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
A good New Year’s Eve was absolutely
vital for Holly so with that in mind she
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.
