Page 120 of Under the Mistletoe with You

‘What Christmas Means to Leigh,’ Christopher finishes and, realising he said it out loud, the heat creeps up his face.

To his relief, Nash just cackles.‘All right,Ingrid Goes West.You don’t need to recite my IMDb back to me.’

‘I just think it’s quite a good one,’ he huffs, walking down the stairs.

‘That’s the one with Khloé Kardashian in it isn’t it?’Tegan calls, presumably so they can both hear.

‘It is,’ Nash calls back down, clearly amused by his little burgeoning fan base.‘I didn’t realise I was so popular in this corner of North Wales.’

‘With him and my stepmum, sure.Maybe the dinner will turn into a meet and greet.’

Christopher realises he really doesn’t know much about Tegan’s family, other than that she has tyrant little siblings.Perhaps her father is remarried?It seems kind of a weird thing to ask her about, though, as her employer.

In record time, Danny from the shop arrives with two carrier bags straining under the weight of many large bottles of Coke.Christopher instructs him to pour it right into the big saucepan on the stove, which houses the hams and some onion halves, but this is met with a very confused look.

‘I’ll show you,’ says Tegan, dragging him over to the hob.Christopher feels a swell of pride at everyone working hard in his little kitchen.

Once the hams are on the go, Tegan takes a few pictures of the food prepping, before going back through the café to let Danny out and to finish cleaning.

Soon the lamb is roasting, loaves are proving, hams are cooking, and Christopher gets a start on making a mountain of chopped and prepped potatoes and vegetables ready tobe roasted, boiled, even sautéed, depending on what pans they have left.Nash also returns and gets started on his mysterious vegetarian Wellington, and, seeing quite how much puff pastry he needs, Christopher is glad that they opted forraiding freezersrather than it being yet another thing they had to make themselves.

Christopher’s little greenhouse of herbs has been stripped bare, but now they have a glut of mint sauce for the lamb, and the start of both a vegetarian gravy and a meaty one made with some stock cubes from his cupboard upstairs.

The hours roll by quickly as they tick off each step on Nash’s list, taking things in and out of ovens, and wrapping hot things up in foil to keep warm for serving time.

He didn’t see her arrive, but eventually Shaz walks into the kitchen and surveys the large amount of food already laid out ready.‘It’s a Christmas miracle!’

‘Christ, are people arriving already?’Christopher asks nervously.

‘Relax, we rounded up everyone nice and early, and they’re at the village hall being topped up on hot drinks.Tamara even managed to get some proper salt for the road so everyone could get across without going arse over tit.And have you seen what my girl has done out here?’

They follow her out to the café side and Christopher gasps.The tables have been aligned into a couple of long ones, covered with various tablecloths that do not match but that are all along the same holiday colour palette of red, green and gold.Each setting has cutlery and something to drink out of – along with café supplies, Christopher recognises some of his glasses from upstairs, plus some of the ancient plastic juice cups from the village hall.He’s not quite sure where she got all the salt and pepper sets, but they’re dotted along the table, along with jars of horseradish, redcurrant jelly and mustard.

Also on the tables are small centrepieces of piled-up Christmas decorations that must have been stolen fromsomeone’s tree, balanced on a few of the fake present boxes from the window.

The counter is clean and clear ready for the buffet, with a huge stack of plates at one end, and large serving spoons ready.

Finally, instrumental Christmas music softly plays from a speaker in the corner.

It’s everything they could have dreamed of.

‘Wow, this looks amazing in here,’ says Nash.

‘Tegan, this is ...this is just magical,’ Christopher says, his voice quiet with awe.‘Thank you so much.’

She smiles down at her shoes.‘Danny from the shop helped too.’

‘Everyone who is coming today brought a bag of useful bits with them, and we’ve used everything we can,’ Shaz explains.

‘I took photos of everything so I think I can match it all up at the end too.’

‘Great thinking,’ Nash smiles, yielding another beam from Tegan.

‘How long do you have left on the great Christmas master plan?’Shaz asks.

Christopher does some quick maths.‘Maybe ready to dish up in an hour if we have a couple of hands to help with serving?’

Nash snorts.‘You can probably divide that time estimate by how long his legs are.Takes you half the time to whip round as the rest of us.’