Page 52 of Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop

LILY

The first Saturday in December was my favourite day of Christmas trading as it was the annual switching on of the Christmas lights in Whitsborough Bay.

A few weeks ago, a flatbed lorry packed with lighting units had slowly worked its way around the town followed by a pair of cherry pickers.

Several workers in high-vis boiler suits unloaded the colourful lights and secured them in place along the main pedestrianised precinct.

Castle Street was next, with white lights strung in a tight zigzag pattern between each side of the street and a welcome banner at the far end opposite Castle Park.

A couple of days later, the enormous tree outside the shopping centre and the smaller one in Castle Park were erected and strung with lights.

I loved the festive feeling the lights created but I particularly loved the tradition of the Castle Street traders gathering together round the Castle Park tree.

Tara and her team at The Chocolate Pot provided drinks, Carly provided cupcakes and there were usually chocolates available from Charlee’s Chocolates.

Many of the traders would go on a pub crawl afterwards, which was a chance to have a proper catch-up – something we didn’t have time for during the working day when we all had businesses to run.

This year, the evening plans were slightly different.

We were still going on a traders’ pub crawl but it was doubling up as Cassie’s hen party.

With so many friends owning businesses on Castle Street and it being tricky to find another diary date that would suit everyone at such a busy time of year, it made sense to combine the two events.

Jared had been on his stag do last night – also a pub crawl round town, ending up at The Bombay Palace.

The family called in just after midday to drop off Cassie’s costume for tonight.

The theme was Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in homage to Cassie’s favourite childhood book and, with her long blonde hair, she was ideally suited for dressing up as Alice.

‘Is it loud in here today?’ Jared asked me, grimacing. He definitely looked a little green around the gills.

‘Not really. Just a bit busy.’

‘It hurts. I might wait outside.’

‘It’s hilarious watching him suffer,’ Cassie said, as Jared headed for the door, ‘but I’m conscious I can’t take the mickey too much. Whatever I dish out, he’ll give back to me ten-fold tomorrow.’

Lars was out on his lunch break so I left Alec and Flo at the till and wandered through to the children’s section with Cassie.

Hallie and Rocco excitedly pointed out the newest additions to the Bookmas tree and Cassie told them they could choose one book each for their dad to read after the switch-on.

‘Small-world moment this morning,’ Cassie said. ‘You know how you’ve been dying to meet Lars’s bestie? You’ll get your chance on Friday. She’s coming to our wedding.’

‘Really? How come?’

‘Jared went to school with her girlfriend, Milana. She’s coming to the evening do and had declined the plus one but messaged this morning asking if she could bring someone after all. As soon as I saw the name Danika, I realised the connection.’

‘That’s brilliant! Lars’ll be so chuffed.’

‘And how’s it going with Lovely Lars?’ she asked, giving me a playful nudge.

‘Lovely Lars is it now?’

‘I thought I’d better ditch Lars the Arse, although I’ll keep the moniker in my back pocket for if he ever messes you about.’

I laughed at her stern expression. ‘I don’t think you’ll need it. He’s amazing. It’s been less than three weeks but it’s already hard to remember life before his return.’

‘You’ve got it bad,’ she said, ‘but so has he and that makes me very happy. Right! Enough soppiness. Let me gather up my offspring and their books and you get back to work, you slacker! I don’t know, always skiving off at every opportunity.’

‘I’ll see you tonight, Alice,’ I said.

‘Don’t be late,’ she joked, referencing my character for tonight – the White Rabbit.

When I returned to the till, Lars was back from lunch and it was time for Alec to go for his so I sent Cassie’s costume down in Jeeves and asked Alec to hang it up in the staff room alongside mine.

We’d considered wearing our costumes for the lights switch-on but Cassie decided that, as she was hijacking the pub crawl for her hen do, the time in Castle Park should be purely about the Castle Street traders.

The plan, therefore, was to return to the shop afterwards for a quick change before joining everyone in The Purple Lobster.

* * *

I loved the Christmas lights switch-on but I was especially excited this year to have Lars with me. He’d already met the traders who were my closest friends and this was a chance to introduce him to their partners.

The staff from The Chocolate Pot and Carly’s Cupcakes had set up trestle tables with hot drinks and trays of Carly’s delicious Christmas-themed cupcakes. While Lars grabbed us a hot chocolate each, I took a couple of cakes then wandered round the park, introducing him to various people.

Just before half six, the crowd hushed and waited for the cheer from outside the shopping centre to indicate that a local celebrity had flicked the switch, lighting the large Christmas tree first. Moments later, we heard it and turned to look along Castle Street, ready for our Christmas illuminations.

The zigzagged lights on Castle Street burst into life a section at a time, followed by the welcome sign across from the park.

The traders turned to the tree with ‘oooh’ sounds as the star at the top lit up, followed by the coloured lights on the branches.

As per tradition, we sang ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’, followed by a cheer.

‘What did you think?’ I asked Lars.

He cuddled me closer to his side. ‘Loved it. This has to be number three in my top winter nights in the bay.’

‘What are your top two?’ I asked.

‘They’re tied first and they were both in the bookshop – the night we put up the tree and the night of the book launch.’

My innards fizzed at the memory of both as I softly kissed him. ‘Mine too.’

Lars helped clear away the tables and it warmed my heart seeing him joking with my friends before I left with Cassie to get changed.

* * *

The pub crawl had to be the best ever, although I missed Dad’s presence.

He loved the traders’ night and was gutted about missing it this year.

In theory, he could have hobbled round the pubs but the risk of someone bashing into his still-swollen knees in a busy pub was too great so it made sense to stay at home.

The hens had done an amazing job of dressing up as Wonderland characters.

We’d agreed that nobody but Cassie could dress as Alice but it didn’t matter if other outfits were duplicated.

As it turned out, none of them were. Ginny looked incredible as the Queen of Hearts, Sarah from Seaside Blooms was the White Queen, Tara was the Mad Hatter and Jemma was the Cheshire Cat.

Carly and her sister Bethany had come as Tweedledee and Tweedledum with bald caps and big padded stomachs and Charlee and her business partner Jodie had also gone for a pair of costumes – a hedgehog and flamingo from the croquet scene.

Our friend Donna was the Caterpillar and a few other non-trader friends had come as the March Hare, Mouse and a playing-card guard.

We got lots of attention in all the pubs on our route and posed for several photos with strangers.

It was so good having quality time with the traders and I looked forward to spending more time with them at Cassie’s wedding but, for me, the best part of the night was seeing my best friend so happy.

She literally was a glowing bride-to-be, although the amount of alcohol she’d consumed might have played a part in that.

‘She looks happy,’ Lars said, slipping his arm round my waist as Cassie belted out ABBA’s ‘I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do’ on karaoke four pubs in.

‘She really does.’

‘You’ve managed to get out of singing with her?’

‘If only! She’s dragging me up next.’

Sure enough, the song finished and the DJ announced, ‘Our bride-to-be Cassie wants her bridesmaids Lily and Donna to join her for Bruno Mars’s “Marry You”. Take it away, ladies… or should that be girl, rabbit and caterpillar?’

I wasn’t the greatest singer but I could hold a note and I think we managed a pretty good rendition of ‘Marry You’.

I hadn’t dared look at Lars as I said the repeated line about wanting to marry but, as the song approached the end, I couldn’t resist looking in his direction and singing the words to him.

His smile widened and he saluted as he mouthed the words ‘me too’, making my heart leap.

Tonight was all about Cassie but I knew that one night, in the not-too-distant future, it would be all about me and that amazing man who’d been through so much in his life but who’d come through the other side strong, caring and passionate.

A couple of months ago, I’d felt so low but had been determined to live by Anne Shirley’s philosophy of I don’t know what lies around the bend, but I am going to believe that the best does.

The best really had been just around the bend for me.