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
adulthood brought no relief and it always seemed to him that when shit happens
Christmas just magnifies the misery.
If someone
dies at Christmas the very season makes it more keenly felt.
He could
testify to that as his mother died on Christmas Eve when he was 19.
He has no
idea where his father is and quite frankly he doesn’t care.
He never
showed up for the funeral and he could be dead as well for all he knew.
So as a
result he has never trusted Christmas, he knows 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.
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 and kissing her at closing
time.
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 she thought he had potential but he still
needed work but 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 but as she lived 30 miles away 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 nursing a cup of coffee in the 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 said again 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
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 of 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.
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” she said
tongue in cheek
Holly lit the candles and
Steve opened the wine they pulled the crackers and she made him wear a paper
hat.
For desert he served apple
pie and ice cream after which they watched the Queens speech.
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
“You’re 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 paused and took 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, 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.
Holly 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 one but a plain blue cashmere.
“That’s fantastic” he said
enthusiastically “I love it
“Try it on then” Holly
insisted and stood up
Holly took hold of the new
one while Steve removed the one 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.
It 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’s.
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 went 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.
