‘No, you need to go and get yourself sorted and have a bit of a sit down after all this. You’ve taken quite the fall. Besides, Teresa will have everything under control in the kitchen for a few moments.’
‘Nanna Elsie! Something’s burning, and Mum’s outside.’ Joining Pippa at the kitchen door, Rueben pushed it open a little further, the sound of the beep from the oven filtering into the bakery.
‘Outside. Oh dear, I’d better go and see what’s going on. Are you sure you’ll be okay?’ Elsie frowned.
‘Yes, honestly, I’m okay. You go.’ Merri nodded towards Rueben and Pippa.
‘Okay. Make sure you take some time out. Grab a cuppa and put your feet up for a few minutes.’ Elsie looked pointedly at her before hurrying into the kitchen.
As Brooke knelt to pick up the dropped crockery, Merri leaned her hand on the counter, suddenly feeling a bit shaky from the shock of falling.
‘Careful, you’ve got something wrapped around your ankle.’
Turning, Merri watched as the man who had come in with Gabby and Nick hurried towards her, pointing towards her feet.Looking down, she gulped as she saw a string of fairy lights trailing from her ankle. That’s what had happened then, she must have got them caught around her, which had then pulled the whole tree down. Yikes!
‘Let me.’ Kneeling down, the man gently unravelled the lights from around her foot before throwing them in the direction of the Christmas tree and straightening his back again.
‘Thank you. I hadn’t realised. I must have got myself caught in them when I was walking and then...’ She flailed her arm around her, taking in the shards of crockery Brooke was cleaning up, the tree Nick and Gabby were straightening and the splatters of discarded drinks covering her apron and jeans. ‘I’m such an idiot. How could I not have noticed?’
‘It’s easily done. I work over at Nick’s Christmas tree farm, and I’ve lost count of the number of trees I’ve had over.’ He chuckled at himself, a small dimple forming in his left cheek. ‘And that’s when I haven’t been felling them intentionally.’
‘Still, at least that’s out in the open. I dread to think what would have happened if the table hadn’t stopped the tree in time.’ She glanced towards the couple who had ended up with ruined drinks. If the tree had landed on them...
‘No, not always. Last week I had the tree down in the shop, and that created a mess, I can tell you. Whole baskets of baubles waiting to be sold were destroyed, along with an almost life-sized ceramic nutcracker.’ He shook his head.
‘Oh.’ She smiled. ‘It sounds as though you might just be as clumsy as I am then.’
‘At least ten times clumsier from what I’ve seen of your work here today. You’ve got nothing on me.’ He chuckled again before holding out his hands towards her. ‘I’m Felix, Nick's cousin.’
She quickly wiped her hand down the front of her apron, hoping to get as much cold coffee off her skin as she couldbefore she took his hand. His skin was warm against hers, his handshake strong. ‘Nice to meet you, Felix. I’m Merri.’
‘Merri? What a lovely name.’ Felix grinned.
‘Thanks. A gift from my mum.’ Merri smiled as they locked eyes. There was something there, something kind, something...
‘I’ll just run these out into the kitchen and then come back to serve.’ Brooke glanced over her shoulder towards her as she stood, the floor now clear of debris and shards of ceramic.
‘Okay, thanks.’ Reluctantly lowering her hand from his grasp, she looked down at herself. ‘I should probably go and get cleaned up.’
‘Well, it was nice to meet you, Merri.’ Felix nodded. ‘Hope to see you around.’
‘You too.’ As she began walking towards the door behind the bakery counter, which led to Elsie and Ian’s flat above, she looked over her shoulder to see Felix helping Gabby and Nick collect baubles and ornaments from the floor surrounding the Christmas tree. She really did hope she would see him again.
Chapter Five
'Oh drat, I've just realised what I've forgotten.' Elsie shook out some chocolate drops into the bowl in front of her.
Swallowing the velvety hot chocolate, Merri lowered her mug to the large stainless-steel table in the bakery kitchen. They'd closed up an hour ago and with everything now tidy and ready for tomorrow, Elsie was just finishing off some baking whilst they chatted. 'What?'
'The wreath. I normally get a wreath for the front door, and I clean forgot this year.' Shaking in a few more chocolate drops, Elsie shook her head. 'I don’t know how I forgot.'
'It's easily done.' Merri wiped the back of her hand across her lips, cream from the top of the hot chocolate sticking to her skin.
‘Yes, yes, it is. I’ve just been so focused on Teresa going on holiday and Diane coming back from maternity leave, I’m sure I’ve forgotten other things too.’ Elsie sprinkled flour liberally across the table before scooping up the cookie dough mixture from the bowl and placing it on top of the dusting of floor. ‘Never mind, I’ll pop over to Nick’s Christmas Tree Farm and pick one up when I have the chance. I should have asked them to drop one off earlier when they were in.’
Licking her lips, Merri turned the mug around in her hands and kept her eyes focused on her drink. ‘I can pop over and get one this evening if you like?’
‘No, thank you, but you’ve had a day of it already today. And don’t think I didn’t notice that you jumped back behind thecoffee and cake counter ten minutes before your lunch break had finished.’
