the village tree tonight at 9 p.m. when the sky would be dark and villagers in the highest of Christmas spirits. And Brianna and Troy had done a great job of preparing the front of house for opening time. They were all in for a long shift today, open from late morning until 10 p.m. to make the most of the jolly holiday crowds.
Harvey was the first to show his face when Daniel opened up the front door to the shack ready to welcome customers. Since they’d had a long talk and been in cahoots with Harvey’s plan the atmosphere between them had gone from strained to tentative most of the time, but when both off guard, something resembling relaxed. They had a lot still to talk about, years of resentment and frustration to air, both about each other and their mess of a family. But there also existed an unspoken understanding that they didn’t have to solve all their woes overnight.
‘You’re a lifesaver.’ Daniel gladly took the takeaway coffee his brother had brought him. ‘I need this to wake me up.’
‘Late finish last night?’
‘No different to any other night and business is booming so can’t complain.’ He had no doubt that the Cove had been the perfect place to launch his business as well as face his demons. ‘I hope it lasts well into the new year.’
Harvey had his own coffee and came in upon Daniel’s invite, greeting Troy and Brianna, who’d taken up positions at the back of the room like a waiter and waitress in a fine-dining restaurant ready to tend to their customers the moment they were needed.
‘At ease, soldiers,’ Harvey whispered to his brother. ‘They look tense.’
Daniel kept his voice low. ‘They’re superstars, the both of them.’ He nodded in their direction, told them he’d be in the kitchen and to holler when customers began arriving. ‘They’ve only been with me five minutes but I’ve given them both a Christmas bonus.’
‘You’re just hoping they don’t leave you to manage all this on your own.’
‘That’s exactly what I’m scared of,’ Daniel laughed as they headed through to the kitchen.
‘I stopped by to make sure we’re all set for tonight and tomorrow.’
‘Yep, all set.’ Daniel added red food colouring to a batch of batter for the red-velvet choice that was particularly popular right now. He was doing his best not to think too much about tonight, their plan partly to set up Melissa but also involving Lucy so he could get her on her own to talk. He had a horrible feeling she’d tell him once and for all to leave her alone, making Christmas Eve memorable for all the wrong reasons. But there was something about the looming Christmas festivities that made him want to do it now more than ever, his impatience winning over common sense, he suspected. But that was the way he was programmed: he didn’t want to wait – it was always the same, whether he was eating his toast before it had much colour to it, drinking his coffee when it was still scalding hot or feeling the frustration when he went on a run and got stuck behind slow walkers.
‘You all wrapped up with work?’ Daniel asked as he finished stirring the batter, now its rightful red colour.
‘Yep, that’s me done for Christmas.’ Harvey unzipped his coat and took it off in the heat of the kitchen. ‘I’m looking forward to some quality time with Melissa until both of us have to go back to the real world in the new year.’ Perched on the high bar stool in one corner of the room where Daniel usually sat to make notes for reordering stock, he asked, ‘How did it go yesterday?’
Daniel slotted the bowl of batter into the fridge. He appreciated his brother remembering what had been on the agenda for him. ‘Peter loved it here. I knew he would, and it was a good place for him to relax and then have a talk. He put on an apron, Giselle left him here for a couple of hours and she was pretty relieved to see how happy he was when she came to pick him up. He wouldn’t stop going on about how he’d been allowed to make any shapes of waffle he wanted and come up with any recipe to put on top.’
‘He sounds like a great kid.’
‘He really is. And now I think he knows his place in my world and realises that doesn’t have to change.’