Page 46 of The Little Shop on Silver Linings Street
And that’s when she realised her second mistake. She had reversed too far back and the boot of the car was now firmly pressed up against the hedge – there was no way she could even get it open. Damn. She swore under her breath, kicking at the snow in frustration. She looked down at her boots and groaned. The leather was already sopping and soon her feet would be very wet indeed. Wet and very cold. She wrenched open the rear door and climbed inside, furious with herself.
She bent down in the confined space and began to unlace her boots, her cold fingers struggling with laces that she couldn’t see in the dark. She kicked the door open so that the interior lights came on again and thumped the back of the seat in anger. Eventually, after a few minutes more tussling, she managed to get her boots off and pull on her wellies, relieved that these had been on the back seat, along with an old oilskin coat and blanket.
Right, try again. She looked around for something else she could use to scoop away the snow from under her tyres, but there was nothing apart from the scraper she used to clear the windscreen with. It would have to do, and she pulled her gloves on again. The pain above her eye pounded as she climbed from the car and she wriggled her shoulders again, trying to ease them. She was so nearly home.
‘Daisy…?’
She whirled around at the sound of her name, her feet nearly slipping out from under her with the force of her movement.
‘Kit, you scared the life out of me! What on earth are you doing here?’
15
Friday 13th December
Twelve shopping days until Christmas
Kit was standing in the lane holding a torch, keeping the beam played at the ground.
‘Walking,’ he replied. ‘I saw the car headlights and thought I had better come and investigate. Isn’t the snow amazing?’
Daisy stared at him. Not only had she not heard him coming but what a ridiculous thing to say under the circumstances.
‘Not when you’re stuck in it, it’s not,’ she replied. ‘Which is all I need after the day I’ve had.’ She aimed a vicious kick at the car’s tyre. ‘And I’m only a couple of miles away from home.’
Kit looked away to his right across the fields. ‘Less, as the crow flies.’
She followed his line of sight. For goodness’ sake, what did that have to do with anything?
‘I’m going to have to clear the snow away from the tyres so I can get out… but I can’t open the boot to get the shovel.’ She held up her hand. ‘And don’t say anything. I know it was stupid to reverse so far back, but I couldn’t see where I was going.’
Kit didn’t say a word. Instead he flicked the torch off.
The darkness settled around them, instantly soothing. Daisy sighed, feeling the tight ball of tension within her.
‘You know that saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”?’ said Kit.
‘Yes – usually said by people who could never make lemonade if they tried and just use it as a means of pretending to be something they’re not and—’ She ground to a halt as she realised that Kit was looking at her, eyebrows raised, an amused expression on his face.
‘Oh…’ she said. And then despite herself she burst out laughing. ‘Which is what you were just going to say if I’d let you get a word in edgeways.’
He grinned. ‘Exactly! But the general invitation towards optimism is hard to ignore. It struck me that there are two things we can do in this situation… Actually, there are three, but the third option is for me to just go on my way and leave you here, so I’m not going to mention that one.’
She met his look. ‘So, go on then, what are the two options?’
‘Well, we could either struggle for half an hour to free your car so that you can drive off and try the other road into town only to find that it’s also impassable, or I could walk you home. It’s the most beautiful evening.’
Daisy looked around her. ‘Is it?’
‘Yes,’ said Kit more forcefully. ‘It is.’ And he looked up.
It seemed in that moment as if everything stood still. The darkness swirled around Daisy and lifted as the moon came out from behind a cloud. A bright shining disc of light that transformed everything around her into a silvery shimmering landscape. Sounds rushed in and for a moment she swore she could hear the world breathing.
She looked back at Kit, dumbstruck. Suddenly she wanted very badly to be out in the fields, to leave the tensions and stress of the day behind her and breathe in the calming air.
‘But what do we do about the car?’
Kit shrugged. ‘Leave it here,’ he said. ‘The frost is going to set hard tonight and this snow will be going nowhere. It’s my day off tomorrow, don’t forget. If you leave me your keys, I’ll come back early in the morning and free it for you. Provided I can get through, I’ll drive it home. How’s that?’
