Chapter Eleven
Pulling the handbrake up on the bakery van, Merri jumped out and locked the doors, before realising she'd left her bag inside, and retrieving it. She was late. And she'd have been even later if Elsie hadn’t practically pushed her out of the bakery door. Merri had just felt so guilty leaving before the tidying and cleaning for the night had been finished, she hadn’t wanted to leave.
Plus, possibly there might be a huge part of her who was ready to self-sabotage this opportunity and not turn up at all.
As she ran down the path towards the courtyard of the Christmas tree farm, she could feel the nerves multiplying in the pit of her stomach, not helped by the fact she hadn’t had a bite to eat since her lunch break.
After reaching the courtyard, she picked up her pace as she weaved between stalls and visitors towards the stone barns at the back of the courtyard where Felix had told her the lesson would be taking place.
Pausing just outside, she leaned her hands on her knees and took deep steadying breaths.
The last thing she wanted to do was to turn up in front of however many strangers looking and feeling as though she'd just run a marathon. With her breathing slowing, she straightened her back again and rolled her shoulders back. She could do this. And if she couldn’t, she'd soon find out and she wouldn’t have to step a foot inside a classroom again. Ever.
Merri hurried inside the large barn. Three large wooden doors led off to the right and two more to the left. Which room was she supposed to be going to?
'Merri.' Peering out of the last door to the right, Felix waved at her. 'You're in here.'
'I'm so sorry I'm late. I didn’t get out of the bakery until late and then there was traffic on the way over.' She grimaced as she raced towards him.
'No problem. I explained you'd likely be a few minutes late.' Stepping into the corridor, he closed the door quietly. 'You're okay though? You're sure you're happy to do this?'
'Yep. I am.' She nodded furtively unsure whether she was trying to convince him or herself more. 'Absolutely terrified, if course, but, hey, you conquered your fear of heights so...'
Felix chuckled. 'Hardly. I kept my eyes closed for most of the time and I'm not sure you can adopt the same survival skills in this scenario. You'll likely end up in A & E like poor Fiona with a length of willow sticking out of your side.'
'I'll keep my eyes open. I promise.' Taking a deep breath, she gripped hold of the door handle. 'Wish me luck.'
'Good luck. not that you'll need it.'
As she stepped forward, ready to push the door open he took her hand in his, turning her to face him before bringing his lips towards hers and kissing her.
'You've got this.' Stepping back, Felix nodded.
'I hope so.' Closing her eyes, Merri steadied her breathing again, before opening them, forcing herself to push the door open and stepping into the room.
The large stone flagged room was filled with four long table and on each table six people were sitting waiting expectantly.
Placing her handbag on the floor by the wall, Merri cleared her throat and wait for the gentle hubbub of people taking to quieten.
'Hi, everyone. I'm Merri and I'll be teaching you how to create an angel by using the technique of willow weaving. '
'Hi, Merri.' The class welcomed her.
'This is my first lesson teaching willow weaving. In fact, it's the first time I've taught anything or spoken in front of such a large group of people so please forgive me if I make a mistake or lose my train of thought.' She laughed nervously.
'Merri!'
Turning, Merri grinned as Evie ran towards her and hugged her around the middle. 'Evie! You've come back to make another angel?'
'Yep.' Evie nodded.
'Evie, come and sit back down.' Hannah called from the table to her left. 'I'm so sorry. I didn’t know she going to do that or I would have stopped her.'
'That's okay. It's good to see you both here.' As she watched Evie run back to her mum and sit back in her chair, Merri felt the tension in her shoulders disperse. It was good to see some friendly faces in a group of strangers. Really good.
'We popped over after school to pick up a little tree for the kitchen and Nick mentioned you were teaching this class.' Hannah smiled. 'And Evie insisted on coming. Luckily, we got the last two spaces.'
'Well, it's lovely to have you both here.' Merri smiled and looked around the class. 'It's lovely to have you all here.'
'THAT'S RIGHT. IF YOU twist the willow this way you won’t have the same problem.' Hearing the creak of the door to the classroom, Merri glanced up from the woman she was helping to see Felix standing there. Turning back, she smiled. 'Does that make sense?'
'Yes, thanks. I see what I was doing wrong now.' The woman hunched back over the willow angel she was making.
'Great. Keep going. you're doing really well.' After checking everyone else was happy with what they were doing, Merri walked towards Felix. 'Everything okay?'
'I guessed you might not have had time to grab anything to eat or drink so I brought you a hot chocolate and a mince pie. Something to tide you over.' Felix held up a cardboard takeaway cup and a mince pie.
Just looking at them made her stomach growl louder. 'Oh, you don’t know how much I appreciate this.' Taking the mince pie, she bit into it before brushing the pastry from her lips. 'This is good. So good.'
'I'll pop your drink here.' Placing the cup down on a small table at the front of the classroom, Felix reached out and flicked a bit of pastry from her chin.
Merri laughed as she scrunched the now-empty napkin up. 'Thanks. I needed that.'
Smiling, Felix glanced around the room. 'Well, I'll leave you to it. It looks as though it's going well.'
Raising her eyebrows, Merri lowered her voice to a whisper. 'We'll see if you get any complaints.'
'Haha, I don’t think that's very likely.' Chuckling, Felix slipped back outside and closed the door softly behind him.