A Winter Kiss on Rochester Mews

Mattie’s phone buzzed insistently.

WHERE ARE YOU? HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO CHUCK TOGETHER SOME FLAKY PASTRY?

But that was tomorrow. And Mattie wasn’t going to think about tomorrow, especially the part where she had to get up at six, while it was still dark. She was going to think about the large glass of wine that she hoped was waiting for her.

Mattie wasn’t disappointed. As soon as she hefted open the heavy door of the pub around the corner from Happy Ever After, swapping the waft of fish and chips from There’s No Plaice Like Home opposite for the fug of beer, someone waved frantically at her.

‘Mattie! Over here!’ yelled Posy, the owner of Happy Ever After and sender of multiple, needlessly dramatic text messages, as if they hadn’t bagged their usual corner table and banquettes and Mattie might not know where they were. ‘Your wine is perfectly chilled.’

Mattie dropped gratefully onto an empty stool and picked up the glass of Chenin Blanc. ‘Thank you,’ she said fervently. ‘And cheers.’

As they all clinked glasses, Mattie checked for panic in the eyes of her co-workers. Posy, who was fairly heavy with child and drinking elderflower cordial and soda, the glass resting on the top of her bump, looked serene. Verity, the manager of the bookshop, was nursing a gin and tonic and a faintly harried expression, but then Verity always looked faintly harried. And then there was Tom, and Mattie didn’t really care what Tom’s mental state was because Tom was on her list.

Mattie’s list, as Tom well knew, was not a good list to be on, so she ignored him.

‘How are you?’ she asked Posy and Verity. ‘How was the world of bookselling today?’

‘Very, very busy,’ Posy noted with a quiet satisfaction. She rubbed her bump and then very gently and delicately burped. ‘Thank God for that. Have I mentioned that I have the worst indigestion?’

She had. Several times a day, ever since her three-month mark had passed and she was able to tell people that she was pregnant. Now she was almost at seven months and couldn’t even look at a tomato any more, much less eat one.

‘I read somewhere that if you have indigestion when you’re pregnant, you’ll give birth to a baby with a freakishly full head of hair,’ Verity said, which did little to cheer Posy up.

‘Sebastian has very thick hair, so it’s obviously all his fault,’ she said mournfully. ‘I wish I’d fallen in love with a bald man instead.’

Fascinating though this was, it didn’t really explain why Mattie had been summoned so urgently. ‘What was with all the emergency text messages?’ Mattie asked. ‘Is Rochester Mews earmarked for demolition or something?’

‘What? No! It’s much more serious than that.’ Posy gasped. She turned a suddenly anxious face to Mattie. ‘Have you any idea what the date is?’

Was it some kind of trick question or was it pregnancy brain? Mattie glanced over at Verity, who shook her head as if to say that she’d already had a similar enquiry from Posy. And then Mattie managed to catch Tom’s eye. She couldn’t help but recoil and Tom’s upper lip curled, which meant that he was about to make some dull observation, but before he could, Posy clapped her hands.

‘It’s the twenty-fifth of November,’ she cried. ‘The twenty-fifth? Do you know what that means, Mattie?’

‘Is it one of those random national days that have been invented by advertisers or PRs? National Pie Day? No, I’d know about it if it were. National Hug A Puppy Day?’

‘I think it must be National Humour Pregnant Ladies Day,’ Tom murmured with the little smirk that someone needed to tell him was very unattractive.

‘No! More like National Annoy Pregnant Ladies Day,’ Posy snapped, digging Tom in the ribs with her elbow, which wiped the smirk off his face pretty sharpish. ‘It’s a month until Christmas! Worse! There are only thirty days in November so actually, it’s thirty days until Christmas. Thirty days!’

Her panicked statement was met with blank looks.

‘How is this news to you?’ Tom ventured, adjusting his horn-rimmed glasses so he could peer sternly at Posy’s flushed face. ‘You can’t turn on a TV without falling over some cloying, sentimental Christmas ad featuring woodland animals. The supermarkets have been flogging mince pies and stuffing balls since August.’

Tom had a point. ‘Surely you noticed the streets of London are adorned with Christmas lights and decorations?’ Mattie asked.

Posy placed a hand on either side of her bump. ‘Forgive me for being a little preoccupied,’ she said huffily.

‘I have mentioned Christmas promotions and extended opening hours several times,’ Verity said in a more conciliatory tone. ‘We had a whole conversation about getting new Christmas lights for the trees in the mews.’

‘No. Nope, I have no memory of that,’ Posy insisted, her voice starting to tremble, which meant that soon she would be crying. When she wasn’t trying to burp, Posy was trying not to cry – pregnancy really didn’t agree with her. ‘And now I’ve had an email from the Rochester Street Traders’ Association demanding that I pay my share for our joint Christmas decorations, and all the other shops are doing extended opening …’

‘Yes, I did already mention this,’ Verity murmured as Mattie shot her a sympathetic look. ‘Quite a few times, as it goes.’

‘You should have mentioned it more forcefully,’ Posy said, shifting on the banquette to find a more comfortable position. ‘There’s so much to do. We haven’t put up any tinsel or even done a display of books that would make wonderful Christmas presents.’ She wrung her hands. ‘Mattie! Why haven’t you started selling mince pies? You’re normally much more organised than this.’

Mattie prided herself on her organisational skills but she refused to rise to the bait. She was not going to flap. ‘I already have my Christmas bakes planned, which will come into effect on December first and not a day before. Not everyone wants Christmas rammed down their throats as soon as the clocks go back.’

‘Pret A Manger have been selling their Christmas sandwiches for weeks, M&S too,’ Tom said, and he should know, because he never bought his lunch from the tearooms. If he had, he’d have found it particularly delicious and filling and he wouldn’t have to hog the cheesy chips like he was currently doing.

Mattie firmed her lips. She wasn’t going to flap. Nope. Even though Tom always made her want to flap and hiss like an angry cat.

‘Well, Waterstones have had their Christmas promotions in place for weeks,’ she countered. Tom lifted his glass of wine as if to say ‘Touché’ but it had a detrimental effect on Posy who moaned as if she was in pain and clutched her bump as if an alien were about to burst out of it.

‘We need to have a Christmas brainstorm. NOW,’ she proclaimed in a shrill voice.

‘I thought this was a Christmas brainstorm?’ Mattie said, because Posy loved a brainstorm almost as much as she loved Sebastian, tote bags with book quotes on them and romantic novels.

‘It’s more of a pre-Christmas-brainstorm brainstorm,’ Tom explained helpfully as he refused to relinquish his grip on the bowl of cheesy chips, moving it out of Mattie’s reach when she tried to make a grab for it. ‘Oi, get your own.’

‘December first is plenty of time to launch all our Christmas plans,’ Verity said firmly, prying the bowl from Tom’s hand and moving it back towards Mattie. ‘And I hate to play the vicar’s-daughter card, but technically you shouldn’t put up Christmas decorations until Christmas Eve, and also technically, we shouldn’t really have a Christmas brainstorm without Nina. Nina loves Christmas.’

‘Oh, I miss Nina!’ Posy exclaimed and the first tear began its slow descent down her right cheek.

‘Everyone misses Nina,’ Mattie said softly, because when Posy was having a maudlin moment it was best not to make any loud noises. ‘But she’ll be back soon, right? She was only meant to have been gone six months, and she left in May, and it’s almost the end of November.’

Nina was a dearly beloved but absent member of the Happy Ever After family because she was currently road-tripping across the United States with her boyfriend, Noah, while working on the shop’s marketing remotely. She was the perfect, exuberant foil for quiet Verity, panicky Posy and Tom. Dour, sarcastic, up-himself Tom.

‘Well, I hope she comes back before I give birth,’ Posy lamented. ‘I would like to go on maternity leave before I actually start my contractions. Ugh! Contractions! Honestly, this pregnancy lark is one catastrophe after another. Have I mentioned my swollen ankles? Anyway, what are we going to do about Christmas? There’s so much to sort out and no time at all! We’re screwed. So very screwed.’

‘Not screwed. Christmas bakes are locked down and ready to go,’ Mattie said a little desperately. She wasn’t a big fan of Christmas and all these histrionics about the run-up to December twenty-fifth were giving her a leaden feeling in the pit of her stomach. ‘Anyway, how long does it take to pin up a bit of tinsel?’

‘We’re going to have to do a bit more than pin up tinsel,’ Posy said, the tears now a steady stream. Tom inched down the banquette to distance himself from a sobbing woman, a look of pure dread on his normally quite lofty-looking face.

‘Help!’ he mouthed at Mattie and Verity. Mattie shrugged and Verity sighed, then leaned forward.

‘I was going to wait … But, well, no time like the present, and there doesn’t seem any point in delaying the news, does there, not if we’re about to start opening late every night, and it’s not a big deal, really just a medium-sized deal.’ Verity’s ramble had stemmed Posy’s tears and she was now looking quite stricken. Even Tom seemed to realise that this warranted putting down the bowl of cheesy chips.

‘Oh my God, are you resigning?’ he asked, which was what Posy had suspected too, if the devastated expression on her face was anything to go by.

‘No! Don’t be silly. Why would I resign?’ Verity asked in bewilderment. ‘What a weird conclusion to come to. Although … I suppose in a way I am resigning.’

‘Please, Very, my blood pressure can’t take many shocks,’ Posy moaned.

‘Christ, spit it out, Very, or kill me now,’ Tom snapped and for once, Mattie found herself in agreement. Verity looked up to the heavens. ‘I’m resigning …’ She paused and there was a collective intake of breath which made Mattie suspect that Verity was enjoying this a little bit too much, ‘… from my tenancy of the flat above the shop. Though I do feel rather validated that you were all terrified I was leaving Happy Ever After. It’s nice to know I’m wanted.’

‘For one awful second I thought I’d have to do the VAT returns on my own and my whole life flashed before my eyes,’ Mattie said and Posy reached across the table, with some difficulty, to clink her glass in solidarity.

‘You and me both,’ she said, then turned her woeful face to Verity. ‘When are you moving out? The new year?’