‘Come on, let’s go show our faces,’ says Kit, who leads the way through the gathering crowd towards the Christmas tree.
Christopher takes her by the arm as they walk. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Mmm, you and I are going to have a talk about this later,’ she murmurs. Somehow, Christopher manages to go paler, and she only feels about 5 per cent bad about it.
‘We have bigger problems right now,’ she whispers, pointing ahead of them. On the other side of the crowd stands Sally. ‘We need to make sure that none of your family or Laurel bump into her, especially with us present.’
Christopher gulps.
They cluster together with Laurel and Kit. Up on the stage, a full choir performs, dressed in red velvet robes. Traditional song over, they switch to The Ronettes’ ‘Sleigh Ride’, and the crowd bops along happily.
Behind the choir at the back of the stage stand Esther and Otto, along with a man who Haf presumes is Mayor Clarke from the gigantic gold necklace.
As the singing ends and the music fades out, everyone applauds and Esther steps up to the mic. ‘Welcome, everyone, to this year’s Oxlea Christmas Celebration!’
Once again, the crowd claps and cheers. Apparently, the people of Oxlea love a bit of enthusiastic participation.
‘Thank you all for joining us to celebrate together. Remember, all your donations go towards the primary-school library budget, so dig deep and buy a few more mulled wines. There are donation boxes all around, so put in what you can. And if anyonewants to make a larger or longer-term donation, please come find me so we can talk.
‘I am extremely passionate about literacy for all, and where this country is failing in getting books into children’s hands, we in Oxlea are making a difference to a number of partner schools in our area. So, enjoy the festivities! And let there be light!’
And with that, the Christmas tree lights up in sparkling gold, candy red and silver. The light bounces off the ornaments, dappling light all around them. The star at the top of the tree turns out to be a giant light of its own and shines brightly. Around them, more and more strings of lights turn on until the whole green is a beautiful shining beacon. It is really stunning. Esther and all the other hard workers have done an amazing job.
As the choir bursts into ‘Marshmallow World’ – in Haf’s opinion, another massively underrated bop – the whole crowd joins in, linking arms and waving their hands, mugs of wine and even the odd child. This is quite possibly the most Christmassy she’s ever felt. A few songs and a lot more dancing later, the crowd starts to disperse off to buy hot food, judge snowmen and browse all the things for sale.
‘We should get going,’ says Laurel, linking arms with Christopher. ‘It was so nice to see you again, Haf. I’m looking forward to getting to know you better tomorrow.’
She flashes a smile, and they’re off through the crowd, Christopher waving a goodbye in the air behind them.
‘She’s kind of a whirlwind, isn’t she?’ Kit says with affection.
‘I can’t believe she’s going to make me a dress. I just... That’s such a lot to do for a person you just met! Even if she says it’s me doing her a favour, which I’m not buying.’
‘Laurel loves to do the unexpected,’ Kit says. ‘And she really does care about people. She’s got a big heart under all the influencer aesthetic. Sorry, this is probably a bit weird for you, isn’t it?’
‘What is?’ Haf asks, scanning the crowd ahead.
‘Your boyfriend and his ex?’ Kit prompts, just as a flash of orange peeks through the crowd up ahead.
‘Oh!’ shouts Haf, stopping in her tracks. Kit spins towards her, a concerned look on her face, but crucially is now facing the opposite way from Sally, who is ambling towards them.
‘What?’ cries Kit.
‘Your shoelace!’ Haf says a little too loudly and drops to her knees to untie Kit’s lace. ‘I didn’t want you to trip.’
‘Oh, I didn’t realise it had come loose,’ Kit mutters. ‘Thanks for that.’
‘No problem!’ Haf says, fiddling with the knot.
Truthfully, it hasn’t loosened at all, and Haf tugs at it with numb fingers in the hope that she’s giving a good impression of someone who might be tying a knot. She can’t even tie her own shoes at the best of times; Ambrose is forever doing it for her.
‘And no, it’s totally fine!’ she says, looking up at Kit from her feet. ‘I know they’re friends.’
‘Mmm, sort of,’ Kit murmurs as Haf clambers back to her feet, wondering if maybe she should be acting more worried. What would a real girlfriend do? Is it a bit too Cool Girl of her to be calm about it?
Haf doesn’t have much time to ponder this because, typically, Sally must have been waylaid along the path, as she’s now only a few steps away from them.
‘Wow! Look at these!’ Haf shrieks, pulling Kit over to a stall.
