'I'm meeting Ian at the pub this evening, love. Why don’t you join us for dinner?' Straightening her back from where she'd just finished loading the last of the bowls into the dishwasher, Elsie wiped her hands-on the tea towel flung over her shoulder.
'Thanks, but it's okay. I'm going to the take a look at the Christmas market at Nick's this evening.' Merri grinned as memories of walking along the beach with Felix eating chips and chatting filtered into her mind.
'Would that happen to be with the lovely Felix?' Elsie raised an eyebrow,
'Haha, it would.' She held her pendant between her thumb and forefinger. 'I still can't believe he got me a new chain.'
'That is really kind of him.' Elsie nodded. 'I'm glad it's back where it belongs, love.'
'Me too.' she grinned.
'When are you meeting Felix?' Placing the tea towel on the table before taking her coat form the hooks by the back door.
Merri glanced at the clock above the shelf at the rear of the kitchen. 'Oops, five minutes ago.'
'Oh, you'd better get going then. Are you taking the van?' Elsie held up the van key.
'No, he's picking me up outside.' Grimacing, Merri checked the time again. How could she be late? She'd got ready straight after the bakery had closed. She'd wanted to be on time, to be ready early for their first official date.
'Get a wriggle on then, love.' Taking Morris coat from the hooks, Elsie passed it across to her. 'Off you go and have a wonderful time.'
'Thanks.' Taking her coat, Merri hurried out of the kitchen and through the empty bakery, the Christmas lights from the street outside illuminating the dark space. Stepping outside, she locked the door behind her before turning and looking up and down the street. Where was he? there wasn’t a car in sight.
Hearing a motorbike rev, she turned to her right, just in time to watch Felix lifting off a helmet. 'Evening.'
'Hi, I was expecting a car. When you said you'd give me a lift, I didn’t think...' She shook her head and laughed. 'I've never been on a motorbike before.'
'I can leave it here and we can get the bus if you'd prefer?' Opening the box at the back of the motorbike, Felix pulled out a red helmet. 'Or if you want to give it a go, I've got a spare helmet. Entirely up to you.'
Shaking her head, Merri laughed. 'Hey, I got my first wreath yesterday, I might as well carry on the wave of firsts.'
'Haha, true.' Chuckling, he stepped forward and helped secure her helmet.
'Is there anything I need to know? Like, do I just hold on or do I need to lean to the side when you turn the corners or anything?' Placing her hands on either side of her helmet, Merri gave it a gentle shake. Nope, that wasn't moving. It was on properly.
'Just hold on. Tight.' Felix put his own helmet back on before straddling the motorbike. twisting, he patted the space behind him. 'Ready?'
'Uh-huh. As ready as I'll ever be anyway.' Joining him on the bike, she wrapped her arms around his middle, clasping her hands together against his stomach. She'd always fancied trying her hand at motorbike riding. As the engine rumbled and theypulled out across the cobbles into the road, Merri tightened her grip.
'WOW, THAT WAS AMAZING!' Pulling her helmet off and passing it to Felix, Merri grinned. She couldn’t remember the last time she'd felt such exhilaration. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the speed they'd been going, the cold wind or the fact she'd literally been gripping hold of Felix to save her life, but she'd enjoyed it.
'Glad you enjoyed it.' Securing both the helmets in the box, Felix ran his fingers through his hair before wrapping an arm around Merri's waist.
'There's you smoothing your hair down even though you didn’t have even one strand out of place, mine must resemble a bird's nest.' She tugged her fingers through her own hair.
Turning to face her, Felix tucked her hair behind her ears before leaning down and kissing her on the lips. 'Nope, you're perfect.'
Scrunching her nose up, Merri shook off the compliment before taking his hand as they made their way through the fir trees towards the sound of Christmas music, chatter and laughter. 'So, what was it you said is going on here today? A Christmas market?'
'Yep. Victorian Christmas market. Nick had one come last year too and although I wasn’t here to see it, he raved about it for weeks afterwards so I'm hoping it'll be good.'
'Sounds good.' Lacing her fingers through his, she looked across at him. 'What were you doing last year if you weren't working here?'
Rubbing his hand across the stubble on his chin, Felix took a deep breath in. 'Last Christmas my dad was in hospital poorly. I had meant to come and help Nick but obviously...'
'I'm sorry.' Merri squeezed his hand.
'It was tough. really tough. He passed away a few weeks later.' he cleared his throat. 'If he hadn’t made me promise to continue making Christmas special, I wouldn’t have come here this year. he loved the festive season. He lived for it. My parents’ house would have the most Christmas lights in the neighbourhood, all the kids would come to look at it, people driving by to admire all the lights.'
