days anyway. Then Noah wanted his two sisters to fly out, if they could, and so we had to delay it for a bit, but it all worked out because then we could order more hula girls for the ceremony.’
‘But you didn’t invite any of us,’ Posy said in a hurt little voice and then a big fat tear rolled down her cheek, rapidly joined by an equally large tear rolling down her other cheek.
‘I thought about it,’ Nina said quickly, taking hold of Posy’s hand and linking their fingers. ‘But it was originally meant to be just Noah and I, and probably only one of you would have been able to leave the shop to come to Vegas. So we decided that we’d keep it a surprise and then have a massive party when we got back. Hey! We’re having a massive party and you’re all invited. But after Christmas. I’m not having the birth of Jesus Christ overshadowing our celebration.’
‘I invited you to my wedding,’ Posy insisted tearfully. ‘Though I do appreciate that my wedding was at St Pancras town hall, which was just a bus ride away, and you should know that everything makes me cry at the moment.’
‘She cried reading the blurb on the back of a book,’ Tom explained dryly. ‘Just the blurb.’
‘So, you’re not mad at me?’ Nina asked with a frown. ‘Don’t be mad at me! I’m back now, full of ideas for the Christmas season. Hey! You haven’t had the Christmas brainstorm without me, have you?’
Verity pulled an agonised face. ‘We’re a little bit behind schedule on our Christmas planning, so we should have the Christmas brainstorm as soon as. In fact, let’s do it tomorrow night. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?’ she added to a still-tearful Posy.
‘Maybe.’ Posy shrugged, determined not to be jollied out of her funk.
‘We’ll definitely need a flipchart,’ Tom said with the tiniest of smiles. It was very unlike Tom to try to jolly anyone out of a funk, so his gentle teasing of Posy was unexpected and actually kind of sweet. ‘You love using a flipchart almost as much as you love a tote bag.’
Tom’s cunning use of the t-word worked like a charm. Posy perked up instantly. ‘Oh! Maybe we could have a special Christmas tote bag!’
Mattie was no longer needed. She had sausage rolls that needed to come out of the oven, the lunchtime rush was imminent and also things tended to get quite heated when the topic of tote bags came up.
‘I’m out of here,’ she said quickly. ‘Let me know about the Christmas brainstorm.’ She tried not to shudder at the prospect of both the brainstorm and Christmas itself.
‘I’m going to make everyone wear reindeer-antler headbands,’ Nina threatened as Verity ixnayed the idea of a Christmas tote bag in no uncertain terms. ‘And also, is this a good time to mention that I’m moving out of the flat? Don’t want to start married life with Tom’s underpants drying over the bath. No offence, Tom.’
‘So much offence taken,’ Tom huffed and Mattie couldn’t blame him. But still, she’d been desperate for Nina to come back and act as a buffer between her and Tom.
‘You won’t be moving out immediately?’ Mattie lingered by the arch on the left. ‘You’ll wait until after Christmas.’
‘Why would I do that when we’re on our honeymoon?’ Nina asked incredulously. ‘No, I’ll be moving out tomorrow night when Noah’s back from his work trip. We can’t keep our hands off each other at the moment. Mind you, there’s no change there.’
Mattie caught Tom’s eye and for one moment they were in perfect, exquisitely awkward accord, Tom’s hand on his head like he was having a migraine and Mattie patting her burning cheeks.
‘… can’t have you two cramping our sexy style,’ Nina continued. ‘So, we’re moving into Noah’s old flat in Bermondsey. Apparently the tenants after him flooded the kitchen, and so it’s just been done up, and the landlord knows Noah’s a good ’un. Besides, you don’t want an old married couple like us ruining your fun, if you know what I mean?’
And then Nina actually nudged Posy twice and treated them all to two theatrical winks. It was a good thing that Nina was moving out, otherwise Mattie would have had no choice but to kill her while she slept.
The next day, November 30th, after the shop had closed at six, even though it was meant to be the start of their new extended opening hours, Mattie’s presence was requested at the Happy Ever After Christmas brainstorm.
She was meant to be there by five past six sharp, but the final versions of her speciality Christmas savoury and sweet items had taken a bit longer to bake than she’d planned for. Not that Posy would mind. Mattie always turned up to a brainstorm with freshly baked provisions and anyway, it didn’t sound as if Mattie had been missed.
She’d been able to hear the shouting all the way from the main room of the shop through the Classics, Regency, Historical and Paranormal anterooms, across the tearooms and into the back kitchen. Now, as she carried her precious cargo through, Posy’s voice was pitched so high with excitement that Mattie feared for her glass cake tiers.
‘I love it!’ Posy squealed, writing something down on the inevitable flipchart as Mattie reached the main room. ‘Love it so much. Very, you’re a genius.’
Verity was perched on one of the sofas, hugging a cushion (being an introvert, the loud and raucous Happy Ever After brainstorms were quite the ordeal for her). ‘I try,’ she said modestly.
‘What have I missed?’ Mattie asked, putting down her tiered plates on one of the new-releases tables.
‘So much Christmas book-related goodness,’ Posy said. In the past few days, her bump had got even bigger and rounder – Nina had wondered aloud if it might be twins – but Sebastian had booked her a course of pregnancy massage sessions, which had restored her good cheer and done wonders for her swollen ankles. ‘We’re all coming in early tomorrow to Christmas-ify the shop. Crispin from the Rochester Street Traders’ Association came by this afternoon and he had some quite harsh things to say about our complete lack of decorations. I wanted to strangle him with a length of tinsel by the time he left.’
‘We’ve decided to go for a very tasteful, almost understated, look with the decorations though,’ Verity said.
‘No we haven’t,’ Nina insisted forcefully. ‘Last year, we didn’t really embrace Christmas, so this year I want it to look as if Christmas has vomited all over the shop.’
‘Such a lovely and festive image,’ Tom murmured, echoing Mattie’s own thoughts. ‘The only idea that I actually like is Verity’s suggestion that we have a selection of wrapped books under the Christmas tree—’
‘You’re having a Christmas tree?’ Mattie asked. Last year there hadn’t been a Christmas tree, just industrial amounts of tinsel and fake snow, which had got everywhere. She’d even found fake snow in her bra when she took it off each night.
‘Of course we’re having a Christmas tree. It’s arriving tomorrow,’ said Sam, Posy’s sixteen-year-old brother, from behind his fringe. He helped out on Saturdays and in the school holidays, while Little Sophie (though they really
