Page 56 of Christmas Is All Around
“How’d it go?” he asked, the sudden sound of his voice in the empty room making her startle, not having heard his approach. She glanced up to see him leaning against the doorjamb, arms crossed over his chest, watching her cushion unused ornaments in bubble wrap. She carefully placed the last one in the box, then straightened.
“It was fine,” she said cautiously. “I thought I saw you a couple of times, during?”
He nodded. “I was in and out, trying to keep an eye on the food and drink. Best turnout we’ve had in a few years, I think—thank you so much for stepping in.”
She bit her lip, weighing whether to tell himwhy, precisely, the turnout had been so good—something about the way Eloise had phrased it made her think that this had been an executive decision she’d made that Graham might not be aware of. Given all the disagreement between Graham and Eloise on the future of Eden Priory, she didn’t want to be the person who tossed a grenade into an already tense situation.
He, however, must have read something in her expression, because he took a couple of steps toward her. “What’s wrong?”
She decided to tellatruth, a small part of the larger one. “There were someChristmas, Trulyfans.”
A frown darkened his face, and he reached out to take her hand. “Were any of them rude?”
“No.” She shook her head quickly, and his frown eased slightly. “They wanted to take selfies—one of them asked me about the reboot, but she was chill about it.” She shrugged. “It was… fine.”
Ithadbeen fine, was the thing; she hadn’t realized how much the unending wave of messages on social media, the run-in with the teenager in New York, the constant feeling that she was some sort of Christmas movie villain, had been wearing on her. Until now. Until she met some people who’d seen a movie and liked her character and said some nice things, and then got back to painting their Christmas ornaments like it… wasn’t that big of a deal.
Because it wasn’t.
Which meant that she definitely didn’t want to make things worse between Eloise and Graham by informing him how, exactly, it was that these people had come to this ornament workshop in the first place.
“That’s good, then,” he said hesitantly, still holding her hand. He was searching her face, clearly a bit puzzled by her mood. “Isn’t it? Unless you’re having second thoughts about the film screening? It would be fine if you didn’t want to come, you know—I think Eloise has already posted about it, but it’s easy enough for her to put out another message on Instagram, telling everyone you were canceling.”
She smiled at him. “The film screening will be fine,” she said firmly. “These people today weren’t out for my blood, which feels like an encouraging sign.”
“All right, then,” he said slowly, still looking at her a bit oddly. “You’ll let me know if you change your mind, though?” She nodded, squeezing his hand. “Mum wants to know if we’ll stay for dinner,” he added now, dropping her hand and reaching out to lift one of the boxes of leftover supplies. “She’s ordered a full Sunday roast from the village pub—if we eat soon, we’ll not be too late in getting back to London.”
“All right,” she said, turning to pick up another box. “I look forward to observing a vegetarian eat a Sunday roast, by the way.”
As it turned out, Graham could eat morewithouteating meat than Charlotte could as an omnivore. She watched in frank astonishment an hour later as he polished off his second Yorkshire pudding, using it to mop up the remaining gravy on his plate.
“I don’t want to be a jerk,” she said, “but… gravy?”
Lizzie cackled. “He’s the laziest vegetarian! At least whenIdo it, I do it properly.”
Graham cast a baleful look in his sister’s direction. “Butyoudo it for about six months at a time every third year or so, whereas I actually manage it on a nonstop basis, so I’m not sure you’re in a position to throw stones.”
“I was doing so well the last time, too,” Lizzie said mournfully—though not mournfully enough to have prevented her from eating every morsel of roast beef on her plate, Charlotte noticed. “But then I happened to walk into a restaurantjustas someone was having a rasher of bacon set down before them, and I was doomed.”
“An inspiring tale of moral courage,” Graham said dryly.
“Charlotte,” said Mrs. Calloway, seeming determined to prevent her children from veering into a philosophical debate at the dinner table, “Eloise showed me some of the pieces you’re working on for us to sell in the shop at Christmas next year—they’re beautiful. You’re very talented.”
“Thank you,” Charlotte said, smiling at her. She was a tall woman—taller than either daughter, though still a bit shorter than her son—in her early sixties, willowy, with hair that had gone completely gray, which she kept cropped to her chin, glasses that were remarkably similar to Graham’s, and extremely kind eyes.
“I wonder if we should unveil one of them at the film screening,” Eloise said thoughtfully now. “Perhaps show everyone a peek of one of the ones you’ve done at Eden Priory, as a teaser for next year?”
After further consultation, Charlotte and Eloise had decided that Charlotte should do two pieces featuring Eden Priory—one of theexterior of the house, to match the others in the print series, and one of the famous interior from the movie, featuring the Christmas tree and the settee, which she’d already started working on, based on the sketches she’d made the day of the switch-on. During spare moments before and after the ornament workshop today, she’d made sketches of the exterior and taken some photos.
“We could collect email addresses from people who want to be alerted when they’re available for order next fall,” Graham said thoughtfully. “Even offer some sort of small presale discount for the people on that list?”
“Graham,” Eloise said, startled, “that’s very clever.”
“I do have the occasional good idea, you know,” he said with a wry smile at his sister.
“Not whereChristmas, Trulyis concerned,” she muttered, and he frowned slightly at her.
“I’ve agreed to the film screening—and to the prints for the gift shop,” he said, his voice low. “What else is it that I’m supposed to be signing on to now?”
