Page 20
“No, but a companion to grow old with. Someone to share your evenings with on the sofa watching trashy television, sharing a meal, and...” Lucie paused, a small smile tugging at her lips. “Just being there.”
Mandy smirked. “You’d have us folding laundry together.”
“Especially folding laundry together.” Lucie said. “It’s the boring stuff that matters. The little routines, the shared life. Ordinary becomes extraordinary with the right person.”
Would she ever get to fold laundry with someone? The thought sat heavily in her chest. With Mandy called away by a couple of locals wanting to say good night, Lucie took the opportunity to head to bed.
“I’m going to take this upstairs, Mands,” she said, picking up her glass. “I’m whacked.”
“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow. Your dad went up earlier with a headache. Tell him I’ll lock up.”
“Where would he be without you?” Lucie whispered, squeezing her shoulder and feeling a little guilty that she hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t there.
Mandy rolled her eyes. “To bed with you.”
Lucie headed upstairs, grinning to herself, and found her dad in the sitting room in his reclining chair watching television.
“Hey, Dad. Are you okay?”
He jumped and put his hand on his heart. “You frightened the life out of me.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m just not used to having you around the place again.”
Lucie perched on the arm of the sofa.
“How was your first day?” he asked suddenly, as if just remembering where she’d been.
“Tiring but good. Working in the cold is going to take some getting used to — and being on my feet.”
“I bet.” He looked at his watch. “Is that the time? I should help Mandy lock up,” he said, moving to get up.
“It’s fine, Dad. She says she has it all under control.”
He relaxed back, the corner of his mouth twitching.
“Well, I’ll head to bed,” Lucie said, getting up.
She sensed he wasn’t in the mood for company, and she was too tired for conversation anyway. After so many years physically apart, it felt much easier over the phone than under the same roof.
“Night, love.”
“Night, Dad,” she replied softly, scooping up two empty glasses, three dirty mugs, and a handful of wrappers from the coffee table. She desperately wanted a hot bath to soothe her feet, but the only place her feet were going now was her bed.
As she lay back on her pillow, her thoughts returned to folding laundry with someone. Then her mind drifted back to the woman who had smiled at her in Candy Cane Lane.
CHAPTER 6
Lucie strained to peer over the shoulder of her fellow elf, Nathan, to read the day’s work schedule pinned to the notice board. She was doing her best not to get too close, fearful of passing out from the overwhelming stench of Eau de Try-Hard emanating from him. Noticing her name was down for a shift with Father Christmas at five o’clock, she stepped back.
“Lucie, you’re with me for the first shift,” Nathan said, his eyes glimmering in a way that made her stomach tighten.
“Oh. Right,” she said, sounding as uninterested as she could.
“Do you fancy going for a drink sometime?” His stance shifted as he blocked her exit from the room. “It would have to be lunchtime, what with our shift pattern. There’s a pub in the village we could go to.”
Lucie’s heart sank; this wasn’t simply a drink he was offering, but a date. Being asked out at work by a man, whilst dressed as an elf, to her own home — could it get any sadder? She felt her face flush and hated that he could see it.
