Page 46 of A Very Crumbleton Christmas
‘There’s not much more to say,’ said Jack, surprising her out of her daze by grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze. ‘Other than – enjoy!’
The crowd cheered again, and Jack stepped back from the microphone.
‘Nice job,’ said Caroline with a smile.
‘Ta,’ he said, leaning in close and kissing her cheek.
It took a few moments before Caroline realised that the simple kiss had just earned a bigger cheer than the Christmas lights.
CHAPTER 16
JACK
‘Here you go, my boy, get that down you,’ said Brian, placing a pint of black, velvety Guinness down in front of Jack. ‘I’m betting you’ll need something to whet your whistle after all that singing!’
‘You’re not wrong there, cheers!’ said Jack, lifting the glass and taking a deep gulp.
The carolling had been far more fun than he’d expected. Instead of bowing out after a couple of token songs, he’d stayed with the little group until they were finished.
Jack had to hand it to them all, they had brilliant poker faces. Far from making a fuss about him joining them, he’d only received one or two astonished glances the first time he’d opened his mouth and his deep baritone had joined the other voices. After that, they just seemed to accept him as one of their own.
The collecting tin they’d had with them had filled up nicely, and they’d had to swap to a borrowed bucket from Milly’s flower stall in the end.
‘Right, let’s get this party started!’ said Brian excitedly, heading over to the dartboard and wiping off the old chalk scores with a rag.
Jack watched in amusement as the people standing close by hurriedly shuffled out of the way, leaving a nice clear bit of space around the board… no mean feat considering the fact that the Dolphin and Anchor was packed to the gunnels!
‘Heads up,’ said Jack, ‘you should probably know that I’m better at carols than darts – and that’s not saying much!’
‘Good,’ said Brian with a broad smile. ‘I like a nice, easy win, so not to worry. Besides, I’m sure you’ve had plenty of practice. Bet you’re a bit of a ringer…’
‘I’m really not!’ said Jack. ‘I mean. Other than a few games when I was a teenager, I think the closest I’ve come since is throwing a few rubber-tipped spears in a film.’
‘I don’t remember that one…?’ said Brian.
‘Mmm,’ said Jack. ‘Not surprised, it went straight to DVD – and my scene got cut!’
‘Too bad,’ said Brian.
‘Not really - I was rubbish!’
‘Well, let’s see how you get on, shall we?’ said Brian cheerfully, holding out the darts to him.
Jack took them and glanced around. No one was paying him the slightest bit of attention… and he loved it! His eyes landed on Caroline. She was perched on a stool by the bar, deep in conversation with the woman who owned the bakery… Helen… Hannah…? He wracked his brain, trying to remember her name. He’d met so many people over the last few hours that his head was spinning with them all.
‘Don’t worry, your date’s still happy over there with Heather,’ laughed Brian.
Heather – that was it!
‘Not my date,’ said Jack.
Sadly.
He still couldn’t tear his eyes away from Caroline, though. She’d taken off her big, puffy coat and was wearing a sparkly red dress. She still had her antlers on too…
‘Earth to Jack?’ said Brian. ‘Focus boy, or you’re going to have someone’s eye out. These darts don’t actually have rubber tips, you know!’
‘Right, right…’ said Jack vaguely, turning towards the board and hurling a dart at it without much thought.
