Page 42 of Hope and Happiness in Bluebell Wood
Callum.
‘I was just asking Ava the same thing,’ Jemima says, looking unbelievably pleased to see him.
‘The devil makes work for idle hands,’ Callum says, waving his hands in front of him, and I notice today he’s wearing his dog collar underneath a pale grey pullover. ‘How about Ava and I run the stall together – I expect it will be a busy one?’
‘That’s very kind of you, Callum, but I was going to ask you to help me out with the refreshments.’ Jemima looks quite adamant about this.
‘Jonah is much more au fait with cakes than I am. He never misses an episode ofBake Off.I’m sure he will make an excellent assistant. Ah, here he comes now.’
‘Good afternoon, ladies,’ Jonah says, rubbing his hands together as he arrives next to us. ‘Where would you like me?’
‘Refreshments, Jonah!’ Callum says before Jemima can say anything. ‘You’ll enjoy serving up cups of tea and slices of cake, won’t you?’
‘I make an excellent brew, even if I say so myself,’ Jonah says proudly. ‘Lead the way, Miss Swan!’
‘Don’t worry, Jemima, we’ll find the toys and books,’ Callum says, smiling at her. ‘Won’t we, Ava?’
I nod.
‘Well . . . I guess . . . ’ Jemima says reluctantly, and she leads Jonah across the playground in the direction of the refreshment stall.
‘Will you be all right with all these folk?’ Callum asks me as he gestures back at the ever-growing queue behind us.
‘I’ll try my best,’ I say honestly.
‘Well done,’ Callum says. ‘Now I must ask you to promise me one thing?’
‘What’s that?’
‘Don’t let me buy all the toys off the stall, will you? I’m a big kid at heart and I must leave some for the children!’
Callum and I make a good job of running the toy and book stall, particularly after the initial rush of people has subsided. The bonus to looking after a stall where most of the customers are children is I never once feel too crowded by the amount of people in front of us, because the majority of them are smaller than me.
Callum keeps a close eye on me throughout, and if he thinks I’m becoming overwhelmed at all he moves in and takes over, giving me the chance to stand back for a few minutes and take a few deep breaths. Merlin is happy just napping at the back of the stall, especially after I buy him a soft toy dog, which he is currently curled up with sound asleep.
I can’t help but notice that Callum is quite the popular stallholder, with many of the locals coming to the stall especially totalk to him. Now the stall is a little quieter, he’s in conversation with Mrs Bunting about flowers for the Easter services.
‘Are you okay there?’ I ask a young boy who’s been browsing the stall for a good few minutes now.
An apprehensive face looks up at me and nods.
‘Is there something you’d like to buy?’ I ask gently.
He nods again.
I look at the area of the table he’s been browsing. ‘Is it the tank you like the look of?’ I ask.
He shakes his head.
‘The cars?’
Again it’s a firm shake of the head.
‘The bear?’ I ask, seeing an abandoned, but quite pretty teddy bear wearing a flowery dress at the end of the trestle table.
He looks around him and nods hurriedly. ‘It’s for my mum. She collects teddy bears.’
‘That’s a lovely idea,’ I tell him encouragingly. I lift the bear up and glance at the price. ‘It says one pound.’
