The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss

Author:Jenny Bayliss [Bayliss, Jenny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-10-13T00:00:00+00:00

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• • • • •

It was, Kate had to admit, a lovely evening. It felt like a long time since it had just been the two of them, catching up, talking nonsense and being stupid. When the first batch of mince pies was in the oven, they had a pudding break, having by this time dispensed with the coffee element of the Irish coffee. Matt had a chunk of Victoria sponge and Kate had a slice of white chocolate cranberry cake.

Nat King Cole crooned about roasting chestnuts on an open fire as Kate spooned ruby-red cherries and brandied fruits into the next batch of pies and pressed pastry stars into their middles. Matt swished their tops with milk and encrusted them with granulated sugar. The kitchen was heady with the scent of buttery pastry, Christmas spices, and the mulled wine he had simmering on the stove.

Three hours later the worktops were a sea of golden-topped mince pies cooling on wire racks. They’d made enough to see the café through to New Year with plenty left over for handing out after the caroling. When they were cool, Matt would bag them up in small batches ready to get out when he needed them, though if the last two weeks had been anything to go by, he’d be needing at least a bag a day. Kate picked out eight for herself and let them cool separately.

“Wasn’t free booze and dinner enough?” asked Matt.

“No,” said Kate, shoveling a hot pie into her mouth and then hopping round the kitchen with her mouth open trying to cool it off.

They cleared up the kitchen in a haphazard drunken way via the medium of dance and song.

“Come with me,” said Matt.

He handed Kate her coat and another steaming glass of orange-and-clove-scented mulled wine. He led her out into the garden and sat her down on one of the chairs on the veranda. Then he disappeared back into the kitchen. The blizzard had abated and left the world muffled; the sky was a clear, navy blue, punctuated by a million pinpricks of silver.

“Ready?” he called.

Kate opened her mouth to reply when the garden became awash with light. The gnarly old pear tree had been strung with hundreds of fairy lights. Its bare twisted branches fanned out across the width of the garden, its spindly fingers stretching up to reach the stars in the cold winter sky.

It was magical. Kate felt a lump in her throat as she imagined how much Matt’s mum would have loved it. She sat for a long moment, cupping her wineglass with both hands and looking at the tree in awe. Matt came out and sat with her.

“Do you like it?” he asked.

Kate wasn’t sure she could speak.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

Matt smiled.

“I knew you’d like it,” he said. “I was thinking of you when I did it. Me and you in this garden.”

They were quiet for a long while. The snow lay in drifts against the legs of the garden furniture. The ground was covered in a thick layer of untrod snow that glittered in a million tiny tree lights.

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