Christmas Wishes at Pudding Hall by Kate Forster

Author:Kate Forster [Forster, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781801108010
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

16

‘I will finish up tomorrow,’ she said. ‘And pay you back the money you gave me.’

‘Why? That’s ridiculous,’ Marc said as he set their hot drinks down in front of them. The only place open was a fast food chain with Christmas carols playing and the smell of grease in the air. ‘I am pretty sure I agreed to you doing something with the excess food.’

Christa couldn’t look at him.

‘But I should have been more open, transparent about it all. I might as well have stolen it. I’ve been underhanded,’ she cried. She had stolen it. No matter how she tried and convinced herself otherwise, she had stolen the food and handed it out to people for free.

‘You used what would have gone into the trash and you gave it to people who needed it more than me or you. There is nothing devious about it. You mentioned it to me and I said yes. Why are you so upset?’

Christa sipped her watery tea and grimaced.

‘Is that face because of the tea or me?’ he asked.

‘Both.’

Marc smiled. ‘Why are you so upset about this, Christa?’

She shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I feel like I should have been more honest with you.’ She sighed and slowed her breathing down. ‘I think I was embarrassed to ask, like I was some chugger, leeching off the largesse of my boss.’

‘What? What the hell is a chugger?’ he asked.

‘A charity mugger. Like those people who harass you in the street about famine somewhere or other while shaking a tin at you.’

Marc laughed. ‘No, I don’t think it’s the same.’

Christa rubbed her temples and then looked at him.

‘I’m a hypocrite,’ she said.

‘Why?’

‘Because I was glib about your success and your wealth, yet I used it to help others without being totally honest with you. I turned up with meals for the people and didn’t tell anyone they were made with your goods. I took the credit and didn’t mention once that it’s your food I’m using to feed people.’

Marc shook his head. ‘It doesn’t matter where it comes from though, and it doesn’t matter who “owns” it, as long as it gets to the people who need it.’

They were quiet for a moment and then Marc spoke again. ‘So, do you make a habit of being a food-driven Robin Hood?’

She thought for a moment, wondering how much she should tell him and then decided she had nothing to lose, not since he had caught her red-handed.

‘I have always tried to help people the way I know how. Which is with food. I did it when I had the restaurant in a casual way, feeding people out of the back door of the kitchen.’

Marc leaned in, listening.

‘And it made me happy to feed people – you know, with good nourishing food.’

‘Okay.’ He nodded in agreement. ‘We help with what we have, I get it.’

‘Then I came here and I finally had the time to help, really help. I had some time at night. So I did.

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