‘I’d be quicker if I didn’t have imps like you underfoot,’ he sniffs.
Shaz stares at them in disbelief.‘What are you on about?There’s like two inches of height difference between you both.Maximum.’
‘It has to be more than that,’ Nash murmurs.
‘Nope,’ agrees Tegan from across the room where she holds up a hand presumably to match up their heads.‘Basically, the same height as each other.’
‘Well.Now I feel a bit ridiculous,’ murmurs Christopher.
‘Why don’t we move this along?’Nash says, clearly just as embarrassed.
‘On it.Bee R Bee,’ she says, sounding out the acronym and heading back over the road.
There’s luckily not much left to do, but it’s all the awkward bits that all seem to need twenty minutes or so.The loaves are done, and after taste testing to make sure they’re good, Tegan ladles the gravies into an array of borrowed boats.They all work fast and efficiently, and Christopher can hardly believe how much they’ve got done in the last six hours of near constant cooking.
Just as they’re almost done, Shaz and Ursula nip back over to help tidy up, so they are ready to help plate up dinners for people.Tamara, Mervyn, Priti and Carl slowly help people over the road in small groups, while Danny from the shop takes coats and bags up into the flat for safe keeping and so that no one trips over them.All the while, Tegan and Nash serve drinks to the waiting guests, while Christopher manages the final touches.
Soon, the bakery is packed out with people waiting patiently in their seats for dinner.To Christopher’s delight, Myffy arrives on her mobility scooter accompanied by a man with hair almost as curly as hers and a bright smile, despite the deep bags under his eyes.Mohan.He made it; what a relief.
He recognises a few of the other guests: Cecil, who lent them a thermos.Mengsan and Nancy, who almost made black ice.Joan, who loves her garden birds.Dai and Thelma, who are now never out of each other’s reach.Hot Drinks Lady, who he finally remembers is called Enid.All of the people he has met and helped, or was helped by, over the past few days, and yet there are still as many again he hasn’t met before.
These are all people who are his community now.People who he gets to celebrate his first Christmas in Wales with.This is all he ever hoped for.
‘All good to go?’Shaz asks, stunning him out of his thoughts enough for him to hear, but not enough to halt the inevitable oncoming spiral of worry.
And part of Christopher wants to say, well, no, because what if they hate it?What if this was his one chance to ingratiate himself in his new community and he blows it?
But just as the worries threaten to engulf him, he locks eyes with Nash through the door into the café; a smile is returned with a thumbs up, and every fear falls away.
He can do this.Hehasdone this.All that’s left is to let people eat, before it all gets cold.
‘Yes.Let’s serve up.’
They bring out the food to rapturous applause, and a fewoi ois from Shaz and Myffy, who has an impressive yell on her.Christopher slices up big wedges of sourdough, slicked with bright yellow butter, as Tegan ladles out thick creamy soup into mismatched bowls.It all disappears so quickly that, for a moment, he wonders if he even served it at all.
When it’s ready for the main course, Christopher tackles plating up vegetables and sides, while Nash carves up the lamb, seeing as he’s the one who cooked it.The meat is so tender it practically falls off the bone.
‘It’s the good stuff, I told you,’ Thelma announces to everyone proudly, and Christopher can’t help but smile when he notices her and Dai holding hands.Well then, another Christmas miracle in what is starting to feel like a sea of them.
Priti, Tamara and Shaz take orders so no one has to stand, and they bring full plate after full plate to empty tummies, while Danny and Tegan top up glasses and pass around sauces and seasonings.
It’s all a blur, but soon everyone has a plate of food, a raised glass and a cheer on their lips, crying Merry Christmas and iechyd da in turn as glasses clink together.
Mervyn is, it turns out, a dab hand at making cocktails, and although Christopher has no idea where all the spiritshave come from, he doesn’t overthink for once, because everyone seems happy and merry.
In the doorway to the kitchen, Christopher and Nash stand together, aprons covered in gravy and oil and seasonings, holding a glass of mulled wine each, handed to them by Ursula.
‘I can’t believe we did it,’ Christopher whispers.
They clink their glasses together and, as they sip, their eyes meet.
‘We make a great team, Calloway,’ says Nash with a soft smile.He slips an arm around Christopher’s waist, and they share what is really just a tiny squeeze of a moment, but which feels like an eternity to Christopher, his heart flipping back and forth with joy.
But it’s notjustbecause of this moment with Nash.It’s also due to the community he has built right here in his bakery.He doesn’t know how long his business will last, but it feels as if he’s finally put down roots.He’s made something, and fed people, and created a moment that everyone will remember.
What more could he ask for?
Myffy taps a glass with her knife.‘A toast for the very best Christmas elves our little town could ask for!’
