I take my shoes off and set them next to Jerry’s by the door, stroking Jen as she wanders out of the kitchen to greet us.
“Better?” Jerry asks, leaning against the wall in the hallway. His eyes dance with amusement, and I roll mine, but as I’m currently glued to the radiator, there’s not much I can say apart from “Yes, thank you.”
It’s then I notice the boxes piled up in the corner. They’re not mine, everything I brought was either in brown cardboard boxes or in bags. These boxes are white. “What are those?”
Jerry follows my gaze. “Oh, those are the lights and stuff for outside.” He pokes the bottom one with his socked foot. “I cleared some stuff out of the spare room and put it in the loft, so I thought I might as well fetch these down while I was up there. The rest of the decorations are in my bedroom.”
It suddenly clicks. “Ahh, for Christmas.”
“Yes.” He gives me a funny look. “What did you think I meant?”
“I wasn’t sure, exactly. Isn’t it a bit early?” Now he looks at me like I just spoke in tongues.
“It’s late November,” he says, like that explains everything.
“And?”
“Hailey and Char have had the pub decorations up since the ninth. Half the village have their outside lights up already. I’m late by a lot of standards.” He narrows his gaze. “Why, when do you normally decorate?”
I daren’t mention that I didn’t bother with a tree last year. I wasn’t feeling particularly festive, and I tried not to spend too much time in my own place over the holidays. I don’t want to think about the Christmases I spent with Karl, so I opt for a vague, “Probably around the second week in December.” Seems like a reasonable date to put your tree up.
Obviously not to Jerry because he looks a mixture of amused and horrified. “Yeah, we won’t be waiting that long this year.” He points to the boxes. “I was planning on putting them up next weekend, if you fancy giving me a hand?”
It all still seems too early to me, but what do I know? “I guess?”
Jerry snorts. “Don’t get too excited.”
I immediately feel bad. “Sorry. Not sure I’m feeling the Christmas spirit yet.”
That sparkle is back in Jerry’s eyes as he says. “We can’t have that, can we? Put your boots back on and grab your coat.”
“What? Why?” Not sure why I’m even asking because I’m already pulling on my boots.
“We’re going to the pub.”
“You’resure Frank’ll be okay in the spare room?” It’s probably the third time I’ve asked on the way to the pub, but I feel guilty for leaving him when we’ve only just moved in.
To his credit, Jerry doesn’t even sound annoyed when he tells me, also for the third time, “He’ll be fine. We both checked on him before we left. He was fed, watered, and curled up in your jumper. He also has his litter tray there if he needs it.”
All of which is true.
Frank was fast asleep. Didn’t even so much as twitch when I opened the door to check on him. “Sorry. I just feel bad for leaving him.”
Jerry smirks. “And I’m sure he’ll make you feel even worse when we get back later. Cats are arseholes like that.”
I turn to look at him. “I thought you were supposed to love all animals in your profession.”
“I do. Mostly,” he adds with a wry smile. “But I’ve also met my fair share of cats who know exactly how to manipulate their owners. Frank is as happy as you like up in that bedroom, but the second you step foot in there, he’s going to act like you left him alone for days with no food and no water.” He gives me a pointed look. “Because he’s an arsehole. And you spoil him.”
“I do not.”
It’s a big fat lie and we both know it. Jerry just laughs.
Whatever else I was going to say is abruptly forgotten as the pub comes into view. We’ve passed quite a few houses with their Christmas lights already on display, and as lovely as they were,they are no match for the sight that greets us as we pull into the pub car park.
“Wow.” It’s about all I can manage as I take it all in. Jerry comes to a stop but doesn’t turn off the engine just yet. There aren’t any free spaces out the front of the pub, so we’ll have to park around the back, but it’s like he knows I need a little more time to appreciate everything.
“I don’t remember it being like this last year.” But then I guess I wasn’t in the best state of mind to appreciate it.
