Christmas at the Marshmallow Cafe by CP Ward

Author:CP Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AMMFA Publishing

20

Down to Business

By nine-pm, the café was full. Half of the park’s staff had shown up for the impromptu party, as well as most of the current guests, including a couple of families with young children who now played in the children’s play area at the back. Long out of marshmallow mix, instead the café owners on the staff had donated boxes of biscuits and cookies. The lads had brought in some craft beers from the pub and now sat on one table, playing team Jenga against the three elves who sat opposite, fully decked out in their staff gear. Jason, who had gone home to change clothes, had reappeared just after dark by sleigh, bringing with him a couple of boxes of Christmas lights, which they had all helped to hang up over the café’s front windows while the four reindeer snorted and stamped outside the front door.

Debbie, holding a can of Guinness, leaned on Bonnie’s shoulder.

‘We’re close,’ she said. ‘That fourth batch was nearly spot on. Did you see Mitchell’s eyes when he popped that marshmallow into his mouth? Sometimes it doesn’t take words, Bon.’

‘We’ll go up and get some more root in the morning,’ Bonnie said. ‘June told me that if we walk around the lake a little way, we’ll come to a fenced section which belonged to Mervin. She said it’s probably in the deeds to the café somewhere.’

‘Tomorrow,’ Debbie said. ‘I don’t want to think about tomorrow.’

‘It could be the start of the rest of our lives.’

‘Or the end.’

Bonnie sighed. ‘I told you, they only live in Bristol. If you had a job, you’d probably commute there to work every day.’

‘I could never work with a broken heart.’

‘Well, it’s not broken yet. And if it is, we could probably fix it with a few spoonfuls of marshmallow mix.’

‘Are you making fun of me?’

Before Bonnie could answer, the Jenga tower crashed down with the clatter of wooden bricks. A cheer rose from the elves as Larry thumped the tabletop and yelled, ‘Best of seven!’ at the top of his voice.

‘I’ll miss this place,’ Debbie said. ‘It won’t be the same when the lads are gone, though.’

‘Other people will come.’

‘Will they?’

‘Sure. If they know it’s here.’

Debbie lifted her head to look into Bonnie’s eyes. ‘And will you be here?’

‘I might be. Depends.’

‘You’re going to stay, aren’t you?’

Bonnie sighed. ‘I still don’t know. It’s a big ask. I need to do so much before I can even think about it. But … I am thinking about it. This place, it’s special. It’s what I’ve dreamed of my whole life. Everything that I ever had and worked hard for, it got taken away. My marriage, my family, my hopes of ever getting a decent job … in the end I lost it all and I ended up with nothing. You don’t understand because you’re still young. You can still dream that things will get better. I was just treading water, trying to keep my head up, trying to stay afloat … I had no more dreams.

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