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.
However, it wasn’t just Christmases that held
horrors in his past, so did New Year’s
Eve.
Steve wasn’t big on New Year’s Eve, it was not a
time that held any deep significance for him, in fact he found the whole idea
of it rather pointless, why did people make such a fuss over going from one
year to the next.
That alone would have been reason enough for him to
dislike it, far apart from the
personal memories it evoked.
It was on one
particular New Year’s Eve when he was six years old that his parents locked him
in his room while they went off on a three day bender that still haunted his
memories, but he had decided to try and put all of that behind him and with
Holly’s help he was hopeful that he might.
Since the
first day he met her she had helped to tame his demons, which all began when
Holly temporarily took over running her Uncle Phil’s pub, the Pig and Whistle,
a week and a half before Christmas, Steve had got blind drunk and ended up
spending the night in the lounge bar.
When he
woke up the next morning, she had a surprise for him.
“Good
morning sunshine” Holly called as she crashed through the door wearing a
dressing gown and slippers.
“Ow” he
said “have some respect for the dead”
She put a
mug of black coffee on the table in front of him and peered at his bloodshot
eyes
“Blimey!
Can you actually see through those?” she asked
“I hope you
don’t drink like that when you’re working”
“Well I
don’t need to worry about work until January” he said and sipped at his coffee
“Don’t you
remember anything about last night?” Holly asked with a wry smile on her lips
He closed
his eyes and replied
“I remember
I don’t like Christmas”
“Anything
else?” Holly persisted
“It was
very busy, very noisy” Steve said but could remember nothing else
“Do you
remember me saying I needed more staff?” she asked
“Yes, I do remember
that” he replied
“Good” she
said “because your it”
“What?” he
said loudly and then winced
“You
volunteered to work right through till New Year’s Eve”
“I can’t
have” Steve said
“Well you
did” She insisted and showed him a piece of paper detailing the fore mentioned
offer signed by Steve.
“That
doesn’t count” he said “I was pissed”
“It’s
legally binding” Holly stated “It’s notarized by a solicitor”
Steve
stared at the signature
“Sam
Culver?” he said “he’s not a solicitor he’s a forklift driver”
“Be that as
it may, but he has still witnessed your signature on this contract” she said
coolly
“Contract?”
he said in disbelieve
“Contract”
she confirmed
“Oh, please
you’re not really going to hold me to this?” Steve said waving the “contract”
in her direction
“You start
tonight” she informed him
“Oh God
I’ve sold my soul to the Christmas fairy” he said with his head in his hands
“I prefer
Christmas angel” she said “But I’m not the one with tinsel in my hair”
So that was
that she had produced a contract he had signed the night before agreeing to
work for her until New Year’s Eve.
However despite
his initial misgivings he had thoroughly enjoyed it and 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.
They were
then snowed in at the pub for Christmas day and after exchanging presents they
kissed again.
In the week
that followed there was good deal more kissing as day by day the headed
inexorably towards New Year’s Eve.
But he had
a sense of foreboding as his normal dislike for the occasion was magnified this
year because it marked the final day of his contract at the Pig and Whistle and
could also mark the end of Holly’s Tenure at the pub and maybe even their
budding relationship.
Although he
didn’t like it, it was a good earner for the pub and as the takings
had not been optimised on Christmas Eve due to the snow storm, added to the
fact that the figures had been disappointing in the interim as well, it was unarguable that a good
New Year’s Eve was vital.
With this in mind, Holly and Steve had been at the
Cash and Carry all afternoon stocking up on vital supplies.
“Right that’s the lot Hon” she said
“Are you sure that’s enough?” Steve asked
facetiously
“That’s enough lip from you” she said and kissed
him.
And that simple kiss, a symbol of their
familiarity, was a milestone moment for although they had kissed many times in
that week since Christmas Eve they had only ever kissed when they were alone
and certainly never in public.
“If we sell that lot tonight, I’ll be over the
moon” she said although there wasn’t any chance that that might actually happen
even if they did have an extension until 1.00am.
Steve normally spent New Year’s Eve at home in his
flat, watching a DVD and hiding from the world.
But this year was going to be very different.
At least on New Year’s Eve there were none of the
annoyingly jolly Christmas songs, there was only one annoying New Year’s song and that was usually confined
to midnight.
There was a steady trade in the bar, far more than
Christmas Eve, but not exactly record-breaking numbers, and most of the
supplies they had bought earlier would remain unsold, but just after 9 o’clock
the numbers swelled and continued swelling until the place was absolutely banging.
There were seven of them working that night but on
six at any one time behind the bar and they were rushed off their feet.
The staff and a hard core of the regulars were in
fancy dress,
Debbie was a French maid, Stephanos was in a toga, Clare
was a witch, Ausra was a Gypsy, Petra was a clown and Steve was a pirate, while
Holly, as was her custom, was dressed immaculately, on this occasion as the
Emerald Lady in a wonderful green dress adorned with a garland of holly leaves and
around her neck was the holly leaf pendant that Steve gave her for Christmas.
By the end of the night he had to admit that he
hadn’t enjoyed a New Year’s
Eve more, even though his feet were killing him.
When the last of the punters had been ushered out
the door and the bolt shot at 1.25 am, Holly said
“Thank God for that, put the kettle on” and then
she kicked off her shoes.
Everyone pulled together and gathered up all the
glasses and cleared them to the kitchen and then Steph and Clare brought out
the drinks on a tray
“Where are the others?” Holly asked
“They’re loading the glasses into the machine”
Clare replied “You know what Steve’s like”
“Tell them not to worry” she said “We’ll do it in
the morning”
Holly frowned and then corrected herself
“We’ll do it in later this morning”
So, they all sat together drinking their tea and
coffee and laughing at the exploits of one or two of the more enthusiastic
punters.
Very soon there was only Holly and Steve left and
he asked
“Do you want another tea?”
“I’d rather have a proper drink” she replied “You could join me if you’re
staying over”
He nodded and went behind the bar and returned shortly with two glasses
of wine.”
As they sat together drinking, she said
“My feet are so sore”
“Put them up here” he said tapping his knee “I’ll rub them for you if
you want”
“Oh yes please” she said and put both stocking feet on his knee
“Hold up” he said “one at a time”
“Oh, that’s really lovely” she said as Steve began massaging her little
foot, and that was as all he got out of her for the next twenty minutes until
he was halfway through her other foot when she said.
“You’re a free man now”
“What do you mean?” Steve asked
“The contract” she said
“It was only up to and including New Year’s Eve it’s now New Year’s Day,
so you are free to return to your old life”
“Good” he said sharply, and Holly baulked at the force of the word.
“Because now I am here because I want to be”
And Holly’s face broke into a broad smile and she kissed him
They made love for the first time in the early hours of New Year’s Day
and as they lay entwined in the semi darkness Holly said.
“We make a
good team; we could run this place together”
“What about
Phil?” Steve asked
“Ah I may
have misled you regarding Uncle Phil” she confessed
“In what
way?”
“He’s not
coming back” she said
“Why not?” Steve
asked
“He’s ill”
Holly replied sadly
“How ill?”
“The “he won’t
see another Christmas” kind of ill”
“Oh” he responded,
“so he’s not on holiday?”
“No” she
admitted “I am in the process of buying the pub from him”
“That’s a
big step” he said
“I know”
she agreed “but I have years of experience in Hospitality and you’re a good
accountant”
“So, you
only want me for my numeracy” he said
“No, I want
you for your foot rubs” Holly corrected him
“Ok then
it’s a deal” he said and sealed it with a kiss.
Which was a
prelude to them making love again.
But Steve
paused briefly and said
“You do
realize what would happen if we were to marry?”
“What’s
that?” she said pleasantly surprised that his thoughts had already strayed to
the question of marriage
“You would
become Holly Berry”
“I could live with that” she said and brought the discourse to a passionate conclusion.
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