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John was the first to notice Frankie and gave a loud whistle so everyone fell silent. Completely concealed in her costume, Frankie waved at everyone and did a little dance. Of course, all the residents knew it was her underneath the foam Christmas tree, but everyone enjoyed playing along and telling grandchildren and even great grandchildren that the magical Christmas gift givers had arrived.
Kathy held up a glass of Prosecco. ‘Here’s our favourite part of the evening, when we find out which of you have been on the naughty or nice list!’
Everyone laughed and Storm padded forward to let Kathy place a little felt basket into the dog’s soft mouth.
‘This is for John.’
‘Come here, girl.’ Storm duly trotted over to John and dropped the basket on his lap. He gave Storm a treat before opening up the little present inside the basket. It was a beautiful pair of cufflinks. Storm went back to Kathy, still munching her treat.
The two dogs carried the light presents to the residents, with Kathy helping out if the present from the home was too big or heavy for the dogs to carry.
When the last of the presents had been delivered, all the visiting children got a little gift too. Then the chatter resumed and the music was once again turned up, even louder than before.
‘Everyone got lovely gifts,’ Frankie said as she happily accepted a couple of canapés from a plate of delicious-looking food Kathy held out for her.
‘I love picking out things for everyone. These guys are like my family. It’s not like proper work when you do something you love! You should try one of these.’ Kathy thrust a plate of arancini at Frankie.
‘My nonno makes these.’
‘I know, he’s super, isn’t he? He’s the one who supplied tonight’s nibbles. We didn’t ask him to do any of this, but he has been quite the regular visitor lately because he’s—’ Kathy suddenly covered her mouth with her hand. ‘I mean… I…’ Her face reddened.
‘It’s okay.’
Clearly flustered, Kathy tried to backtrack. ‘I’m sorry, I wasn’t meant to say anything. I know none of you know anything about his plans… Oh dear.’
Frankie laid a hand on Kathy’s arm to reassure her after her faux pas. ‘It’s okay, I won’t tell him you accidentally let something slip.’
‘You know?’
‘I overheard him on the phone.’
Relief flooded Kathy’s face.
‘I haven’t said anything to anyone else though, as I know he’s going to tell us everything soon.’
Kathy nodded. ‘Yes, that’s the plan. Me and my big mouth. I have to watch myself. I’m going to go around with these plates. Feel free to mingle for a while and help yourself to anything.’
Frankie smiled in thanks and watched as the residents of Cedar Lodge continued to party. It was a lovely place and Frankie knew her nonno would be well cared for, but she still felt sad thinking about him in this setting and not running the trattoria and being the large booming presence of the family.
Storm rested her chin against Frankie’s thigh. Her rich dark eyes, now clouded a little blue with age, looked deeply into Frankie’s.
‘I suppose we all get older, don’t we?’ She stroked her beloved dog’s head.
And without saying goodbye, Frankie and her dogs quietly made their way out of Cedar Lodge, the sound of laughter and Christmas songs carrying on the cold night air, all the way back to the van.
CHAPTER 31
ROCCO
Rocco had never considered himself a lurker before, but for the past few days he’d been at least… well, loitering. He’d had a very successful Christmas shopping day and, laden with bags, Rocco had popped into his favourite luxury brand bath and body care shop to pick up his usual shower gel and a new exfoliator. That’s when he found himself lingering over the bubble baths. The very feminine bubble baths with scents of jasmine, gardenia and rose and other delightful floral-sounding concoctions. He chose one for Valentina, Frankie and his mum. And then bought another.
He got the sales assistant to gift-wrap the last one and didn’t even bother to respond to her flirtations. Then he’d made a last stop to buy a new aftershave; something spicy, woody and, dare he say, just a little bit sexy.
That weekend, Rocco carried that gift-wrapped bottle of bubble bath around with him on the off-chance he bumped into Alison.
He hadn’t.
On the Monday, Rocco had progressed from hoping to bump into the pharmacist to lingering around North Street to accidentally bump into her. On purpose.
