Chapter 23
HOLLY
My second week in Birchbrook was hectic, to put it mildly.
Willow and I worked on creating a Santa’s grotto.
We managed to move their old shed into one of the polytunnels.
After painting it, we added a wreath to the door and inside, I’d found an old red postbox online that we spruced up so children could post their letters to Santa.
Then Willow started to build a sleigh to put outside the shed, so I carried on working on everything else.
I set up more lights and decorations and hired a snow machine for the tunnel we wanted to feel like the North Pole.
Daisy, Willow’s cousin, came along with Mary who she ran the florist and her flower event business with.
They created archways between each tunnel which they draped with holly and Christmas foliage and fairy lights.
They added mistletoe to the final archway and I tried not to look at it and think about Paul.
It was impossible not to, though. I hadn’t seen him since Sunday when Birchbrook Café flooded, although I kept hearing from Willow and Dylan how they were working on fixing it all.
As the café was shut, I couldn’t go in for a coffee or a sweet treat and with so much to do on the farm, it meant I had no idea how Paul was.
I could text or phone him but I didn’t know if he would even want to hear from me.
So, I threw myself into work. But in bed each night, I did think about the look on his face when I told him I had liked him as more than a friend when we were younger.
It made me think maybe he had too. He’d kissed me with so much passion, it was clear he had wanted it as much as me. But even though I’d told him we could only be friends, I kept wondering if he wanted us to be more than that.
The Christmas trees from Willow’s family friend arrived at the end of the week.
I carried the ones we were going to use inside the tunnels and set about decorating each one with a different colour scheme.
The others we positioned along the sides of one of the tunnels for people to buy and take home.
Willow had a white bench that I wrapped in velvet fabric and piled with cushions for a photo set-up with a Christmas tree on either side.
I organised a Christmas colouring station for kids to sit down at in one of the tunnels.
Then I suggested we reserved one tunnel to offer to local businesses to sell their wares from, instead of building an alpine village, which had been Willow’s first idea.
That would have been too costly and time-consuming so it felt like a great compromise.
Meanwhile, Dylan, when he was done with his other work, reached out to suppliers for us as well as posting online content for the winter wonderland website and on social media.
‘I think we need a name for the winter wonderland that will help publicity,’ I said when Willow and I walked through the North Pole tunnel to look at the progress we’d made so far.
The lights twinkled and I’d draped fake snow everywhere.
The snow machine was switched on and there was a photo opportunity with a snowman couple statue that I’d found on a second-hand website.
‘It’s a winter wonderland but we want yours to become a destination people must visit in December so having a name for it will help spread the word.
And you did so well with Pumpkin Hollow and the Strawberry Fields Trail,’ I said as we walked into the Santa’s grotto tunnel.
I looked at the archway at the end with the mistletoe.
This would lead people outside to the ice rink and the café van: the finale of the winter wonderland.
Willow nodded. She looked tired after working in the barn all day on building the sleigh that would go next to Santa’s post office.
We were going to attach light-up reindeer to it and fill it with fake presents.
She still hoped she could find someone to play Santa at some point but I thought it would still look good either way.
I just hoped she wasn’t overdoing things, determined for this to be a success.
‘I agree,’ she said. ‘It’s really coming together now – thanks, Holly.
It’s got a magic to it. I love the rustic woodland feel and how things get more festive and magical when you get to the snow tunnel and then this Santa’s grotto.
Sabrina is working on the signs so we do need to decide if we’re going with a name… ’
I looked up at the mistletoe above our heads. ‘How about The Mistletoe Trail? No, something more festive… Mistletoe Corner?’
‘Lane!’ she cried, excitement taking over her tiredness. ‘That’s cute and feels like something you’d have to walk down to reach Santa. Let’s go with Mistletoe Lane.’
I smiled, relieved she had her spark back. ‘I love it.’
‘I’ll message Sabrina and get Dylan to update everything online.
Oh, and he’s added your company name to everything so you’ll get publicity too.
And the local paper is coming to look at things early next week.
’ She saw my look of panic. ‘Karl, the reporter, understands it might not all be ready but they want to get a piece up before we open to help with publicity. They’ve been really good to us before.
It should help sell the remaining tickets.
I’m going to have some available each day on the door too.
’ She sighed. ‘The first of December is so close now, isn’t it?
Dylan’s family will be arriving soon too. I hope that will work out.’
I nodded. ‘His family will love it. The farm is so lovely. I haven’t slept as well as I’ve done here for years. And they’ll be excited about the baby.’
‘Fingers crossed. You’ve been a lifesaver for us.
I’d be so stressed without you here! Oh, I heard the café is having a grand reopening on Monday,’ Willow added as we walked out of the polytunnels.
The November weather was chilly outside but we were both wrapped up against the elements.
‘We should go along; they will need everyone in town’s support. ’
I was instantly nervous about seeing Paul again.
Would he want me there? ‘I could do with one of their hot chocolates again,’ I said, forcing out a smile.
‘I was thinking about having a Christmas tree out here by the rink? That really large one Brian sent. It would make the ice rink look even more festive.’
‘I love that idea,’ Willow said. She pointed to a fenced area. ‘The ice rink could go there then we could decorate the fence with holly and mistletoe and lights and I thought I could mark out a walkaway to get to it from the tunnels. Put stones down. Have some more signs. Make it look cute.’
‘Perfect.’
We walked back towards the farmhouse together as the day moved towards twilight. The birch trees swayed in the breeze. ‘I can’t believe I didn’t think about lighting those trees up!’ I said, pointing to them. ‘Have you ever done that before?’
‘I don’t think so. We’ve always decorated the farmhouse but not the trees.
That would look stunning. I’d have to check if our generator can handle it, though.
Dylan said he would decorate the farmhouse when he does the cottages and make sure it looks good as people will see it when they park for the winter wonderland.
Oh, and Dylan said he’s struggling to find anyone who wants to sell their crafts here; they all seem to be booked up at Christmas fairs and events already.
But what else would we have in that tunnel? ’
We walked inside the cosy farmhouse where the Aga kept things warm. Maple was asleep in her bed and the smell of a stew in the slow cooker made me instantly hungry. I was getting used to home-cooked meals again here.
‘That’s a shame.’ I hesitated as an idea came to me. ‘My mum might be able to help; I should have thought of that before. I’ll talk to her.’
‘Great, thanks.’
After dinner, I phoned my mum and asked her about local business and what we might do about our craft tunnel.
‘Why don’t you come for lunch tomorrow and we can talk about it?’ she asked. ‘You don’t have to work all Saturday, do you?’
I was sat cross-legged on my bed upstairs.
My room at the farm was so cosy, I kept wondering how I could make my apartment feel the same way because it really didn’t.
I thought about my mum’s cottage then. That had had the same feeling as the farmhouse when I was young.
I had no idea how it would feel now, though.
‘I don’t know, Mum.’ I hadn’t stepped foot inside since I’d left for the city.
All I could think about was the morning my dad sat us down in the living room and said he was leaving Birchbrook to be with the woman he’d been having an affair with.
My mum had looked so shocked, I was worried she might pass out.
I had cried and begged him to stay but he’d left an hour later.
I’d looked out the kitchen window as he’d packed up his car and driven off without a second glance.
‘I understand,’ she said quietly, but I could hear her voice shake a little bit.
Suddenly, I realised my mum had done the same thing when I had left. She’d looked out of the kitchen window as I’d packed my car and driven off without a backward glance. She must have been devastated all over again when I had gone, and just like my dad, I hadn’t ever returned.
‘I guess I could,’ I said slowly, feeling guilty and ashamed. I hadn’t wanted to be like my father but I feared that maybe I was.
‘You really would come?’ she asked, her voice full of hope.
‘I’ll come, Mum,’ I said, knowing that it would be hard but I couldn’t hide from where I came from forever.
I told her I’d be over at lunchtime and she seemed so excited that when I hung up, I felt like the world’s worst daughter.
I had thought a lot about what coming back to Birchbrook would mean for me; I hadn’t thought about my mum or Paul here without me.
I’d been pretty selfish, I was realising now.
All to try to protect myself from being hurt again.
All to try to move on from the past. But all I had really done was put it in a box and closed the lid tightly, too scared to ever peek inside again. That probably wasn’t healthy.
It certainly hadn’t made me happy either.