Page 49 of The Cornish Christmas Book Clu
If you believe that, you believe in fairies and the Loch Ness monster.
‘Can you imagine what a field day the village gossips will have if this all blows up in my face? I’ve got to believe that Christos and I can make this work. Surely you can see that?’
‘I can, but—’
‘But?’ Two blotches of heat flared in Pixie’s cheeks. ‘I thought you were my best friend, but I clearly got that wrong. I think you’d better go.’ She shook her head sadly. ‘And don’t come back either.’
Anger filled Pixie’s voice now and Tamara knew there was no point trying to defend herself.
Rocky came out from the kitchen and his sharp blue eyes checked them both out. ‘Is everything okay?’
‘Ask Pixie.’ Tamara said with a gulping sob. ‘I’m leaving.’
* * *
One of the downsides to being tall was the need to continually scan the environment around him for low-hanging objects. The shop was now a danger zone that included ropes of fake greenery with clumps of bright-red holly berries and swags of gold tinsel.
His niece’s college had a staff development day, so she’d come to work. This morning Emily had sat cross-legged on the floor, sorting through boxes of old books discarded from libraries that he’d picked up for next to nothing on eBay.
She’d seen a TikTok video of a ‘tree’ made out of books, so they’d created a Christmassy twist on that for the centre of the shop and now she was decking it out in fairy lights. It seemed safest to leave her alone.
Doing the window display was on the agenda for when they closed tonight. Earlier he’d helped Emily to cover up the window with her ingenious Christmassy sign, which told customers to watch for a big reveal tomorrow morning.
‘I blew it.’ Tamara burst through the door and flung herself at him. The tears trickling down her face and huge, sad eyes told him something was badly wrong, so he checked to see what customers were left. Only two older men engrossed in rifling through the military-history section.
‘Ems, would you mind keeping an eye on the counter for a few minutes?’
Her flash of pleasure amused him.
He’d discovered a lot about his niece already: she hated her full name; Greta Thunberg was her idol; her love of hardcore American rap (mostly to piss off her parents) equalled that for traditional Cornish folk music; she was an avid computer coder, but also a voracious reader — and always printed books, never the digital versions. Like so many people these days, she was into fantasy novels, but also had a secret liking for Sherlock Holmes and Jane Austen.
Gage took Tamara’s arm and steered her towards the kitchen. ‘Tea? Coffee?’
‘I don’t need any drinks. I need... Oh, I don’t know.’ She sank into the nearest chair and clasped her head in her hands. ‘I should’ve been more honest. She might not have wanted to hear it, but at least I’d feel now that I did all I could.’
He lifted her chin so she was forced to look at him. ‘Tell me the whole story.’
Tamara brushed back a strand of hair. ‘Perhaps I’ll have that tea after all.’
Gage listened to the whole dismal tale while he made their hot drinks. ‘Do you think she’ll give Christos the elbow?’
‘I’m not sure. She’s still very much in love with him but I think she feels made a fool of. The idea of being gossiped about all over the village horrifies her.’
‘We both know Penworthal has a short attention span when it comes to scandal.’
‘Thank goodness.’
Emily poked her head around the swing door. ‘One of the oldies wants to buy a couple of books.’
‘I’ll come,’ he said. ‘Another day, I’ll show you how to use the till.’
‘Yeah, that’d be great. I told them they should open one of our wish-list accounts.’
‘Our what?’
‘All the online shops have them and it’s catching on with regular ones too now. Customers make up a wish list from the inventory and give the link to whoever is interested so they can buy direct from us. We could offer gift wrapping as well. I could add it to our website later if you like?’ A tiny frown settled between her eyes.
‘I think it’s a great idea and I’ll happily take you up on the offer.’ He grinned. ‘It’ll mean a bonus in your pay too.’ Gagetouched Tamara’s arm. ‘You two can plot the finer details of our window decorations while I go pretend to be the boss and sell some books.’
