Chapter 21
After a much easier Friday in the farm shop, with Nick thanking his lucky stars he and Thea had sorted things out the night before, Saturday morning arrived with a festive flurry of snow.
He’d been constantly replaying the hug that he and Thea had shared, resulting in some highly erotic dreams that had left him feeling as frustrated as the teenager he’d once been.
As Nick pulled up in the car park of the shop, he was glad of the Land Rover that was his choice for getting around.
It had almost two hundred thousand miles on the clock, and his father joked that it was held together by rust and hope these days, but Nick wasn’t the vain, flashy type when it came to cars: the Landy suited him just fine.
He made sure the shop was ready for business, and then occupied himself with assembling the orders, ready to pack into the little dark blue van that bore the shop’s logo.
By that time, Roseanna had arrived and was calmly checking and rotating stock and writing down things to re-order in the little notebook that was placed by the till for that purpose.
Annabelle used the notebook when she put in orders from their many local suppliers early on Monday morning each week.
Nick was grateful for Roseanna’s calm, efficient presence.
She was a reliable eighteen-year-old student at the nearby secondary school, and she’d been working at the farm shop on a Saturday since she turned sixteen.
These days, Nick always felt more than happy to leave her in charge when he went out and did the deliveries on a Saturday morning.
‘I’ll be off now then,’ he said. ‘I might be a little bit longer than usual because of my final delivery, but you’ve got Mum and Dad’s number and my mobile if you need anything. Call us if there’s a problem.’
‘It’s all good,’ Roseanna replied. ‘You’d better get going or you’ll be late.’
‘See you in a bit,’ he said, walking out towards the van.
A short time later, Nick had done the local rounds, including dropping off a large consignment of a locally produced luxury brand of raw cat food to the Purrfect Paws cattery and rescue centre.
Although the unfortunate strays and rescues who hadn’t found their forever homes would spend Christmas in the centre, Mollie and her dedicated staff were keen to give them a small festive treat ready for the big day.
After an hour or so, Nick had reached the last of his errands for the morning.
The advantage of living in such a small hamlet as Lower Brambleton was that the deliveries weren’t too much to handle and he enjoyed catching up with the locals who liked to source their provisions from the nearby area, and those who had come to depend on the Saints’ Farm delivery service as a vital lifeline.
This last stop was no exception. Right at the top of one of the hills that bookended the hamlet was the Restful Oaks retirement home.
With panoramic views across the beautiful county of Somerset, this was a very desirable place to spend your twilight years, and its residents were very well taken care of by its team of staff.
They, too, liked a regular delivery of local produce and Nick always enjoyed a chat and, if time allowed, a cuppa and a biscuit with the residents in the lounge that overlooked the village.
Today though, his errand was slightly different.
He pondered, as he got this very special delivery out of the van, why he was more than happy to don a Father Christmas outfit for this occasion, when he’d point-blank refused to put one on for Tally and her cameras.
But tradition was one thing and making an idiot of himself in front of the nation was quite another, he conceded.
As he made his way into the large, white, mock-Georgian style building, he observed that there were more cars than usual parked in the car park, even for a weekend.
The festive season made people want to reach out and connect with their loved ones.
He hoped that these meetings would cheer the residents of Restful Oaks and rally them for the season.
‘Morning, Nick!’ The cheerful voice of the receptionist, Amelia, rang out as he crossed the threshold with the first of a number of boxes. ‘Let me call Geoff and get him to give you a hand with those.’
‘Thanks.’ Nick smiled at Amelia and made the familiar way through to the kitchen, which was at the back of the building. Placing the first of the boxes down, on his way back out he met with the home’s weekend manager, Selina, and confirmed a couple of details.
‘Yes, they’re all present and correct in the dining room,’ Selina confirmed. ‘The local Guides and Brownies have come over this morning, too, to sing carols and provide a bit more Christmas cheer, so I hope you’ve remembered some extra mince pies and goodies!’
‘Annabelle put a note on the order to throw in a few more boxes.’ Nick smiled. ‘Wouldn’t want our carol singers to run out of steam, would we?’ He paused before adding, ‘Is there somewhere I can go to put this on?’
Selina smiled. ‘Absolutely. Although, if you don’t mind me saying, you’re a little too young for the costume. Your father’s back still giving him gyp?’
Nick nodded. ‘Sadly, yes, or he’d be up here with me. Not that I mind doing it,’ he added quickly, ‘but Dad does enjoy coming here and being sociable.’
‘Tell him he’s welcome any time in the new year, when he’s up to it,’ Selina said. ‘I know a lot of the residents really appreciate the conversation.’
‘Will do,’ Nick replied. He hurried into the staff room and quickly got changed.
Then, once he was sure the daft beard and red costume were completely in place, he took a deep breath and made his way into the large dining area where the residents and their guests, as well as the Brownies and Guides were assembled.
‘Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas, one and all!’ he boomed in his best imitation of Santa Claus.
While the residents looked indulgently delighted, the assembled girls of different ages looked excited and by turns too-cool-for-school indifferent.
There was a smattering of parents who’d stuck around to hear the carol singing, and as Nick looked around the room, his heart started to race.
There, sitting alongside a couple of the residents and smiling broadly, not trying to disguise her amusement at all at the sight of Nick in the rather-too-large Santa suit, was Thea.
Well, if that wasn’t the icing on the Christmas cake, Nick thought in mortification as he felt his face growing as red as the suit he was wearing.
He tried to put it down to the tropical temperature of the home’s central heating, but he couldn’t convince himself for long, especially when Thea gave him a highly amused wink.
Hurrying around the dining area, he handed out a beautifully baked mince pie to each resident, and then, under the watchful eye of the Brownie and Guide leaders, the younger guests helped themselves to the rest, which had been unboxed and brought in by Selina and her staff.
‘Cup of tea, Santa?’ Selina asked, with a twinkle in her eye.
‘A glass of water would be even better!’ Nick replied.
The synthetic fluff of the beard was making his face itch, and he couldn’t wait to strip it back off again.
And Thea’s amused glances weren’t helping the situation.
She hadn’t mentioned she was going to be here, and he was beginning to feel increasingly uncomfortable, hot and embarrassed.
‘Coming right up.’ Selina bustled off to the kitchen.
‘Nice job, Santa,’ Thea murmured as she approached. ‘I thought you’d sworn off that kind of get-up?’
‘Not exactly my first choice,’ Nick muttered back, ‘but I had to step in for Dad, again.’
‘Very noble of you,’ Thea replied. Her tone was dry, but Nick chanced a direct glance at her and saw her eyes were smiling. ‘I didn’t realise this was part of your festive rounds today.’
‘It’s a Saints’ Farm regular date in the calendar,’ Nick replied. ‘Seemed a shame to duck out just because Dad’s not up to it this year.’
‘Well, the mince pies are going down as well as the carol singing did,’ Thea said. ‘I think it’s a job well done.’
There was a slight pause between them, before Thea added, ‘It suits you, though. You always look your best in strong colours.’
Nick felt a flush of pleasure at the unexpected compliment. ‘Thank you. If I’d known you thought that, I’d definitely have put the suit on for the TV cameras!’
‘Hi Nick!’ Cora’s cheerful voice cut into their conversation.
‘You look as though you’re about to pass out from the heat in that costume.
’ She grinned at him. ‘And apart from one or two of the younger Brownies, I think we’re all over the existence of Santa Claus.
’ She glanced around the room, where, even accounting for the young age of some of the visitors, belief in Saint Nicholas was not going to feature high among this group’s list of priorities.
‘Ssh!’ Thea said playfully. ‘As far as you’re concerned, you’d better start believing in Santa Claus if you want any presents this year.’
‘Yeah, right, Mum.’ Cora rolled her eyes. ‘I think even Dylan has worked out where the presents come from by now.’ She turned back to Nick. ‘Nice effort though. And thanks for the mince pies.’
‘Any time.’ Nick smiled down at her.
‘I don’t suppose you could magic us up a Christmas tree as well, could you?’ Cora asked cheekily. ‘Ours is so old now, the branches won’t stay on it!’
‘What? You’ve got a fake tree?’
‘Yup’ – Cora’s eyes glinted mischievously – ‘and it’s not even a good one. It’s older than I am and so crap that the lights it came with don’t even work any more.’
‘Well,’ he said, ‘I’m sure it’s nothing that can’t be fixed. Your mum’s great with stuff like that.’
‘I don’t think even Mum can fix it this time,’ Cora said, glancing at Thea. ‘But she’s too tight to buy us a new one.’
‘Cora!’ Thea’s face registered irritation and then worry before she forced a smile in her daughter’s direction. ‘You’re exaggerating, as usual.’
‘Whatever, Mum,’ Cora replied. She’d ambled off again before either Thea or Nick could reply.
‘Ignore her,’ Thea said, and Nick knew she didn’t want to talk about the tree. ‘She does tend to over-dramatise.’
‘She’s such a great kid, though,’ Nick said. ‘It doesn’t seem a minute since she was born. I remember when you and Ed came to stay with Lorelai, that first Christmas. She must only have been a couple of weeks old.’ He shook his head. ‘I don’t know how you did it. And then Dylan came along too.’
Thea smiled. ‘You just kind of do, at the time. And I was so pleased to be spending some time with Gran that Christmas. It was the first time we’d been back to visit in ages, and I really needed to be close to family.
’ She paused, before adding, ‘I never should have let Ed talk me into moving away from the village. It’s where we all belong, and I’m so glad to be back now. ’
‘I’m glad you’re back, too.’ Nick looked into Thea’s eyes and he wished that, instead of being in a day room full of pensioners, Guides and Brownies, they were back where they’d been when they’d shared that delicious hug. ‘I missed you.’
‘I missed you, too,’ Thea replied. Her eyes widened a little as she held his gaze, and something electric seemed to pass between them, a natural progression from their closeness the previous night.
Nick opened his mouth to respond, but as he did Cora arrived by Thea’s side again and the moment was lost. As they both continued to rib him about his terrible costume, he wondered if there was ever going to be a right time to explore what seemed to keep happening between them.