Chapter 44
For Nick, the next couple of days flew by in a flurry of activity, as the farm shop got ready to close for Christmas.
He’d spent a leisurely Sunday at home, mulling over the previous evening and trying to keep the grin from his face whenever he thought back to how much fun it had been.
Even Thea’s reaction to the roulette tables hadn’t derailed either of them for long, and he felt privileged that she’d shared the reason for her upset with him.
They were building on many years of trust, and taking their relationship to the next level had felt like the natural next step.
He knew, now, to give her the space she needed to celebrate Christmas with her family; she’d made it clear that this was what she wanted, and he felt optimistic that they’d be going into the new year having established something very new, but very precious.
To that end, he’d promised he’d keep his distance, that he would enjoy Christmas with his own family, and he and Thea would get together after the festive furore was over.
That didn’t stop him thinking about just jumping in the Land Rover and heading over to Orion Close at least thirty times a day for the next day or so, but he managed to restrain himself.
The last thing he wanted to do was scare her off.
Annabelle, of course, had been driving him bonkers with her knowing looks when they’d been on shift in the shop together, but he’d resolutely refused to give her any ammunition.
There’d be plenty of time to talk to the family when he was surer of the ground he and Thea were breaking.
But he couldn’t resist mentioning to Annabelle that yes, she’d been right, and yes, he hoped, finally, that things were going to work out between them.
Annabelle, seemingly content with that, had made do with Cheshire cat grins in his direction ever since.
At close of business on Christmas Eve, Nick was alone in the shop.
Annabelle had left earlier in the day, since she was cooking Christmas dinner for the family and needed to get started on the mammoth task of catering for them all.
She’d hugged him goodbye as she’d left, and he’d promised to get round early on Christmas morning to give her a hand and mediate between the relatives.
Their mother’s sister, Gladys, was coming down to stay with their parents, and was a stickler for things being done just so on Christmas Day, so Nick wanted to provide some extra support.
As he switched out the lights and locked up, he remembered a comment Thea had made about Dylan being into Pokémon cards.
He was pretty sure that the collection he’d had when he was a kid might still be in the attic at his parents’ place and wondered if he’d have time to root them out before he saw Thea and the kids again.
He hadn’t got anything planned, for once, on Christmas Eve, so he thought he’d pop round and see if he could find them.
At Holly Ridge Cottage, his parents’ house, his mother was pleased to see him.
While she made him a cuppa, he ascended the rickety ladder into their roof space and was soon immersed in the archived memorabilia he found.
Although his parents had downsized some years ago, a lot of the stuff that he and Annabelle had been given as children had, unaccountably, ended up at their smaller place, and he’d been meaning to reclaim his portion of it for quite a while.
Searching through the boxes of possessions he’d not seen for decades, his walk down memory lane was in danger of distracting him from what he’d come over to find.
Delving into one of several plastic storage boxes marked ‘Nick’, he smiled when he came across a wallet of old photographs from the mid-noughties.
He spent a couple of minutes flipping through them, noting with amusement the clothing and hairstyles of himself and his friends, and wondering why they’d ever thought the styles that looked so great on the popstars of the time would ever suit them.
His heart sped up when he saw a picture of Tristan, Thea, Annabelle, Jamie and himself, snapped during some party or other, looking young, carefree and completely at ease in each other’s company.
He remembered, with a jolt, that this must have been the infamous night at Gina Hodge’s place, but it had obviously been taken before they’d all got plastered on stuff they were too young to drink.
His arm was around Thea, and he wished he could go back and tell his younger self to be brave and tell Thea how he’d felt back then.
Shaking his head, he put the photo in his back pocket and returned the others to the archive box.
He vowed to himself that his new year’s resolution would be to get all of his stuff out of his parents’ attic once and for all, but for now it would have to wait.
As he looked in the next box, he found what he was searching for, the boxed set of Pokémon cards, and just before he put the lid back on, he noticed a small jewellery case tucked away in one corner of the storage box.
Carefully pulling it out, he smiled as he flipped it open.
A gift from a relative many years back, he remembered wondering when on earth he’d ever have reason to wear it.
But now, it seemed like the perfect last-minute gift for Thea.
He didn’t want to give her anything extravagant, but it didn’t seem right not to mark the season, somehow.
Carefully descending the ladder once more, he headed downstairs to have the cup of tea with his parents.
‘You and Thea looked pretty cosy on Saturday evening,’ his father said as they sipped their tea in the small, neat living room of the cottage. ‘Anything we should know, at last?’ Rob wasn’t blessed with his wife and daughter’s diplomatic skills, and Nick had braced himself for an interrogation.
‘Early days, Dad,’ he said quickly. ‘But we have been spending a bit of time together.’
‘Funny… didn’t see you much after dinner. You youngsters lack the stamina to stay out all night!’ Rob snorted. ‘Not like your mother and me. We didn’t get home until half past two!’
‘And you were like a bear with a sore head all day Sunday,’ Maggie chided. ‘Leave Nick alone. It’s about time he got his act together with Thea. Don’t jinx things with your questions.’
Nick threw his mum a grateful look. ‘Is there anything I need to take to Annie’s for Christmas Day?’ he asked, keen to deflect the focus from his love life.
‘Not that I can think of,’ Maggie replied. ‘I’m sure she’s got it all under control, but you could always check with her.’ She gave a stage whisper. ‘A pair of ear plugs to filter out the worst of Aunt Gladys’s rhetoric might be advisable.’
Nick grinned. He knew his mother loved her sister, but they did not share the same outlook on life.
‘I’ll bear that in mind,’ he said. Kissing his mum and dad goodbye, he headed back out of the door with what he’d salvaged from the loft.
As he drove the short distance back to his own cottage, he found he couldn’t pull his mind away from Thea.
He wondered how cross she’d be if he dropped by.
Looking at his watch, he shook his head.
She’d be really busy now, getting stuff ready for the next day.
All the same, as he drew up outside his house, he felt an almost irresistible urge to play Santa Claus and drop the cards and the small gift he’d discovered in the box over to her tonight.
Perhaps, if he only stayed for five minutes, it would be OK.
If she didn’t answer the door, he’d leave them on the step.
He managed to last four whole hours before he gave into the temptation.