Chapter Thirty-Nine
The café was closing up when Jen arrived.
Marnie was wiping tables and straightening chairs in the soft light while carols played quietly in the background.
In the corner by the window sat Pat, with a large teapot and a cupcake in front of her.
Jen tapped on the glass, and waved as Pat turned to her.
Marnie opened the door, smiling as she pushed her hair off her face. ‘Hi Jen, you OK?’ She stepped back to let her in. The café was clearly closed, but that didn’t appear to bother her.
‘God, it smells good in here,’ Jen said, stamping the snow off her boots on the doormat and breathing in the tempting aroma of coffee and baking.
‘Can I get you anything?’ Marnie asked.
Jen took a deep breath. ‘I have a massive favour to ask.’
Pat snorted. ‘Don’t beat about the bush!’ She patted the chair next to her. ‘Sit down and have a cuppa, let’s hear what you’re after. I’ll even share my cake with you if you like.’
She winked, and Jen eyed the cake. She was about to refuse – she was on a mission, she couldn’t be getting distracted by sweet treats – but the smell of gingerbread had her mouth watering.
‘I think we can stretch to her own cake,’ Marnie said, bringing one over with another cup.
Pat poured tea while Jen ate and talked.
‘. . . so basically everyone’s cancelled,’ Jen finished up, resting her head in her hands and staring down at the crumbs on her plate. The cake seemed to have disappeared.
‘Oh fiddlesticks, we can’t let a little thing like that get in the way!’ Pat said. ‘We’ll think of something. This is Babblebrook.’
‘So what do you need?’ Marnie asked.
Jen looked up. ‘Well, I’m assuming Santa’s still coming?’
Marnie laughed and nodded.
‘Great. So that just leaves decorations,’ she ticked off on her fingers, ‘disco, reindeer or donkey or something like that. And, um – catering.’
She caught Marnie’s eye and bit her lip.
Marnie’s face lit up. ‘Ooh, great – I love a challenge!’
‘It’s tomorrow.’
‘I know.’
‘Then – anything you can do by tomorrow will be great. Thank you so much.’ She clutched Marnie’s hand. She realised she was on the verge of tears. ‘You’ve saved my bacon.’
‘Well, yes,’ Pat said as she tried to pour another cuppa from the empty teapot, wearing an expression of exaggerated innocence. ‘You want to impress Ted, eh? I mean . . . ouch!’ She glared at Marnie. ‘Stop kicking me!’
‘Well, stop teasing her, then.’
‘Oh, don’t be such a flibbertigibbet. Anyone can see they should be together, I’ve never seen two people look at each other like that and not realise they’re made for one another.’
Jen flushed. Her heart was racing. It was true that she did want to impress Ted, she supposed, but only because he was her best friend. He’d always been there for her, and now it was her turn to support him. To show him she could, that she wasn’t some disaster that needed constant rescuing.
That was all.
Yes, they’d had a college fling, but it had been so brief that it had almost not existed.
Yes, she’d learned that the reason he’d ended it was because he cared about her, and not because there was something fundamentally unlovable about her after all.
But they’d known each other for over a decade, and for almost all of that time they’d simply been friends.
It was how they thought of each other. He was the best friend she’d ever had, and she didn’t want to jeopardise that.
Pat was still talking. ‘. . . have actually, now I think about it, there was this other couple that seemed to be blind to the fact they were in love.’ She grinned, her eyes bright, looking like some kind of mischievous elf. ‘They worked it out in the end, though.’
Marnie was blushing, her dark eyes gleaming. ‘Oh hush, you old troublemaker,’ she said. Pat just smirked. ‘Look, don’t worry about the catering, I’ll sort something out for you. But I’m not sure about the rest of your list, I’m afraid.’
Pat gasped and grabbed Jen’s arm. ‘Ooh, what about my bike?’
‘What about it?’ Jen asked, remembering the time she’d seen her whizzing down the village street at what was clearly a speed well north of the limit.
She couldn’t see how that would help with her plans for the fair and, looking at the excited expression on Pat’s face, she was slightly nervous to ask.
‘Well, you need a reindeer.’
Jen and Marnie looked at each other.
‘You know, my bike! The handlebars are sort of like antlers, and I could make a face with a red nose, and we could give the children rides down the village street.’
She looked from Marnie to Jen, pleased as punch.
Marnie had paled at the very idea. ‘I’m not sure about . . .’
Jen laughed. ‘Thanks Pat, I’m not sure the insurance would cover it though! And anyway, I have a plan for that.’
And on that note, she decided, it was time for her to start on the other items on her list.
She swallowed her last mouthful of tea and hugged Marnie and Pat. ‘Thank you so much, I can’t tell you how much this means to me.’
‘And everything you’re doing will mean so much to Ted,’ Pat said, giving her a grin and a meaningful look.
Jen laughed, taken aback. ‘We’re just friends.’
Pat rolled her eyes.
‘Thank you, Marnie, really. You’ve saved the day.’
‘Well, she saved Christmas last year, you know!’
Marnie blushed again. Jen laughed. ‘Did she?’ She could well believe it.
‘It was nothing,’ Marnie said, shaking her head. ‘And don’t worry about the food, it’ll be sorted. Good luck with the rest.’
Jen found herself back outside, the snow still falling. She marched across the green; the ducks were nowhere to be seen, presumably safely tucked up somewhere warm.
The Woods’ farm looked like something on a Christmas card, the fields surrounding it like a snowy sheet, the roof blanketed in white, smoke curling from the chimney and lights twinkling on the porch.
Barbara opened the door, making no attempt to hide her surprise at finding Jen on her step. ‘Oh! Hello.’ She squinted. ‘You’re Julia’s sister, aren’t you?’
‘Yes. Hi.’ Jen gave her best, most disarming smile. Alan appeared behind Barabara, in his cardigan and slippers, peering over her shoulder.
‘Oh, Ted’s friend,’ he said. ‘From the open mic night.’
Barbara frowned. ‘No, she’s Julia’s sister. You know Julia and Dan?’ She pointed to Jen. ‘They have the same hair, look.’
Alan peered at her hair, looking confused.
‘I’m both,’ Jen said, hastily jumping in before the conversation got away from her any further. ‘Julia’s sister, Ted’s friend. And I’m in desperate need of reindeer.’
They looked at her blankly.
Catering organised, reindeer secured and her feet at last thawed out, Jen sat at Julia’s kitchen table, drinking a hot chocolate and tapping ‘call’ on the contact Julia had just shared with her.
‘Really?’ Julia had said when she’d asked her if she had this particular number. ‘What for?’
Jen had just tapped her nose. But now, as the phone rang, she did feel a certain amount of trepidation.
‘Hello,’ a voice said after three rings.
‘Hi, this is Jen Ward, and I—’
‘Ah yes, Amy and George’s little auntie.’
Jen wasn’t sure about the ‘little’, but otherwise she was quite happy with this as a description of her identity.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘And I have a bit of a favour to ask you.’
‘All right, then. Fire away.’
‘I need a DJ for the Christmas fair.’