Marcie looked up from the kitchen table, where she was showing Jack how to make gingerbread men. ‘Hey, you two. All finished?’
‘Just getting started.’ Matt seemed suddenly pleased with himself and shot Beth a thousand-watt grin. ‘What have you been up to, Jack?’
It was perfectly obvious what Jack had been up to. The apron he was wearing seemed to have almost as much flour and golden syrup on it as had gone into the dough, rolled out on the table.
‘We’re making gingerbread men, Dad. When we’ve baked them you can have one.’
‘Oh, no, he can’t.’ Marcie stepped in briskly. ‘No eating them until they’re decorated.’
Jack quickly amended the offer. ‘I’ll decorate one for you, then, Dad.’
Matt’s face lit up. ‘Will you? I’d really like that.’
‘You could do an icing stethoscope for its neck.’ Beth winked at Jack.
‘Oh, yes! And green icing for scrubs.’ Marcie seemed more enthusiastic than even Jack was.
‘I’m going to do one of Beth as well.’ Jack was wielding the cookie cutter now and Marcie bent to guide his hand, and turn the dough figure out onto a baking tray.
Matt chuckled softly. ‘Pink icing for her cheeks, then.’ The comment was so quiet that Jack didn’t seem to notice it, and Beth would have missed it if she hadn’t been looking at him.
‘Out! Out of my kitchen, you lot.’ Marcie’s voice rose commandingly above the hubbub. ‘Anna, come and help Jack and me with these. And, Josh, perhaps you’d like to go with your father.’
Sensing that there was probably going to be something good to eat soon, Josh opted for the kitchen and James made a long-suffering face. ‘Looks like I’m on my own, then.’ He turned to Matt. ‘Unless you fancy stretching your legs.’
‘Yeah, why not? Where do you get your tree from?’
‘There’s a place a couple of miles down the road. Local garden centre.’ James looked at his watch. ‘They’re open until six on a Sunday so we’ve plenty of time. Beth, do you want one as well?’
‘Mmm, please. I’ll bring my car. You won’t get three into the SUV.’
James chuckled. ‘I like to see a bit of pluck in a woman.’ He turned to Matt. ‘Last year we bought an extra one for the porch—just a little one. When Beth too
k off at a set of lights, it rolled out of the back of her car and I ran over it.’
Matt snorted with laughter. Beth braced herself for the comment and it never came. But of course Pete, who maintained that the only thing worse than a woman driver was a woman driver who couldn’t hear when she crashed into something, wasn’t around.
‘What made you run it over, then?’ He gave James a querying look. ‘That’s what brakes are for, mate.’
James threw back his head and laughed. ‘I’ll make a note of that for the next time I’m attacked by flying Christmas trees.’ He picked up a jumble of elastic tie-down straps from the floor by the kitchen door. ‘Think these will be enough?’
Matt nodded, grinning. ‘Does this garden centre do lights as well?’
‘Yep, and decorations. Do you need some?’ James handed Matt the tie-down straps and rummaged in the kitchen drawer for his car keys.
‘Yeah, we don’t have any.’
‘What, none?’ Marcie was looking at Matt as if he had just admitted to robbing a bank.
‘Not one. My wife used to order a tree and it came complete with lights and decorations. After Christmas the company that supplied it came and took everything away.’ Matt was studying the floor.
Beth wondered whether she should say something. She could hardly pretend she thought that a ready-decorated tree was a good idea, Marcie would never let her live it down. Luckily, the mention of Mariska seemed to herald a return to polite diplomacy on Marcie’s part. ‘Obviously a very well-organised lady. James, haven’t we got some spare lights?’
‘Yes, sweetheart, we have spare lights.’ James turned to Matt. ‘And if you’d take a set, then I’ll be forever in your debt as I won’t have to find somewhere to put them. What about that extra box of decorations that you never used last year, Marcie?’
‘Oh, yeah, I’ll get them out.’ Marcie was in full flow now, and nothing was going to stop her, least of all any protest from Matt. ‘It’s just odds and ends, but if you get a few boxes of plain baubles, that’ll be plenty.’
‘If you’re sure….’ Matt turned to Jack. ‘Something extraspecial for the new house, eh, mate? We’ll start as we mean to go on.’