Steve Berry had always had a dislike for Christmas,
despite all the jollity and faux fun, because unlike many of his Christmas mad
friends he had no happy Christmas memories to anesthetise him against the
season.
His parents were alcoholics and each year their
Christmas came in a bottle and thanks to his father, Steve’s came with a slap.
So, his childhood Christmases were memories he
would rather have forgotten, but as he grew up he found that adulthood brought
no relief and it always seemed to him that when shit happened at that time of
the year, Christmas just magnified the misery.
For example, if someone dies at Christmas the very
season makes it more keenly felt.
He could testify to that from personal experience, as
his mother died on Christmas Eve when he was only 19.
He has no idea where his father was and quite
frankly, he didn’t care, he never showed up for the funeral and he could have been
dead as well for all he knew.
So as a result, he has never trusted Christmas, because
he knows that horror lurks beneath the coloured lights, tinsel, and paper
chains.
That was until Holly Davis opened his eyes to new
possibilities and he realised that Christmas could also magnify joy.
He had
found himself working behind the bar in her Uncle Phil’s pub, the Pig and
Whistle.
He was
still uncertain quite how she managed to affect that, but affect it she did and
during the ten days working for her she had turned his life upside down and it
culminated on Christmas Eve with him wishing her a Merry Christmas at closing
time and kissing her.
Judging by
the way Holly responded Steve hoped that kiss on Christmas Eve might have been
the start of something but alas for him it didn’t lead anywhere.
Holly had indeed
responded to his advance and in fact had been hoping for it, but she knew it
was far too soon to throw caution to the wind.
There were
scabs as yet unpicked regarding Steve Berry that needed to be attended to
before she completely let down her guard.
Holly
considered him to be a work in progress and she thought he had potential,
but he still needed work however there was certainly hope for him.
The other
event that occurred on Christmas Eve was a prolonged snowfall which resulted in
them being snowed in.
Holly was
due to go to lunch at her cousin’s house on Christmas Day but as she lived 30
miles away and it was not possible to make the journey safely with the amount
of snow that was laying.
Steve was
due to spend the day alone not celebrating Christmas at all, but Holly invited
him to spend the day with her instead as he hadn’t risked driving home the
night before.
He would
have been quite happy to have slept on one of the bench seats in the lounge bar
as he had once before, but Holly insisted, he use the spare room.
So that was
how Steve Berry came to celebrate his first ever Christmas and why he was sitting
at the bar on Christmas morning nursing a cup of coffee in the same clothes he
had been wearing the night before.
“Morning” he said as she appeared behind the bar
“Happy Christmas” Holly said and reached over and kissed his cheek.
Now it was not the kiss he was hoping for and it was not possessed of
the passion that accompanied the embrace of the night before but that simple
peck on the cheek held within it, hope.
“God its cold in here” she said
“Yes, there was a power cut during the night, and it knocked the boiler
out” he said
“I’ve relit it, but it’ll take a while to warm up”
“This was not the Christmas day I had in mind” Holly said putting the
collar of her dressing gown up
“Nor me” he added
She was supposed to be dining on a sumptuous feast at her cousin’s
house, while he was supposed to be in self-imposed exile at his flat.
“Do you want a drink?” he asked
“Oh yes please” she replied, and Steve got up and went to the kitchen
returning a few minutes later with a steaming mug of tea
“Thanks hon” she said and winced at her involuntary over familiarization
and quickly went on
“I don’t know what we are going to eat today” Holly said
“We will need to ferret in the freezer”
“I didn’t know ferret was traditional Christmas
fare” Steve said
“You know what I mean” she said, “Can you cook?”
“A bit” he replied
“Good because I’m rubbish” Holly admitted
Steve actually undersold himself when he said he could cook a bit, he
could in fact cook very well, exceptionally well.
Steve not being a traditionalist, or a fan of the season could certainly
make something out of what was on hand in the kitchen.
Holly however wanted to have a roast lunch, with all the trimmings, but
after they checked the freezer, they had to rule out a roast dinner as the
joints would never have defrosted in time, but there were alternatives.
The fresh vegetable stores were limited but more than sufficient for two
people.
Although she couldn’t cook herself Holly was determined to help firstly
by peeling the potatoes and carrots and then by getting out of his way so he
could get on by taking herself off upstairs to get ready for the day.
While Holly was gone Steve finished preparing the food and he was
pleased that he had achieved something to suit Holly’s traditional wishes at
least in part.
He had just
reached the point where he could safely leave the kitchen and get showered and
shaved when Holly reappeared, and he was stopped in his tracks.
She looked
stunning, her mousy hair, washed and styled was adorned with Christmas slides
and she was wearing a white wool dress decorated with poinsettias.
And her
shapely legs were covered by black tights with motifs of bows and parcels.
As he looked at her, he thought to himself that he’d like them to be
stockings rather than tights, but nice legs were nice legs regardless of what
they were sheathed in.
“Wow” Steve
exclaimed
“Wow” he repeated,
and Holly blushed
“It’s a
Christmas dress you know” she said
“I don’t
care” he said
“But you
don’t like Christmas”
“It’s
growing on me”
“Good” she
said “you won’t mind wearing this then”
“When would
he ever learn” He asked himself as he now had to wear another blessed Christmas
sweater.
“Where do
you keep getting them from?” he asked
“They’re
Uncle Phil’s” she replied “I buy him one every year”
“I’ve never
seen Phil in a Christmas jumper” Steve said
“No nor have
I” Holly agreed
Steve went upstairs, showered, and shaved,
and returned to find Holly had laid a table in the lounge bar, complete with
festive serviettes, candles, party poppers and crackers.
On the CD player the Puppini Sisters were
in full voice and his natural aversion to Christmas music was tempered by the fact
he caught Holly singing and dancing along with the music.
He stayed out of sight in the doorway so he
could enjoy the spectacle as long as possible but when she eventually became
aware of him, she blushed redder than the poinsettias on her dress.
“How long have you been standing there?”
she said suddenly flustered and began fussing with the table.
“Long enough” Steve replied
“You should have said something” Holly said
as she headed towards the kitchen
“What and spoil the show” he replied as he
followed close behind
Holly carried on with the table while Steve
checked the oven and ten minutes later, he was transferring everything to
serving dishes which Holly took to the table.
All he had left to do was make the gravy
and get the Yorkshire puddings out of the oven.
Christmas dinner was as traditional as he
could manage given the limits of the provisions available.
It was Holly’s turn to say “Wow” as he
served Chicken breast wrapped in bacon, served with Roast potatoes, roast
parsnips, carrots, peas, stuffing, and Yorkshire pudding.
“What no starters” Holly said tongue in
cheek as she lit the candles and Steve opened the wine, then they pulled the
crackers and she made him wear a paper hat.
For dessert he served apple pie and ice
cream after which they watched the Queens speech and as soon as the speech was
over Holly switched off the TV
“What now?” he
asked
“Now we sit and
talk” She replied
“You mean “talk?””
Steve said
“Yes”
“Do we have to”
He said
“How are we
supposed to learn about each other if we don’t talk?”
Holly replied
“So, what do you
want to know?” he said resignedly
“Your childhood”
Holly said with great interest
“What about it?”
he replied
“Well, it’s not
just Christmas that was unhappy was it?”
“No, it wasn’t”
he replied, and Holly settled back to let him unburden himself
“It wasn’t just
Christmas, it was Easter, Halloween, birthdays and New Year’s” he elaborated
and paused to take a drink
“You see my
parents were alcoholics, when I was young they managed to somehow keep it under
control but once I got to school age I pretty much raised myself, which is how
I came to learn to cook because if I didn’t cook I didn’t eat”
They had spent a very pleasant Christmas day
together, snowed in at the pub, and the last thing he wanted to do was
regurgitate the unpleasant moments of his life, particularly as he had been
doing his best to forget them, but once he started he couldn’t stop and by the
end of it he was exhausted as they sat in the gathering darkness.
Holly was largely quiet throughout and just
added the odd word of encouragement and support.
But it was Holly who broke the short period
of silence.
“How do you feel?”
“Surprisingly good” he responded
Despite his feeling unburdened there was an
awkward silence, so Steve disappeared down to the kitchen to make them a snack.
He wondered if he should have held back and
if he had unnerved Holly with his honesty.
When he had finished with the snack, he put
it on a tray and carried it upstairs to the lounge where Holly greeted his
arrival with a smile.
“God that was good” Holly said after consuming
his offering with relish
“Every cloud has a silver lining” he said referring
to the reason he learned to cook,
“There is always a positive” Holly said “you
just have to look for it”
“Well that’s what I plan to do” he said and
cleared the plates away
“I’ll pour us another drink” He said
When he returned, she was sitting with a
Christmas present on her lap and she was smiling broadly.
“Happy Christmas” she said as she handed
him the gift
“What’s this?” he asked
“Well open it and find out” Holly answered
“I wasn’t expecting a present” he said
Steve sat down and squeezed the package
“Oh no not another Christmas sweater” he said,
and Holly giggled as he tore the paper open, but when he had removed all the
paper and unfolded its contents, he saw it was indeed a sweater but not a novelty
Christmas garment but was plain blue cashmere.
“That’s fantastic” he said enthusiastically
“I love it
“Try it on then” Holly insisted and stood
up and took hold of the blue cashmere while Steve removed the Christmas jumper
he was wearing and then they swapped.
As Steve pulled the cashmere over his head
Holly held the novelty one, he had just removed, up to her nose and inhaled his
scent.
“That looks great” she said when it was on
“It feels it” he said, “can I keep it on?”
“Yes” she said and held the other one to
her breast
He walked over to the tree and plunged his
hand in between the branches which was perhaps testament to the progress that he
had made over such a short period of time that he had actually bought her a
present, which he removed from its hiding place and said
“Happy Christmas”
“When did you put that there?” she asked
“This morning” Steve replied
Holly ripped the paper off like a mad woman
until she was left with a little blue presentation box embossed with gold
relief.
She looked at it in wide eyed wonder, it
was jewelry, and from a quality jeweler.
She took a deep breath and then opened it
and she gasped.
“It’s lovely” she said as she took it out
the box and held the gold pendant in her hand.
It was in the shape of a holly leaf with
her name engraved on it.
“I love it” she said “put it on for me”
Steve took the pendant from her and when
Holly turned her back to him, she reached back and scooped her hair out of the
way while he fastened it, then she rushed over to the mirror, stood on her
tiptoes and looked at herself and admired the pendant.
“I really love it” Holly said and let out a
squeal and then for the second day running they ended the day with a passionate
kiss.
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