Steve Berry had always
had a distinct dislike for Christmas, in fact he hated everything about it,
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
chronic alcoholics and each year their Christmas came in a bottle and thanks to
his ill-tempered father, Steve’s came with a slap, so his childhood Christmases
were festive memories he would rather have forgotten.
But adulthood brought
no relief from the season and it always seemed to him that when shit happened
Christmas just magnified the misery.
If someone died at
Christmas the very season makes it more keenly felt and he could testify to that
fact as his own mother died on Christmas Eve when he was 19.
He had no idea where
his father was and quite frankly he didn’t care he never bothered to show up
for the funeral and for all he knew he could have been dead as well.
So as a result he had never
trusted Christmas, because he knew that shit lurks beneath the coloured lights
and paper chains.
That was until Holly
Davis opened his eyes to new possibilities and he realised that Christmas could
also magnify joy.
But it wasn’t just
Christmases that had always 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 and he
found the whole idea of it rather pointless, why did people make such a fuss
over going from one year to the next, to his mind it was meaningless, and that
would have been reason enough for him to dislike it, far apart from the
personal memories it evoked.
And the prominent
memory was of one New Year’s Eve when he was just six years old that his parents
locked him in his room while they went off on a three day bender.
But he had decided to
try and put that behind him along with all the other bad memories and with
Holly’s help he was hopeful that he might succeed.
Since the first day he
met her she had helped him to tame his demons and it all began when Holly Davis
temporarily took over running her uncles pub, the Pig and Whistle in Abbeyvale
a week and a half before Christmas on Friday the 13th of December, Steve had
got blind drunk and ended up spending the night in the lounge bar on one of the
bench seats.
When he woke up the
next morning with his face stuck to the mock leather of a bench seat and
painfully sat himself up she produced a contract he had signed the night before
agreeing to work for her at the pub until New Year’s Eve.
Despite his initial
misgivings Steve had thoroughly enjoyed working with Holly at the Pig and
whistle and he was still uncertain quite how she managed to affect that, but
affect it she did and during the ten days he spent working for her, she had
turned his life upside down and it culminated at closing time on Christmas Eve
as the church bells at St Mary’s chimed midnight, with him wishing her a Merry
Christmas and kissing her.
Because of the snow
Steve was unable to get home on Christmas Eve so he spent the night in the
spare room and they were then snowed in at the pub for Christmas day as well.
Holly was due to go for
Christmas lunch at her cousin’s house but as she lived 30 miles away it was not
possible to make the journey safely with the amount of snow that was still
laying.
Steve was due to spend
the day alone in his flat, not celebrating Christmas at all, but Holly invited
him to spend the day with her instead.
After he cooked them
lunch and they had watched the Queens Speech Holly cajoled him into unburdening
himself about his aversion to the holidays.
That proved to be very
revealing and was followed by more food, more drink and finally after
exchanging Christmas presents they kissed passionately again.
In the week that
followed the first Christmas he and Holly spent together and the first one he
had ever celebrated, there was good deal more kissing as day by day they headed
inexorably towards New Year’s Eve.
But Steve had a sense
of foreboding as the days ticked by as his normal dislike for the occasion was
magnified that year because it marked the final day of his contract at the Pig
and Whistle and it could also mark the end of Holly’s Tenure at the pub and
maybe even their budding relationship.
Holly had completely
turned his life upside down and he had fallen hopelessly in love with her and
the thought of going back to his old life in the New Year filled him with dread
and the notion that he would never see her again was inconceivable but he
wasn’t sure how he could prevent any of it happening.
Although he didn’t
like it, New Year’s Eve was a very good earner for the pub and as the takings
had not been optimised on Christmas Eve due to the snow, added to the fact that
the figures had been disappointing in the interim due to the lingering snow and
freezing conditions, so a good New Year’s Eve was absolutely vital to stay
profitable.
With that in mind
Holly and Steve had to spend most of the afternoon at the Cash and Carry 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, was a symbol of their
familiarity, and was also a milestone moment for them because 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 but
they would give it a try.
Steve normally spent
New Year’s Eve at home in self-imposed exile at his flat, watching a DVD and hiding
from the world and pretending that New Year’s Eve was just a bad dream but that
year with Holly 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
really 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 Steve thought they most of the supplies they had bought earlier at
the Cash and Carry, 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 only six at any one time behind the bar and they
were absolutely rushed off their feet and the till’s never stopped ringing.
The staff and a hard
core of the regulars were in fancy dress for the occasion.
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, and on that occasion she was dressed 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, which absolutely flew by, he had to admit that he hadn’t enjoyed a New
Year’s Eve more in his life, 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 but very soon there was only Holly and
Steve left
“Do you want another tea?”
he asked
“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 and as they sat
together drinking she said
“My feet are so sore”
“Put them up here then”
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”
Holly laughed and put
one foot down.
“Oh that’s really
lovely” she said as Steve began massaging her little foot and that was 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 took her foot off his lap so she could kiss 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, I
think 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”
Holly said
“Why not?” Steve asked
“He’s ill” Holly
replied sadly
“Really? How ill?”
“The “he won’t see
another Christmas kind” of ill”
“Oh” he responded sadly
“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”
“Oh I see, so you only
want me for my numeracy” he said
“No I only want you
for your foot rubs” Holly corrected him
“Ok then it’s a deal”
he said
“Are you sure?” she asked
“We will have to celebrate all the holidays”
“I’ve never been more
sure of anything” he replied and they sealed the deal 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 possibility
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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