He chuckled as he came to stand opposite her, placing his hands palms down on the counter. ‘You really have nothing tofeel embarrassed about. And like I said to you earlier, I’ve done much worse.’
She nodded.
‘Not that I mean you did it on purpose.’ He shook his head quickly and held his hands up. ‘I know it was accident. Just a...’
Laughing, she shook her head. As sweet as it was watching him stumbling over his words and trying not to dig himself into a bigger hole, it wasn’t fair to let him continue. ‘I knew what you meant.’
‘Good, good.’ With his shoulders visibly relaxing, Felix smiled back at her. ‘So, what brings you here to Nick’s farm?’
Holding her hands out, she indicated the wreaths in front of her. ‘I’m after a wreath for the bakery.’
‘Yes, yes, of course you are.’ Rubbing the back of his neck, Felix shook his head. ‘Which would explain why you’re standing in front of me looking at wreaths on the wreath stall.’
‘Haha, it would.’ She felt the heat of a blush creeping up her neck and she glad she’d remembered her scarf. Was he nervous? Had he felt that spark between them earlier? Or whatever it had been anyway?
Shifting on his feet, he indicated the various style wreaths surrounding him. ‘Have you seen any you like the look of?’
Pulling her gloves off, she tucked them in her pockets and reached out to touch the soft velvet of the red and gold wreath in front of her. ‘I’m not sure, to be honest. I wasn’t quite expecting there to be so much choice. And I forgot to ask Elsie what style she wanted.’
‘Gabby certainly does a good job in supplying us with wreaths to suit any home or business.’ Felix looked around thoughtfully.
‘Gabby? I hadn’t realised she made these. I knew she worked at the florists in Trestow but didn’t know she created wreaths too. They’re stunning. All of them.’
‘Yep, we’re lucky to have her. Before she started to work there, Nick would always run out of wreaths coming up to Christmas. He just couldn’t get anyone to keep up with the demand.’ Felix smoothed down the tartan ribbon of one of the wreaths on display. ‘Or that’s what I’ve been told anyway. This is my first Christmas working here.’
‘Wow, she’s very talented.’ She looked across at him, catching his eye. ‘Your first Christmas here? It must be great fun working in a place like this. I mean, I know all jobs have their challenges, but everyone just seems so happy.’
Nodding, his gaze shifted to the customers roasting marshmallows on the firepit. ‘you’re right. It does make life a lot easier when the majority of people are in a generally good mood to begin with.’
‘So, I’m guessing you must be a huge fan of Christmas then?’ She followed his gaze as a young boy held his toasted marshmallow aloft whilst his mum blew on it in an attempt to cool it down.
Taking a deep breath in, Felix let out a sigh. ‘I guess it must run in the family.’
Snapping her head back to look at him, she frowned. ‘The family? I hadn’t realised Nick had brothers.’
‘Not brothers, no.’ He looked back to her. ‘I’m Nick’s cousin. It’s a long story, but...’
‘Excuse me, do you have any with a yellow ribbon, please?’ A man holding a four feet Christmas tree to his chest hurried over, speaking before he’d even reached the stall. ‘I need yellow. A golden yellow. Not any of that washed out pale stuff.’
‘Sorry.’ Felix mouthed towards Merri before answering the man. ‘One moment, let me just serve Merri here and the I’ll get to you.’
Holding her hand up, she dismissed him. ‘It’s okay. I’m going to give Elsie a quick call to see what colour and style she wants anyway.’
‘Okay, if you’re sure?’ After waiting for her nod of confirmation, Felix turned to the man. ‘I’m afraid I don’t have any golden yellow ribboned wreaths here, but I can pop and get some golden yellow ribbon while you choose which wreath you’d like to buy and then I can swap the ribbons for you.’
‘Thank you.’ The man mumbled as he set his Christmas tree down, carefully leaning it against the edge of the stall before picking up the wreath closest to him and inspecting it.
‘Great. I’ll go and get that for you now.’ As Felix walked past her, he grimaced.
Perhaps her statement of all the customers here at the farm had been a little sweeping. Judging by the scowl on this guy’s face and the ton in which he’d just spoken to Felix, she didn’t think the festive ambience here was having much of an effect on him.
Stepping away from the stall, she pulled her mobile out of her coat pocket and scrolled through to Elsie’s name before pressing the Ring button. As she listened to the rings, she watched as the man picked up wreath after wreath, bringing them close enough to his face that she was concerned he might prickle his nose with a holly thorn before huffing and placing them less than carefully back down.
‘You have reached the voicemail for the phone number...’ The robotic voice of the answerphone kicked in and Merri ended the call. It seemed the decision on which wreath to choose for the bakery would be down to her. Walking the few short steps back to the stall, Merri made sure to stand at the opposite end of the stall to the man as she looked at the wreaths. They were all absolutely gorgeous.
‘Hmmph.’ Turning, the man picked up his Christmas tree and began to walk away.
‘Are you not going to wait for the yellow ribbon?’ Merri called after him as sighed as the man shrugged dramatically in response before quickening his pace. Charming! He’d sent poor Felix on a wild goose chase in search of a length of ribbon the perfect shade of golden yellow for absolutely nothing. Shaking her head, Merri turned and saw Felix jogging across the courtyard towards her, clutching a beautiful golden yellow ribbon.
