Page 7 of Hope and Hot Chocolate on Mistletoe Lane

I watched her go over to the table then turned to make the drinks and almost bumped into my mum. ‘Jesus,’ I muttered as I swerved to head to the drinks machine. I could feel her eyes burning into my back.

‘Her favourite drink,’ she hissed as I grabbed two long glasses, which we used to serve hot chocolates in. ‘You remember it after ten years,’ she added, a sly smile on her face.

I glanced at her, feeling my face flush a little bit. It was like I could see the cogs in her mind turning. This was all I needed. Thank God, the bell on the door jangled again. ‘Oh, look,’ I said, as the door opened, ‘it’s Mary.’ Relief washed over me as Mary, who owned the flower shop here, came in. She and Mum could talk for hours. Mum rushed over and I carried on making the drinks, glad my dad was out buying supplies and Mum was now distracted.

When I’d finished, I carried the drinks over to the table where Holly was staring out of the window at the rain drizzling down with a wistful expression on her face. I wondered what she was thinking. Did she think I’d changed in ten years? For better or for worse?

‘Here.’ I sat down opposite her and slid over one of the glasses.

‘A hot chocolate with cinnamon and nutmeg, whipped cream and a chocolate flake,’ she said, shaking her head. She picked up the glass and I couldn’t help but stare as she took a sip, hoping she would like it. She moaned. ‘I forgot. The best drink in the world ever. I mostly drink coffee now but nothing compares to this.’ She looked at me over the glass, a bit of whipped cream on the corner of her mouth.

Fuck me. My fingers itched to wipe that bit of cream off her. And hear that sound she just made again. What was I thinking?

Quickly, I took a sip of my own drink. I’d dreamt the hot chocolate up with Holly on her sixteenth birthday. I didn’t drink it much now because of the memories it brought back but today, it flooded my body with warmth. Maybe I should add it to the menu. Birchbrook would get a kick out of this sweet shit.

‘I really can’t believe you remembered it after all this time,’ Holly said then.

Avoiding her eyes in case she could see how pleased I was that it made her happy, I nodded once. I really hoped it wasn’t weird to remember Holly’s favourite drink.

The problem was I couldn’t help it.

When it came to Holly, I remembered…

…everything.

7

PAUL

‘Anyway…’ Holly said when I didn’t reply. ‘I wanted to stop by to talk to you. It felt weird seeing you like that at Willow’s and not saying hi properly. It’s been so long.’

‘Ten years,’ I offered up shortly. I couldn’t stop myself from thinking back to the months after Holly left Birchbrook. She had messaged me when she arrived at university and gave me updates for the first couple of weeks. I wondered if I should ask about visiting her but then the messages started to trail off and I still remembered the last message I sent that she didn’t reply to.

It’s not the same around here without you.

I was too embarrassed to contact her when she ignored that. And so the silence between us continued… until now.

I wasn’t on social media, something that most people in my life thought was idiosyncratic, I knew, but no one wanted me posting pictures of our new café latte or my opinion on last night’s footie, surely? Over the years, my mum gave me updates on Holly via her mum and social media but there was no contact from Holly herself, and that told me everything I needed to know.

Her pink cheeks seemed to have deepened further. ‘Yeah, a long time for sure. I didn’t know what to do when Willow called me. I don’t know if you know this but I run an events company and she needs help in creating a winter wonderland over at the farm this year.’

I nodded. ‘Yeah, Willow wants us to serve food and drink like we do at her other events but I came over to tell her no.’ I kept telling myself that I would leave Birchbrook before the end of the year and saying no to Willow had been step one of the exit plan in my mind.

‘Why?’

I jumped as my mum was suddenly by our table. ‘Jesus,’ I muttered. She was like a ninja sometimes. I thought we’d talk about this alone, not with Holly watching.

‘We’ve done so well at Willow’s pumpkin patch and the pick-your-own trail,’ she offered. ‘Of course we will want to be at her Christmas event.’ She spoke briskly to me, as usual brooking no arguments. I swallowed hard. How was she going to react when I told her I couldn’t help out any more at Birchbrook events ever again? ‘So, Holly, does that mean you’re back in Birchbrook then?’

‘Uh, yes,’ Holly said, looking also startled by my mum coming over. ‘Willow is really desperate and it would be good for my business too, so that’s why I thought I’d stop by to talk to you…’ She turned from my mother to me. ‘I’ll be staying and working at the farm for a few weeks.’

Everything seemed to fade around us as I stared into Holly’s eyes. She was staying in town for a few weeks?

‘Isn’t that wonderful!’ my mum said, shaking me from staring. I looked down at my drink; my mind was whirring with this information. ‘We’ve missed you in Birchbrook, haven’t we?’ Mum said then. I looked back at her, at a loss at what to say. She turned to Holly and threw on a wide smile, clearly trying to make up for my lack of response. ‘We all have. It’s great to have you back.’

‘I’m not sure about that,’ Holly muttered.

She must have been thinking about what things were like in town before she left. I remembered how pissed off I had been with people – like Holly had anything to do with her dad being a cheating loser who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.