Page 26 of Winter Magic on Railway Lane

He didn’t want to disappoint his grandad, but there was still an awful lot of work to do before the thirty-first of October.

‘Thanks, lad,’ said Eddie, standing up and placing a hand on his grandson’s shoulder. ‘It would mean the world to me to see it one last time.’ He nodded. ‘Now, how about I put the kettle on?’

‘Sounds good to me, Dad,’ replied Bob.

As Eddie slowly climbed out of the railway carriage, Ethan took another look around. Of course, the seats would all need cleaning and the whole place would need a decent wax and polish. The main problem would be checking the rusty wheels to see if they all turned in unison.

But that wasn’t his main concern.

He turned to look at his dad. ‘Listen, are we really set on this Halloween train idea?’ he asked in quiet tone. ‘Because I’mnot sure we can get all of this ready on time for the end of the month.’

Bob frowned. ‘I know, son. It’ll take a lot of work. But your grandad’s set on it happening.’ Bob hesitated before carrying on. ‘He’s been a bit tired recently. I thought that perhaps it might perk him up a bit.’

Ethan stepped forward to give him a brief hug. ‘Okay, Dad,’ he said. ‘We’ll do our best.’

Bob nodded. ‘Course we will. We’ll make it a Halloween to remember, eh?’

Ethan smiled and nodded along with his dad. But all the while he was just hoping it wasn’t going to be for all the wrong reasons.

16

It took the whole afternoon until Libby felt that the kitchen in the old school was as clean as she was able to get it. It was more time out of the extremely tight schedule to complete the order and get paid, but she felt better when she arrived the following morning with all the boxes of cookware she had kept hidden away from her dad.

Of course, there was still the awkwardness of crossing paths with Ethan most days. But he seemed concerned with his own deadline as he explained about the idea for the Halloween train to Libby.

‘Dad had the bright idea of it being some kind of ghost train, so it’ll need to be suitably spooky,’ he said, zipping up his jacket. He was wearing an old pair of jeans and sweatshirt, in deference to the cooler morning air. ‘As well as actually being able to run a couple of carriages too,’ he added, rolling his eyes.

‘And they’ll be paying passengers this time?’ asked Libby.

Ethan nodded. ‘Joe offered to help out with the marketing, so we’ve already got thirty people booked!’ He frowned. ‘How on earth we’re going to get all this ready in time, I honestly have noidea. I’ve got my hands full just making sure that the whole thing runs safely.’

‘Can you get any extra help?’

‘I’ve blackmailed Joe and Nico to give us a hand with the carriages,’ Ethan replied, glancing at his watch. ‘Talking of which, I’d better get going as I’m meeting them there.’ He hesitated before adding, ‘Well, make yourself at home and all that.’ He looked around at the now almost full kitchen, with every surface laden with bowls, measuring equipment and ingredients. ‘What is all this stuff?’ he asked, agog. ‘I thought you just needed a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon.’

‘This is everything needed to make a cocoa bean transform into delicious chocolate,’ she told him, bending down to open up one of the sacks on the floor. She showed him the little nuggets of goodness.

‘And that’s a cocoa bean?’ he said, picking one up before bringing it up to his mouth.

‘Don’t taste it yet!’ she told him, laughing as she took it from his hand. ‘They need roasting first!’

‘Where did you get these from?’ he asked.

‘When I went to the plantation in Venezuela, I got their name and address. I would only ever order from a place with Fairtrade accreditation. It’s fairer on the farmers and makes sure they get paid proper wage for their work harvesting.’

‘I agree,’ he said, nodding. ‘So this lot has been shipped over from South America?’

‘Yup,’ she replied. ‘Each country and area has its own unique flavour of cocoa bean, but I like these ones the best.’

He looked thoughtful. ‘So, rather like a fine wine being made from a certain grape, you mean?’

She nodded. ‘But rather than being crushed with your feet in a tub, the magic happens here instead.’

‘And all this is magic?’ he asked, looking at the many boxes around him.

Libby nodded. ‘Absolutely. By the way, does that old oven actually work?’

‘I think so,’ he told her.