapter 16
‘In the Greek Midwinter’
You are cordially invited to a Greek-Cypriot-Themed Festive Celebration
at
Andreas and Dan’s
RSVP
xXx
Cath picked up the card that had been popped through the cottage’s letterbox.
How wonderful, the lads had even designed a proper invitation.
There were holly leaves, a Christmas tree, a glass of wine and what looked to be a plate of cookies drawn, one in each corner.
And yes, of course, that Friday night she was free.
She was delighted that their supper club seemed to be going from strength to strength, and with the formal invite and theming, Cath wondered if there was perhaps an element of fun competition going on behind the scenes.
She might have to up her own game next time.
Oh, it might end up turning into a bit of a Come Dine with Me experience.
She messaged the lads straight away:
Thank you so much. I’d love to come along to your Greek-Cypriot evening. Let me know if there’s anything I can bring to help out. x
It was just over a week away, so not long to wait at all. Before the fun to come of the Greek Midwinter evening, however, Team Supper Club had some work to do.
The Christmas hall preparations were about to go large.
Cath had a central-heating engineer booked at ten a.m. tomorrow to check and service the old oil-fired radiator system.
This was a big deal, they all knew, as no heating meant no event, simple as that.
Cath had her fingers very firmly crossed for a good, and hopefully not too expensive, result.
And then tomorrow afternoon, with the lads busy working in the shop, she, Lily, Nikki and Will had agreed to arm themselves with mops, brushes, hoovers, soapy water, disinfectant spray and rubber gloves, ready to go and scrub up that community space.
*
Cath was also desperate to return those letters to their rightful owner, and hopefully to make Reggie’s day. She had the morning free now, so gave the care home a quick call to check if it was all right to pop in and see Reggie at around ten-thirty.
Cath couldn’t wait to get into her car and get over to Kirkton, knowing her personal delivery was a poignant one.
She even had a fluttering stomach as she turned in to the care home’s driveway and parked.
She could only imagine how important this was to him.
The hat box of letters was held tightly in her grip as she mounted the steps, and rang the reception buzzer.
‘It’s Cath here to see Reggie.’
‘Oh yes, come on in.’
Linda was stood at the reception desk, giving a friendly smile. ‘He’s in the day room. Go on in.’
And there he was in the same seat in the corner, with what looked to be a jigsaw piece in his hand. As she approached, she could see the table set before him had a two-thirds-completed jigsaw, the scene being of the Tyne Bridge with a cityscape. It looked to be a complicated one.
‘Hi, Reggie.’
‘Oh hello. Yes, Cath, isn’t it? Hello.’
‘It is indeed.’ She gave a broad smile. ‘And I’ve got some good news.’ She lifted up the hat box.
‘I think I may have seen that somewhere before?’
‘It was in your loft, Reggie, along with your Christmas decorations. Here, take a look inside.’ She placed the box gently on his knees. She couldn’t wait to see his face when he opened it.
‘Oh … oh my …’ He pulled out the large bundle of letters, and clutched them to his chest, his hands trembling. Then, he untied the navy ribbon, opened one out and began to read. Looking up shortly afterwards with the sparkle of tears in his eyes, he said, ‘I-I can’t believe it. You found them.’
Cath grinned, delighted to have reunited him with these love letters.
‘Thank you. Thank you so much.’
‘What’s all this then, Reggie?’ Linda came over to join them. ‘Mementos from your misspent youth?’
‘Something like that, though I think it was very well spent, actually. Me and Elsie had over sixty wonderful years together after these letters. They were probably what kept us going, waiting for each other.’
A lifeline of love across land and seas, even the desert, Cath mused, and now, even in death.
*
Seeing Reggie filled with delight at the return of his letters made it seem all the more important to invite those who were able to come along from the home and join in with the Christmas lunch event.
To brighten a few more lives. The village community wasn’t that big, after all, so numbers would likely be light.
She reckoned, the more elderly regulars she’d seen coming into the shop probably numbered no more than fifteen or so, and it was hardly likely that every one of them could make it.
The home had twenty-two residents when full; she’d already checked.
And after chatting with Julie last time, when she’d first mooted a Christmas event in principle, she’d been told perhaps only half of those would be able enough to make an outing.
So, that made no more than twenty-five in total.
It was a large group admittedly, but she’d not batted an eyelid on cooking single-handedly for twelve for dinner parties in the past, and this time she’d have her supper club team to hand, so it was not out of the question.
As soon as they had the all-clear on the heating in the hall, and got the kitchen equipment up and running again – with Kev already on the case and sourcing parts for the ovens – she could then confirm the date with the home manager. Plans were in place.
*
Rubber gloves at the ready. And they were off!
Nikki had given Lily, Cath and Will one of her The Canny Cleaning Company sweatshirts to wear, figuring it might be good publicity for her business if they got a few mug shots of them in action to send to the local press, whilst also raising awareness.
In addition, they were hoping to plug the new donation site thanks to Adam’s half marathon Just Giving page and the shop’s Fabulous Festive Raffle, all to help the cause for the hall’s renovations and this amazing Christmas community event.
The hot water system hadn’t as yet been fixed – that was one of the engineer’s jobs – and he was still working away in the boiler room.
It was proving to be a difficult task, with many trips in and out to his van for parts.
As an ex-pupil of the school and a local himself, he was determined to get to the bottom of the ancient system’s unique ways.
The trusty kettle and old-fashioned urn were on and bubbling to a boil.
A cup of coffee and some chocolate digestives were wending their way to Central Heating Colin, but for the rest of them, buckets were about to be filled.
Will had already swept the floor of the main hall in readiness, and was now hoovering the heavy-duty carpets of the corridor and reception office.
Dan and Andreas were currently busy in the shop, but had promised to call over as soon as they finished should the cleaning work still be going on, which was more than likely.
Cloths and disinfectant to hand, plus mops and buckets at the ready, the four of them set to it, after taking a group selfie inside the hall.
The ‘Super Supper Club’ team were in action.
No shirkers here. It was going to be hard work, but so worthwhile.
Will had brought a mini-speaker to play some music through, and the foursome were currently mopping to the beat of ‘My Girl’ by The Temptations.
Lily had initially slipped in her own AirPods saying she’d prefer her own Charli XCX tracks, but was now tellingly swaying along with the rest of them to the exact same beat.
Cath was humming and Nikki singing along as they reached the chorus.
They were hoping to bring some sunshine to their community for sure.
The song also made Cath think of Elsie, Reggie’s girl.
And, of course, Will – there working away with them in the hall.
Had he once thought of her, Cathy, as ‘my girl’?
Memories were rolling in. Holding hands in the dunes, a holiday romance.
They must have been tucked away in a corner of her mind.
She glanced over to look at him, hoping so much that he wouldn’t withdraw from her once more.
When he’d shut her out emotionally, it had weighed so heavily on her fragile heart.
But they were moving forward with slow steps.
Finding the letters weaving not only Reggie and Elsie together, but perhaps them too.
A little while later, the water in the bucket she was using began to look murky. Time to swill it out and start afresh. Back to the kitchen Cath went. In there she bumped into Will, managing to look gorgeous even with a Henry hoover to hand.
‘How’s it going, Mrs Mop?’ He smiled at her, which was lovely.
‘Good. We’re cracking on, aren’t we? The parquet flooring is cleaning up well. And what about you, Herr Hoover?’ she quipped back.
‘Marvellous, I’m emptying my second cylinder of dust and dirt.’
‘Exciting times,’ she said with a mocking tone, but actually it did kind of feel they were exciting times, for the hall … and hopefully for the two of them. It did indeed feel good to be cleaning this place up. Giving it, and fingers crossed them, a new lease of life.
They’d scaled the heights with dusters on extendable sticks, and brushed off windowsills, with Will following them about with the hoover hose, like a fly-sucking version of Ghostbusters.
With all surfaces in the hall now wiped, mopped or disinfected, it was time for the loos to be cleaned and bleached.