Chapter 46
46
It was nearing the end of November and Libby had spent nearly every minute of every day working on the preparations for the Christmas train.
Despite the hard work, it almost felt like a holiday after all the long hours working on the airlines and then the rush of the huge order for the boxes of chocolates. The hotel had paid her the large sum owed and so any financial pressure had eased temporarily, giving her time to breathe and even plan how she would move her chocolate business forward in the future.
She had enjoyed spending more time with her friends as they all helped set up the decorated scenes along the railway track, along with decorating the station as well. It was almost ready, although some people’s help was more of a hindrance.
‘This is going to make it all perfect,’ declared Dodgy Del, who had returned with a worryingly large snow machine.
‘Del,’ warned Flora, putting her hands on her hips. ‘We’ve literally just finished decorating this enormous tree,’ she reminded him, gesturing at the huge Christmas tree they had placed halfway down the platform. ‘Don’t you dare go near it!’
‘Yeah, but it’s Christmas,’ said Del, flicking a few switches and connecting up a hosepipe to a nearby outside tap. ‘You’ve gotta have snow at Christmas.’
Libby groaned and went to stand in front of the huge pile of fake wrapped presents that they were about to place under the tree. ‘I spent hours wrapping these,’ she began. ‘If you so much as ruin one box…’
But her words were drowned out by the enormous hum of the snow machine as it sprang into life.
Libby and Flora automatically huddled together in preparation for the oncoming snowstorm. But, to their relief, it never came. Instead, the large funnel at the top of the machine merely spat out a few snowflakes and lumps of what appeared to be grey snow which disappeared as soon as they reached the ground.
They watched on for a few more minutes until, thankfully, Ethan and Ryan marched out of Platform 1 and turned the machine off.
‘That’s quite enough of that,’ said Ryan, glaring at his cousin. ‘I can’t hear myself think in my kitchen.’
Del looked down at the now damp ground in front of him. ‘Can’t think why it hasn’t worked,’ he said, with a frown. ‘My mate said it would make the whole place look like Santa’s grotto.’
‘More grotty than grotto,’ murmured Flora.
She and Libby exchanged looks of relief as Del disconnected the machine. ‘I’ll be back,’ he promised.
‘That’s okay,’ said Libby quickly. ‘Thanks for trying anyway.’
‘I can get a much bigger one, I’m sure,’ carried on Del.
Libby shook her head even more violently. ‘No worries, Del!’ she said, almost shouting to make sure that he got the point. ‘We can certainly manage without.’
They all sighed as he packed up the machine and left.
‘Thank goodness for that,’ said Ryan. ‘So, I’ve got a spare half an hour, what’s left to do?’
‘Actually I think that’s it,’ said Ethan, looking up the platform.
Libby followed his gaze. The platform was now tastefully decorated with huge swags of fresh holly and pine branches, along with many fairy lights and red bows, lanterns full of large, thick candles and holly wreaths on every door and window.
She then looked back at the enormous Christmas tree, decorated from top to toe and surrounded by brightly coloured boxes. There was one particularly large present, as tall as she was, which had been placed on the other side of the tree for everyone to see the nutcracker doll inside.
‘Hey, it’s your dad,’ said Flora, before greeting Philip as he walked out of Platform 1.
Libby looked around and smiled. ‘Hi, Dad,’ she said. ‘How did your first stroke meeting go?’ she asked.
Philip smiled. ‘It was delightful,’ he replied. ‘I was so glad to see Eddie there, as well as a few other people in the community who could do with a hand.’
‘He was determined to make it,’ said Ethan.
‘I’m so glad it worked out all right,’ Libby told her dad. ‘I’m sure it’ll be a huge help for everyone.’
She was so pleased to see the change in her dad for the past couple of weeks. He was so much more positive and even had a spring in his step these days.
‘Talking of help,’ began Philip. ‘It helps to have a purpose, a goal, so to speak. I’ve been doing a bit of research and apparently hobbies can be very relaxing, as well as taking one’s mind off a current problem and thus aiding recovery.’
‘What did you have in mind?’ asked Libby.
‘Well, they also say that being active helps, so I was hoping to combine the two. Do you remember when your mother used to paint pine cones in the wintertime?’
Libby nodded. ‘Oh yes, lots of glitter too.’
‘Well, I thought perhaps myself and my fellow members of the stroke club could head out next week for a small walk and collect some.’ He gave her a sheepish grin. ‘Then if you could perhaps show me how to decorate one, we could give that a go.’
Libby was delighted at the idea. ‘How about we go out for a small walk of our own this afternoon and find one?’ she suggested.
‘It’s a date,’ he replied, smiling.
Libby couldn’t remember the last time they had gone out for a walk together and couldn’t stop herself from smiling at the thought. ‘By the way, apparently they’ve uploaded your narration and music already for the dress rehearsal run.’
He nodded. ‘I hope the timings are correct,’ he said.
‘It’ll be just fine,’ she told him. ‘Flora said she and Grams listened to it last night and they said they were all ready for Christmas there and then! She said your storytelling technique is just as good as she remembers from school.’
Her dad smiled. ‘Just like the pine cones, a bit of extra glitter to the magic always helps.’
‘Yes, it does,’ she told him, reaching up to give him a kiss on his cheek.
As he walked over to talk to Flora, Libby found Ethan in front of her.
‘He looks pleased with himself,’ he said.
She nodded. ‘It’s like he’s had a new start. Talking of which,’ she began. ‘I was wondering whether, well, you see…’
She felt a little embarrassed and Ethan looked at her with raised eyebrows. ‘What?’ he asked.
‘Everyone seems to think that I should set up my own chocolate-making business,’ she carried on, her words rushed in her haste to get them out. ‘And I figure, why not, as nobody seems to want me as a flight attendant any more. In any case, do I even want to be a flight attendant? Even Dad is encouraging me to do this, so it must be the right course, don’t you think? Because he’s never been so positive about anything I’ve ever done before.’
When she paused to take a breath, Ethan took her by the shoulders.
‘Libs,’ he said. ‘It’s me. Just ask the bloomin’ question.’
Her shoulders sagged under his hands. ‘Can I use your kitchen again?’ she asked in a small tone.
‘Did you even need to ask?’ he said. ‘Of course you can.’
She was delighted. ‘Thank you!’ she said. ‘I mean, I won’t have much time to get going with so much to do for the Christmas train, but maybe once that’s up and running in December I could use your kitchen?’
‘I said yes, didn’t I?’ he told her.
She felt relieved that not only did she have the kitchen at her disposal again but even better, she would be spending more time with Ethan.
‘I can’t wait to tell Dad,’ she said, still smiling. ‘He’s been nagging me for days about this.’
‘Well, he’s normally right about almost everything,’ said Ethan. ‘Unlike my cousin, that is. We can’t let him loose around here with a snow cannon, can we?’
‘Well, he’s been wrong so many times, surely he’s due a break and he might actually bring something that works for once?’ she said. ‘Put it down to the magic of Christmas.’
As Ethan smiled down at her, Libby’s heart skipped a beat. Standing there with the fairy lights all around them, she wondered whether there might just be a little bit of magic in the air after all.