Page 45 of A Very Crumbleton Christmas
‘Damnit, I thought you’d forgotten about that!’ huffed Jack.
‘He didn’t,’ said Brian as Caroline took Jack’s hand and started towing him through the gathering crowd towards the little podium she’d set up outside the museum. ‘In fact, he told me he’s looking forward to it.’
‘Traitor!’ huffed Jack, and Caroline saw him shoot a wink at Brian before he was swallowed up by the crowd.
‘Right, let’s do this,’ she said, leading Jack towards the stage. She rather liked the feel of his large, warm hand in hers... so much so that she didn’t want to let it go. But considering they were about to have the attention of the entire town on them, she thought it might be for the best.
‘Aw,’ said Jack as their fingers parted. ‘I was kind of hoping you were going to hold my hand through the whole thing.’
‘Baby,’ she chuckled.
‘Nope – you’re just lovely and warm,’ said Jack.
Caroline had a hard time tearing her eyes away from his smile… and for a moment she wished they were standing somewhere a little bit less conspicuous than on the makeshift stage in front of dozens of people who’d known her since she was in nappies.
‘Alright!’ she yelled, breaking the spell and making Jack jump in the process.
Heads turned towards them. Here and there, Caroline caught little gasps as the locals started to recognise the special guest she’d managed to rustle up for the big occasion.
She grabbed the large, brass handbell she’d left next to the microphone stand, and gave it a hefty shake. The ringing echoed down the high street, booming through several strategically placed speakers.
‘Who’s ready for our Christmas lights?’ she shouted.
There was a loud cheer, and the crowd in front of the stage thickened as more people joined them.
‘I’ve got a very special guest for you this year,’ she said, shooting a smile at Jack. He looked very much like he’d quite like to disappear through the platform. ‘I am thrilled to welcome Jack Jones to Crumbleton!’
‘Who?’ yelled a voice from the crowd. It sounded suspiciously like Brian Singer.
Everyone erupted with laughter, and Caroline saw Jack grinning back at them – the ice well and truly thawed.
‘So!’ said Caroline, glancing back into the darkness inside the museum, ‘are my little elves back there ready?’
She got a disembodied thumbs-up from Harold Pottinger, who’d been loitering inside, waiting for her to give the sign. Suddenly, the street was plunged into gloom as the lights wereturned off. There was a collective “awwww”of disappointment from the crowd.
‘Ready for your big moment?’ muttered Caroline with her hand over the microphone, as she handed Jack a comically large light switch that had a lead trailing from it.
‘Ready,’ he said, taking hold of it.
‘Three!’ yelled Caroline into the microphone.
‘Two!’ cheered the crowd.
‘One!’ Jack shouted into the microphone, flipping the switch.
A massive cheer went up as light flooded the street again, golden and twinkling on the happy faces below as they all raised their cups of mulled wine and hot chocolate in celebration.
‘Speech!’ yelled someone.
Caroline peered out at the crowd and saw the culprit grinning back at her. It was Milly.
Jack shot her a look, and she nodded encouragingly.
‘Merry Christmas, Crumbleton.’ He paused while everyone cheered. ‘Thank you for letting me share this evening with you.’
As he continued to talk, Caroline realised she had her eyes fixed on his face. She wasn’t listening to what he was saying… just soaking in the way he was saying it. His face was alive, and his eyes were full of fun as he held the crowd in the palm of his hand.
Caroline swallowed and did her best to tear her gaze off him, before everyone in town managed to clock the adoring look that was probably plastered across her face right now.
