‘It’s gorgeous, you lucky boy,’ Lily enthused.
Then the head of Keir’s five-year-old brother Dugal entered the shot, pushing in front of Keir. ‘I’ve got a dog on mine.’ Proudly, he stuck his chest out for Lily to admire.
It took a minute of negotiation before Max had the call to himself again. ‘Regarding the Middletones’ visit, I’ve asked my Swiss colleagues for suggestions of what you might like to do in your free time.’ Max’s image came nearer and then retracted as he picked up a notebook and pushed up his glasses. ‘Suggestions are: a visit into Zürich, a procession here in Schützenberg, another Christmas market, watching ice-skaters, a choir … Are these along the right lines?’
Lily beamed. ‘Oh, yes! Thank you. People can always opt out from things they don’t fancy.’
‘Great!’ Max looked pleased. ‘Garrick Tubb will be around too, of course.’
‘It will be great to get to know him.’ Max didn’t know how great, as to him Garrick was just his mum’s partner’s brother who he’d helped bring on board at British Country Foods last spring. Garrick had decided he wanted to live in Europe after many years in the US and Max had given his boss Garrick’s CV. Neither knew that Garrick was the half-brother Lily had yet to meet.
Max glanced behind him. ‘Mum and Tubb want to chat to you too, if that’s OK?’
Quickly checking the clock in the corner of her laptop screen, Lily agreed. ‘I’ve got a rehearsal after lunch but I’m OK till then. I’ve been wondering how Tubb is.’
They said their goodbyes and the image swung jerkily, then Lily was looking at her workmate Janice and her boss, Tubb, who had an arm along Janice’s shoulders and was looking relaxed and happy, though thinner than before his illness. ‘How’s everything going at the pub?’ he asked at once.
‘Did you get the decorations up?’ supplemented Janice.
The conversation became chaotic as Dugal and Keir appeared once more to claim adult laps and shout their news over Lily reassuring Tubb and Janice that all was well and the decorations were safely in place. She laughed when she realised the boys had begun to call her boss ‘Grand-Tubb’, which probably seemed logical to them as he was now partnered up with their grandma. It warmed Lily’s heart to see him so much part of a family. When she’d first begun work at The Three Fishes he hadn’t had much in his life apart from the pub. Now he was letting his body heal with Janice’s family and Garrick – his own brother and her half-brother – was living nearby. ‘How are you, Tubb?’ she asked.
He smiled his turned-down smile. ‘Fine, thanks. Taking the pills as prescribed and attending the local heart failure clinic. I fly home for an appointment with my UK consultant in January but hopefully the baby will be here and settled by then.’
‘And how is Ona?’ Lily enquired.
Janice pulled a worried face at the mention of her heavily pregnant daughter-in-law. ‘Getting frustrated by the placenta being badly positioned, so there’s a high risk of bleeding. She’s doing very little and they’re keeping a close eye on her but they’ve warned her they might have to induce. We’ll all be glad when the baby’s safely here.’
‘We getting a Kissmuss baby,’ Keir informed Lily happily. ‘A new one.’
Lily smothered a laugh. ‘That’s something to look forward to. I’m coming to Schützenberg to see you in a few weeks.’
Dugal’s little eyes flashed with interest. ‘Will you bring us presents?’
‘Dugal Gasly!’ Janice broke in. ‘People are more important than presents. We’re looking forward to seeing Lily and Carola and all of the singing group, aren’t we?’
Dugal nodded, but still looked as if he’d like to know about the presents.
After Lily had replied to a few more questions about how things were going at the pub and how she was finding Isaac – ‘Efficient and pleasant,’ she assured them – the call ended.
Almost immediately, Lily’s phone alerted her to a text from Carola that proved she wasn’t letting Owen distract her from the schedule. Fancy coming up for a sarnie before choir practice?
Very much! Will bring biccies, Lily sent back. After finishing her task and emailing Max as promised, she climbed the stairs to Carola’s kitchen where Owen was pulling on his coat and dropping a kiss on Carola’s blonde bob. Lily just had time to say, ‘Bye!’ before he disappeared out of the door.
Carola was a bit pink after the kiss. ‘Owen’s going to visit his mum. She’s not too well and he says she gets crotchety with visitors.’
‘Doesn’t sound like you’re missing much then,’ Lily joked, giving the older woman a hug. ‘Are you and Owen getting serious? He’s not going to stop you coming to Switzerland is he?’
Despite the obvious stars in her eyes Carola made a mock scream face. ‘Of course not. He’s not going to stop me doing anything – I had enough of that with Duncan.’
Lily dropped down beside Carola at the white glass kitchen table. ‘Extremely sensible. Shall we finalise the programme today so we can send it to the Performing Rights Society and fork over the fee for singing other people’s songs?’
Over tuna sandwiches and custard creams they ummed and ahhed about the respective merits of Cliff Richard’s ‘Mistletoe and Wine’ versus Paul McCartney’s ‘Wonderful Christmastime’, Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ or Wizzard’s ‘I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday’. Carola wrote down ‘Walking in the Air’ from The Snowman and Lily crossed it out again. ‘That puts a lot of emphasis on the sopranos – us! You might be strong enough but I’m not sure I am.’
Carola nicked back the pen and wrote it in again. ‘Of course you’re strong enough! We don’t have to sing like choirboys to carry it off and we’re spoilt for sopranos anyway because we have Charlotte and Emily. I wish we had another bass to sing along with Neil, personally.’ She tapped the pen on her teeth.
Privately, Lily thought that Charlotte and Emily’s voices were pretty but not strong. Knowing Carola wouldn’t appreciate that view she just said, ‘The sponsorship budget was based on how many singers we could get into one minibus so people can’t expect the balance of a proper choir. Now, which carols are we going to include? The trouble with carols is that they’re so international they won’t give the British flavour Max is keen on. On the other hand, if we sing “Silent Night” then people might join in, which is always lovely,’ Lily pointed out. ‘Also, it’s easy so we’re good at it. It would have been nice to include that Polish carol Franciszka tried to teach us, as we have so many people of Polish descent in our region, but we had trouble even with the title, “Anioł Pasterzom Mówił”, let alone the rest of the words.’
Carola laughed. ‘Let’s stick to easy stuff. Have you heard how Tubb is, by the way?’
Lily was happy to update her and then the rest of the afternoon passed in a flash. Once the first Middletones arrived – Warwick, Eddie and Alfie – filled with all the noisy ebullience of seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds, Charlotte and Emily emerged from their rooms. The boys were all music student chums of Charlotte from the local performing arts college, Acting Instrumental. Eddie tuned his guitar. Warwick set his keyboard on its stand and plugged it in while Emily, only fourteen so still at school, chattered to him, beaming and giggling.
‘I’m going to have to watch Emily,’ Carola muttered. ‘She’s developing a crush on Warwick and a lad of eighteen is much too old for her.’
Neil – Eddie’s dad, turning up at the same time as Franciszka, who lived in Drake’s Close around the corner from Carola’s on the Bankside estate – gave her a reassuring grin. ‘I think Warwick’s got a girlfriend at college anyway.’
Soon they were ready to begin. ‘Let’s crash