Page 19 of A Very Crumbleton Christmas
Working side by side with Caroline had been unexpectedly fun. They’d spent the last hour squabbling playfully over who was in charge of the tinsel and what order everything should go in. It felt like they’d known each other forever. There was an ease and a tension between them all at once. His fingers had brushed hers when they’d both reached into the box at the same time, and a tingle of electricity had leapt between them, making his stomach flip. It had been as much as he could do to draw breath.
‘Well… I think we’re done,’ said Caroline.
‘I think you’re right,’ said Jack. ‘Just as well, really, considering there isn’t room for anything else on there, even if we tried!’
‘Good point,’ said Caroline, reaching out and hooking a loop of tinsel a little higher. ‘One more job left to do, though.’
‘The lights,’ said Jack. ‘You want to do the honours?’
Caroline shook her head. ‘I think you need all the practice you can get, don’t you?’ she said, shooting him a cheeky smile. ‘Think of it as an audition for the starring role.’
‘An audition?’ said Jack, raising his eyebrows. ‘I thought you were the one herebeggingme to do it.’
‘You thought wrong,’ said Caroline. ‘This role is a privilege… one you have to earn.’
‘There’s the Caroline Cook I know and… am mildly terrified of!’ laughed Jack.
Caroline rolled her eyes. ‘You do realise you’re doing the full-name thing withmenow, right?’
‘What can I say? It’s catching!’ said Jack. ‘Okay, give me a sec to get into character here…’
‘What character?’ said Caroline. ‘Big knobhead actor?’
‘Ouch!’ laughed Jack, just as Caroline clapped her hand over her mouth.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she muttered through her fingers. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s like I can’t turn it off!’
Jack just grinned and shook his head. ‘Ready – for the best big knobhead actor you’ve ever seen?’
‘I’ll be the judge of that!’ said Caroline, smiling at him, clearly relieved that he didn’t care about her less-than-cosy commentary.
‘Okay, here goes,’ said Jack. He let his smile drop before turning his head this way and that, making a show of stretching his neck.
‘Lord, give me strength!’ muttered Caroline, as Jack rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms across his chest as though preparing for a race.
Buoyed by her reaction, Jack started to ham it up for all he was worth, reaching for his toes and then bouncing a couple of times before dropping into a lunge.
‘Are you quite finished?’ giggled Caroline.
‘Hmm, not sure,’ said Jack, straightening up before adding in a side-bend. He promptly received Caroline’s elbow in the ribs.
‘Oof!’ he laughed, rubbing the spot.
‘Get on with it,’ said Caroline. ‘With that performance, I’ll be roping you into the Crumbleton Panto if you don’t watch out!’
‘Oh no you won’t!’ said Jack gamely.
‘Oh yes I… actually… let’s not go there,’ said Caroline. ‘Turn those lights on already, man!’
Jack gave her a little salute before dropping to his knees and groping through the prickly branches until his fingers found the switch.
‘Oooh!’ cried Caroline. ‘They’re absolutely gorgeous!’
Jack scrambled back to his feet, brushing a few stray needles from his jeans as he went. Then he stared up at the tree and nodded. The multi-coloured, twinkling lights set the whole thing off perfectly. Suddenly, the room felt like home, and for the first time this year, he really believed that Christmas was waiting for him just around the corner.
A sudden warm tightness in his chest took Jack by surprise, and he blinked rapidly, clearing his throat.
‘I’d like to thank my agent,’ he said, instinctively covering the weird swell of emotion with more impromptu ridiculousness. ‘Of course, I couldn’t have done this without my fans. But more than anything else, I’d like to thank Caroline Cook. Her reporting might be a bit on the wild side, but her heart is well and truly in the right place, and she knows how to hang a mean bauble…’
