‘If she doesn’t turn up, could you have a chat with Penny and her mum later? They’re here by themselves and I think they’d appreciate it.’
‘Sure,’ he says. ‘Where’s my old man? Another absentee?’
‘I haven’t heard from him either,’ I admit.
Lucas shakes his head, tutting. ‘And he thinks I’m the flaky one.’
Then I see that Matt is standing by the Christmas tree. He’s in a smart coat and he’s wearing his heavy, gold mayoral chain of office. By his side is a very pretty young woman. She dresses like Aurora does, in faded jeans and boots with a chunky jacket. Her hair is dark and wavy. She is wearing make-up and has combed hair. They’re laughing together and his manner is easy and relaxed with her, as it is with everyone.
Matt must sense me watching them as he turns around and our eyes meet. He smiles and ushers his date towards me. My stomach rolls as they approach.
‘I love the bling,’ I say when they’re in front of me.
‘Fancy, eh? Comes with the turf.’ He strokes his gold chain. ‘How are you coping with all this?’
‘I’m doing surprisingly well,’ I tell him.
‘This is Victoria,’ he says, turning to his date. ‘She teaches at Ashlands primary school in Aylesbury.’
‘Nice to meet you.’ Victoria has a warm smile and a gentle face. I bet she’s a hit with her pupils. We shake hands. ‘Thanks for coming.’
‘I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. This is a great place you have,’ Victoria says. ‘Matt has been telling me all about it and how much he loves coming up here.’
‘We very much appreciate that he does.’ I avoid looking at him as I’ve no idea what the expression on my face is doing.
‘I’d love to bring my school kids up here for a day out. Do you do that kind of thing?’
‘We haven’t. As yet,’ I admit. ‘But it’s something my marketing manager, Bev, is considering.’ Bev will be pleased that I’ve promoted her. No pay rise, obvs.
‘We should talk, then,’ Victoria says. ‘At the start of the new term, I’ll call her.’
‘Great.’
They look good together. A perfect couple. And she seems like a really nice woman. Ideal girlfriend material. In fact, she’d probably make an even better wife. So why am I not pleased?
‘I’ve come to give a hand with the animals, if you need help,’ Matt says and stops my musings.
‘I think we’ve got it covered.’ I turn to Lucas, who nods that we have. ‘You can relax until it’s light-switching-on time. Have some wine, try your hand at the tombola!’ I sound too jolly.
‘Let me know if there’s anything you need,’ he says.
‘I will. Lovely to meet you, Victoria.’
‘Likewise.’ She’s endearingly earnest and enthusiastic. ‘Matt talks about you a lot.’
Does he? Again, an exchanged glance between us that’s loaded and unfathomable. I hope that she doesn’t notice.
‘See you shortly,’ Matt says, taking his gaze from mine.
‘Yeah.’ I pin a smile on my face and stay like that until they move away.
‘New girlfriend?’ Lucas looks disappointed. ‘I thought you two were going to get it together.’
‘I’m with your father,’ I remind him.
‘You think he’s being faithful while he’s away?’ Lucas snorts. ‘You saw all those young girls fawning over him. Good luck with that one.’
‘You have a very low opinion of him.’
‘That’s because I know him better than you. You’re more suited to Matt, you know that. Bev says so, too.’
But Bev also knows why this needs to work with Shelby, whereas Lucas does not. I think he’ll be furious when he finds out, and I’m dreading telling him. If I’m honest, more so than Shelby.
‘We should get the animals set up,’ I say. ‘Time’s getting on.’
‘He’s not coming, you know,’ Lucas says.
‘He’ll be here,’ I counter. ‘I’m sure of it.’
‘Don’t hold your breath,’ Lucas says. ‘Daddy doesn’t care that this is a big day for us and for the students. Daddy Dearest just thinks of himself.’
‘You’re wrong,’ I tell him and hope to goodness that I’m right. I need Shelby here, otherwise I think I might go a little bit mad.
Chapter Sixty-Three
We take the animals out of their pens and lead them into the barn where they take up their places in the nativity scene. They have been beautifully dressed in festive livery and it makes me laugh out loud to see them. I’m guessing that Bev must have been busy on eBay.
The sheep and goats have little Santa hats on, held by elastic under their chins, and they look unbearably cute. The geese must be in an agreeable mood as they’re wearing jaunty Christmassy neckerchiefs and aren’t currently trying to nip anyone. Teacup has a festive scarf which he’s currently trying to eat. Sweeny and Carter are in situ in the adjacent stables which are framed by arches of holly. Just their huge presence is calming. Everyone is looking very spruce and angelic.
And, something that gladdens my heart, our feral farmyard cat – Phantom – with his half-face and goosestep gait is up in the rafters of the barn looking down on the scene. We rarely get a glimpse of him and it’s nice that even he has deigned to join in on this our special day.
The only problem – as usual – is the alpacas. As Lucas said, they’re already strangely frisky and are skittering about. Perhaps it’s because they’ve been haltered for a while and it’s one of the very many things that they don’t like. No one has even tried to get near them with Christmas adornments.
‘We’ll stay here,’ I say to Lucas. ‘Until they calm down.’
‘OK.’
To prove my point Johnny bounces round in a circle and takes me with him.
‘Chill out, man,’ Lucas tells him and rubs his neck.
As there’s activity in the barn, the crowd start to gather around, even though we’re not quite ready for them.
The donkeys, Harriet and Hilda, are much more relaxed and settle in their corner of our Bethlehem/deepest Buckinghamshire stable. Lottie and Erin have been busy behind the scenes and they lead in Ringo, Buzz Lightyear and Beyoncé all dressed for the occasion – humans and ponies. The ponies have red sparkly ribbons threaded through their manes and tails plus, as promised, red glittery hooves. The ponies look quite pleased with their glamorous selves. Especially, Beyoncé. The sheep, as malleable as ever, mill about at the front of the scene, just content to look for something they can eat.
Jack and Tamara are dressed as Joseph and Mary. They take their places in the stable behind the crib. Three more students are dressed as the three wise men and even more as shepherds are ushered in. It’s apparent that a lot of old tea towels and bed sheets have been pressed into service. I blame that on Bev. Joseph is totally ignoring Mary and, instead, is staring open-mouthed at the two rather skimpily dressed teen Christmas elves, which I don’t remember being part of a traditional nativity set-up.