Page 41 of A Merry Little Christmas

‘In the studio!’ Merry shouted back.

Nell followed the smell of fresh coffee into the studio and found Merry sitting at the workbench arranging pastries onto a plate.

‘Morning, this is a nice surprise.’ She hovered by the door and gave Merry an awkward smile, not sure what to say. They had never fallen out before, this was new territory. Over the last few days, Merry had really wound her up, but she hadn’t exactly covered herself in glory either. She thought about the unanswered messages on her phone and felt ashamed of herself. No matter what had happened between them, Merry was her closest and oldest friend, and going through her first pregnancy. Nell should have cut her some slack.

‘Is it a nice surprise? I hope so.’ Merry chewed her lip. In red corduroy dungarees and Birkenstocks without socks and her toenails painted in silver glitter, she looked great. Under normal circumstances, Nell would snort with laughter and tell her she looked like one of Santa’s elves – a particularly spherical one. For the first time in almost two decades, she didn’t dare make fun of her. Merry picked up the plate. ‘Peace offering, and I’ve made fresh coffee too. Decaf. For both of us.’

‘Thank you.’ Nell was mainlining caffeine to combat the effects of her insomnia at the moment, but Merry didn’t know that and she appreciated the thought. ‘And you’ve got pecan ones too.’

‘Because they’re your favourite, and …’ Merry’s face crumpled. ‘Nell, will you forgive me? I’ve been a control freak and a nit-picker and a terribly impatient patient and I’m sorry. I couldn’t have managed without you; I don’t want to manage without you. And, on top of all that, I’ve been so caught up with myself that I haven’t been a good friend to you at all.’

Nell opened her arms wordlessly and her best friend stepped into them. Then they both laughed because Merry’s bump prevented them from getting close to each other.

‘Excuse my baby,’ said Merry with a soft laugh. ‘I need to develop a different hugging technique for the next couple of weeks.’

They shuffled sideways away from each other until Nell managed to get her arms around Merry’s shoulders.

‘I need to ask for forgiveness too,’ she said. ‘I shouldn’t have shut down that Zoom call. I lost my temper, and I was rude to you.’

‘I deserved it.’ Merry grinned at her. ‘And I bet the workshop went really well after that, didn’t it?’

‘Really well.’ Nell released her and poured them both a coffee. ‘I was so nervous, but Woody helped, and if I have to run one again, I’ll be much more confident.’

‘I’m dying to meet him.’ Merry added sugar to her mug and stirred it messily, dropping the spoon down on the counter.

Nell wiped up after her, as she’d been doing for the length of their friendship, and picked the pecan and maple twist, just as Merry had known she would.

‘And I can’t wait to introduce you. He’s looking forward to meeting you too. He …’ Nell broke off before saying that he’d saved her life by helping her out, not wanting to make Merry feel even worse about her absence. She also skipped the part where Woody had dropped three glass candle jars and when Fred had popped in with Otto to see how she was doing, they’d had to shoo them out before Otto got glass splinters in his paws. She watched as Merry tore off a piece of cinnamon swirl and dunked it in her coffee. ‘I’ve never seen you do that before.’

Merry folded the pastry into her mouth. ‘Mmmm, I do anything I want now and blame it on pregnancy. It’s very liberating.’

Nell felt her heart skip. ‘It must be.’

Merry’s face fell. ‘Nell, I—’

Nell knew exactly where this conversation was headed next and pre-empted it. ‘By the way, I love those dungarees. You look like a jolly Santa who’s eaten all the mince pies.’

‘I know, look.’ She pulled a red Santa hat out of her bag and jammed it on over her blonde hair. ‘Tell me I’m not the sexiest woman you’ve ever seen.’

‘You’re not,’ she replied. ‘But I love you.’

‘I love you too.’ Merry gave a muffled sob. ‘And I’m not crying, you’re crying.’

The two women hugged again.

‘You’re right, I am. But so are you. Let’s not argue again, I can’t cope.’

‘Me neither. Cole and I are arguing quite enough as it is, I need someone on my side.’

‘You and Cole?’ Nell took in Merry’s forlorn expression. ‘I thought you were still in the honeymoon period.’

‘I’m afraid so.’ She dunked another piece of pastry. ‘Luckily, Emily is here to act as referee. Goodness knows what’s going to happen when she leaves in a couple of days. I’ve even asked her to stay on a bit longer, but Izzy’s husband is turning forty and Emily promised to help with the party.’

‘Merry?’ Nell exclaimed. ‘What’s going on? This isn’t a time for you to start rowing.’

‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ She rubbed a tired hand over her face. ‘Anyway. I’ve been thinking about the shop.’

Nell narrowed her eyes, torn between wanting to probe her about her relationship and needing to know what she meant. ‘Oh?’