black PJs covered in pink hearts – a Christmas gift from Zinnia last year – Lily stepped under the hot shower and turned her face to the spray. She liked Isaac and couldn’t help being aware of his storybook ‘tall, dark and handsome’ looks and the tiny gold earring that put an edge on his groomed style. His eyes at once fascinated and unsettled her – dark and thoughtful, even brooding, she thought she read sadness in them. Had Hayley put it there? Immaculately turned out and obviously several years older than Isaac, she’d reminded Lily of a Cruella de Vil who’d finally got her glossy Dalmatian dog.
In contrast, after her shower Lily pulled on jeans and a purple jumper depicting a snowman in a Christmas pudding hat and opened her laptop to work on her designs for the British Country Foods stand at the Food, Lifestyle & Health show. British Country Foods was a Swiss company, despite their name, creating typically British baked goods and conserves. The Swiss loved their food and were international in their tastes.
She hummed ‘Let it Snow’ as she pulled up the files and let the other Christmas songs the Middletones would perform float through her mind. She’d hit on the idea of a singing group when tossing around ideas for the project. BCF had leapt at the idea and had quickly come up with a sponsorship package. Carola, who’d been in choirs when she was younger and whose daughter Charlotte was at the local music school, had not only involved herself but known exactly who to invite to join the group.
BCF’s stand would be in the food section, obviously, and would include product shelving, plinths for display and tables and chairs for meetings. It gave her a buzz to know that the physical versions of these had already been ordered from a provider local to British Country Foods in the Swiss canton of Zug (pronounced Zoog, Janice’s son Max Gasly had told her). Presently she was going over the elements designed to provide a British flavour. A loop on a TV screen would show the crosses of St George and St Patrick superimposing themselves on the saltire of St Andrew to form the Union Jack. Others would feature moody fade-ins/fade-outs of Welsh valleys, English farmland, the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland and Scottish mountains. BCF’s products were ethically produced and mindfully packaged and trade show focus was on growing their presence in perfectly chosen retail outlets and online stores.
On the other side of the coin, at the Schützenberg Christmas market the BCF stall would be aimed at selling products directly to the public – especially the Christmas line at this prime time for consumer spending. Apparently expat Brits would give their eye teeth for mince pies or jars of brandy butter, whilst Swiss people had an appetite for wholesome, ethically produced international foods. ‘Britishness’ was BCF’s USP.
The stall was to be provided by the organisers in the shape of a jolly red chalet and Lily was busy on an interior backdrop. Corporate branding would be low-key to take advantage of the local, crafty feel of the market but it would be there. It wasn’t the sort of thing a designer would normally be employed for but Lily was contracted on a whole-project basis. ‘Whole-project’ had never before included her leading a group of British village singers through Europe to provide cultural authenticity but so what? The company CEO Loris Aebi – known as Los or Los the Boss – was keen on encouraging grassroots arts. She couldn’t wait for her first trip to Switzerland. She hugged to herself a vision of sipping spicy glühwein in between crooning ‘White Christmas’ and ‘Mistletoe and Wine’, wrapped up in a parka and boots as smiling shoppers paused to listen.
It would be great to see Tubb again too. His spell of ill health had been alarming but she was reassured by his and Janice’s regular contact with The Three Fishes.
Would she ever feel the time was right to tell him she was his half-sister …?
Shaking off the question that she seemed to spend half her life wrestling with, she turned to perfecting the designs for the trade stand banners and ‘clings’, the film containing corporate branding that adhered to the stand. She sank into her work, making tiny tweaks to sizes or positions and the rest of the morning flashed by until her phone lit up with a FaceTime call and Max Gasly calling. Quickly, she picked up.
‘Hey! Just working on your stuff.’ She turned the phone to give him a flash of her laptop screen then turned it back towards herself.
Max’s image grinned at her, sandy hair sticking up on top of his head. ‘Great! Everyone’s loving your ideas. Sorry to call you on a Saturday but I just want to check we’re on schedule for final files.’
‘I’m sending you stuff for approval this morning. When you’ve okayed them they can go to print,’ said Lily.
‘Fantastic,’ he replied. ‘Oh, hang on.’ The image on her screen whooshed around for a couple of moments and when it steadied again a small beaming boy had appeared on Max’s lap.
Lily, recognising Max’s youngest son, also Janice’s grandson, beamed back. ‘Hello, Keir!’
‘Yo!’ Three-year-old Keir waved both his hands energetically. ‘I wiv Daddy! I got a car on my jumper that Grandma made me.’ He pulled at the royal blue jumper depicting a bright red car to make sure she understood.
‘It’s gorgeous, you lucky boy,’ Lily enthused.
Then the head of Keir’s five-year-old brother Dugal entered the shot, pushing in front of Keir. ‘I’ve got a dog on mine.’ Proudly, he stuck his chest out for Lily to admire.
It took a minute of negotiation before Max had the call to himself again. ‘Regarding the Middletones’ visit, I’ve asked my Swiss colleagues for suggestions of what you might like to do in your free time.’ Max’s image came nearer and then retracted as he picked up a notebook and pushed up his glasses. ‘Suggestions are: a visit into Zürich, a procession here in Schützenberg, another Christmas market, watching ice-skaters, a choir … Are these along the right lines?’
Lily beamed. ‘Oh, yes! Thank you. People can always opt out from things they don’t fancy.’
‘Great!’ Max looked pleased. ‘Garrick Tubb will be around too, of course.’
‘It will be great to get to know him.’ Max didn’t know how great, as to him Garrick was just his mum’s partner’s brother who he’d helped bring on board at British Country Foods last spring. Garrick had decided he wanted to live in Europe after many years in the US and Max had given his boss Garrick’s CV. Neither knew that Garrick was the half-brother Lily had yet to meet.
Max glanced behind him. ‘Mum and Tubb want to chat to you too, if that’s OK?’
Quickly checking the clock in the corner of her laptop screen, Lily agreed. ‘I’ve got a rehearsal after lunch but I’m OK till then. I’ve been wondering how Tubb is.’
They said their goodbyes and the image swung jerkily, then Lily was looking at her workmate Janice and her boss, Tubb, who had an arm along Janice’s shoulders and was looking relaxed and happy, though thinner than before his illness. ‘How’s everything going at the pub?’ he asked at once.
‘Did you get the decorations up?’ supplemented Janice.
The conversation became chaotic as Dugal and Keir appeared once more to claim adult laps and shout their news over Lily reassuring Tubb and Janice that all was well and the decorations were safely in place. She laughed when she realised the boys had begun to call her boss ‘Grand-Tubb’, which probably seemed logical to them as he was now partnered up with their grandma. It warmed Lily’s heart to see him so much part of a family. When she’d first begun work at The Three Fishes he hadn’t had much in his life apart from the pub. Now he was letting his body heal with Janice’s family and Garrick – his own brother and her half-brother – was living
