Tom’s cunning use of the t-word worked like a charm. Posy perked up instantly. ‘Oh! Maybe we could have a special Christmas tote bag!’
Mattie was no longer needed. She had sausage rolls that needed to come out of the oven, the lunchtime rush was imminent and also things tended to get quite heated when the topic of tote bags came up.
‘I’m out of here,’ she said quickly. ‘Let me know about the Christmas brainstorm.’ She tried not to shudder at the prospect of both the brainstorm and Christmas itself.
‘I’m going to make everyone wear reindeer-antler headbands,’ Nina threatened as Verity ixnayed the idea of a Christmas tote bag in no uncertain terms. ‘And also, is this a good time to mention that I’m moving out of the flat? Don’t want to start married life with Tom’s underpants drying over the bath. No offence, Tom.’
‘So much offence taken,’ Tom huffed and Mattie couldn’t blame him. But still, she’d been desperate for Nina to come back and act as a buffer between her and Tom.
‘You won’t be moving out immediately?’ Mattie lingered by the arch on the left. ‘You’ll wait until after Christmas.’
‘Why would I do that when we’re on our honeymoon?’ Nina asked incredulously. ‘No, I’ll be moving out tomorrow night when Noah’s back from his work trip. We can’t keep our hands off each other at the moment. Mind you, there’s no change there.’
Mattie caught Tom’s eye and for one moment they were in perfect, exquisitely awkward accord, Tom’s hand on his head like he was having a migraine and Mattie patting her burning cheeks.
‘… can’t have you two cramping our sexy style,’ Nina continued. ‘So, we’re moving into Noah’s old flat in Bermondsey. Apparently the tenants after him flooded the kitchen, and so it’s just been done up, and the landlord knows Noah’s a good ’un. Besides, you don’t want an old married couple like us ruining your fun, if you know what I mean?’
And then Nina actually nudged Posy twice and treated them all to two theatrical winks. It was a good thing that Nina was moving out, otherwise Mattie would have had no choice but to kill her while she slept.
The next day, November 30th, after the shop had closed at six, even though it was meant to be the start of their new extended opening hours, Mattie’s presence was requested at the Happy Ever After Christmas brainstorm.
She was meant to be there by five past six sharp, but the final versions of her speciality Christmas savoury and sweet items had taken a bit longer to bake than she’d planned for. Not that Posy would mind. Mattie always turned up to a brainstorm with freshly baked provisions and anyway, it didn’t sound as if Mattie had been missed.
She’d been able to hear the shouting all the way from the main room of the shop through the Classics, Regency, Historical and Paranormal anterooms, across the tearooms and into the back kitchen. Now, as she carried her precious cargo through, Posy’s voice was pitched so high with excitement that Mattie feared for her glass cake tiers.
‘I love it!’ Posy squealed, writing something down on the inevitable flipchart as Mattie reached the main room. ‘Love it so much. Very, you’re a genius.’
Verity was perched on one of the sofas, hugging a cushion (being an introvert, the loud and raucous Happy Ever After brainstorms were quite the ordeal for her). ‘I try,’ she said modestly.
‘What have I missed?’ Mattie asked, putting down her tiered plates on one of the new-releases tables.
‘So much Christmas book-related goodness,’ Posy said. In the past few days, her bump had got even bigger and rounder – Nina had wondered aloud if it might be twins – but Sebastian had booked her a course of pregnancy massage sessions, which had restored her good cheer and done wonders for her swollen ankles. ‘We’re all coming in early tomorrow to Christmas-ify the shop. Crispin from the Rochester Street Traders’ Association came by this afternoon and he had some quite harsh things to say about our complete lack of decorations. I wanted to strangle him with a length of tinsel by the time he left.’
‘We’ve decided to go for a very tasteful, almost understated, look with the decorations though,’ Verity said.
‘No we haven’t,’ Nina insisted forcefully. ‘Last year, we didn’t really embrace Christmas, so this year I want it to look as if Christmas has vomited all over the shop.’
‘Such a lovely and festive image,’ Tom murmured, echoing Mattie’s own thoughts. ‘The only idea that I actually like is Verity’s suggestion that we have a selection of wrapped books under the Christmas tree—’
‘You’re having a Christmas tree?’ Mattie asked. Last year there hadn’t been a Christmas tree, just industrial amounts of tinsel and fake snow, which had got everywhere. She’d even found fake snow in her bra when she took it off each night.
‘Of course we’re having a Christmas tree. It’s arriving tomorrow,’ said Sam, Posy’s sixteen-year-old brother, from behind his fringe. He helped out on Saturdays and in the school holidays, while Little Sophie (though they really had to stop calling her Little Sophie because she now towered over Verity and Posy) also worked on Saturdays but in the tearooms. ‘We’re going to move out two of the sofas.’
This was also news. Obviously they were anticipating a lot of foot traffic over the next month.
‘So, tree, presents …’ Mattie prompted, because the other notable thing about Happy Ever After brainstorms, apart from the noise levels, was how quickly they got off-topic.
‘Yes! Presents,’ Posy nodded. ‘Customers can choose to pay for an extra book which we’ll distribute to residents at the care home around the back of Coram Fields. Nina went in to see them yesterday.’
‘Big fans of Regency smut,’ Nina reported from her sofa, which she was sharing with Tom, who had barely glanced in Mattie’s direction, though he was eyeing up her cake tiers avidly.
‘Sounds good,’ Mattie said. ‘I’d have to look at costings, but maybe if they donate a book then they can have a free cup of coffee. What else?’
‘Well, that brings me nicely to my next idea,’ Nina said, glancing down at her iPad. ‘I was looking for a way to create a synergy between the bricks and mortar and the social media side of the business. Really grow our brand awareness and core message.’
‘Eh?’ Posy asked, and she spoke for all of them. Noah and his business analysing skills were obviously rubbing off on Nina if she was bandying about words like ‘synergy’ and ‘brand awareness’.
‘It’s not just about driving customers to spend shedloads of money in Happy Ever After over the festive season,’ Nina exclaimed.
‘But it’s a lot to do with that,’ Verity said firmly. ‘Last year we took twenty-three per cent of our annual profit just in December. So, let’s make the spending of shedloads of money our top priority.’
‘Yes, but we also want those customers to understand what Happy Ever After is and we want to give them an experience that delivers our brand message,’ Nina insisted.
‘It’s like I don’t even know you any more.’ Sam directed a sad look at Nina. ‘Could you please make a completely inappropriate and deeply personal remark?’
‘I’m building up to something, guys,’ Nina said.
Tom groaned and splayed out his legs like he was in mortal agony. ‘Sometime before next Christmas would be great.’
There were murmurs of agreement at this. Mattie really wished that she’d given