James and I share a look. Never have I felt unwelcome in a shop on Nutcracker Lane before. I try to ignore it but the tone in her voice prickles at me as James follows me up to the back wall, and I’m all too aware of her eyes burning into us.
There aren’t many advent calendars left and they’re all down to £4 now instead of £8, and James picks out one with an idealistic-looking cottage on it, and we start wandering back towards the counter. I want to look around and see if there’s something else I can treat us to, but Carmen hasn’t taken her eyes off us and I get the feeling that a boiling hot oven on legs would be a more welcome guest.
‘Just this, please.’ I give her my brightest smile as James puts the advent calendar on the counter and I get my purse out to pay.
‘No.’
‘No?’
‘You’re not meant to be buying from me. We’re in direct competition with each other. I can’t take your money.’
‘That’s ridiculous.’
‘It wouldn’t be right, Nia. We’re competitors now.’
‘Yeah, but I’m not.’ James gets his wallet out and deposits four pound coins onto the counter. ‘She was just trying to do something nice for me, but I’m not involved in this competition, so I can give you mine instead.’
‘That wouldn’t be fair on her.’ She nods towards me.
James rolls his eyes. ‘I’ll buy something of equal value in her shop to even it out, okay?’
Carmen looks dubious.
‘A whole four pounds is not going to swing this thing far, is it?’ he says. ‘For God’s sake, I’m throwing money at you. Take it. I promise I’ll go and buy something from Nia’s now.’
She reluctantly covers the coins with her hand and pulls them across the counter, stabs some numbers into the till and puts them in. She rips off the receipt it prints out and hands it to him without a word.
‘Can I have a bag, please?’ He digs out an extra 5p coin and hands it to her. ‘Because I’m an adult and I don’t want to be seen carrying around an advent calendar.’
‘Only people who are insecure in their adulthood worry about things like that,’ I say.
Carmen laughs and quickly straightens her face as she puts it in a Nutcracker Lane branded paper bag. ‘This is a one-off. Don’t come back here again, either of you. If you weren’t my first customers today, I’d have refused you both.’
I bite my lip. The anger and hurt on her face are plain to see, and it confirms my fears that the whole lane is as quiet as it looks.
‘You’re worse than Hubert. He’s always coming in here, pretending to be friendly, “accidentally” knocking over my display unit and damaging my stock. Underhanded tactics, I tell you.’
‘Hubert did that?’ I say in surprise. Hubert is the most lovable bumbling buffoon you could ever meet, like a cross between Santa and Mr Bean. He’s unnaturally clumsy and spends most of his days chasing dropped humbugs across his sweetshop floor.
‘He said it was an accident but things are never an accident when you’re in direct competition. It’s me or him, Nia.’
‘I thought you liked him. You always used to have samples of each other’s treats to inspire shared custom. You’re always together. You like each other.’
‘I’m going to lose my shop if he earns more money than me! There is no room for liking people on Nutcracker Lane now!’
To my horror, her voice breaks and tears form in her eyes. ‘It’s oka—’ I try to comfort her, but she turns away.
‘Get out!’ she yells at the wall behind her. ‘Both of you, get out now!’
James’s hand slots around mine, the bag containing his advent calendar dangling between us as he pulls me out of the shop.
‘Well, that was horrible,’ I say, feeling close to tears myself. ‘I’ve never seen Carmen without a smile on her face before. I didn’t mean to make her cry.’
James looks shaken too as I extract my hand from his.
‘This is so wrong. How could that rotten accountant do this to us? Pitting friends against friends and turning everyone against each other? And I know poor old Hubert – there’s no way he did that on purpose. There’s always been rumours of a secret couple on Nutcracker Lane and I would’ve put money on it being those two. And now look at them. She’s obviously hurting and he’s probably devastated at making her think he’d do that.’
He twists his fingers around the handle of the paper bag, looking like he’d be wringing his hands together if he had both available. ‘I suspect it was something that sounded better on paper, but if your Scrooge saw the actual impact of his actions, he’d probably reconsider.’
‘I don’t think the heartless wanker would give a monkey’s.’ I practically spit the words out. ‘Has the merciless skunk ever even set foot in the place? Or does he just sit behind his fancy desk juggling his money? Even on paper, no one could think this was a good idea.’
‘On the plus side, at least Carmen wasn’t unscrupulous enough to take your money. That was honourable, wanting to be fair and all that.’
‘Yeah, but she used to be a friend. She was watching us like we were a pair of shoplifters. The shopkeepers here have always supported each other, and now I can’t even buy something from one of the others. The best part about getting a shop here this year was finally getting to work with people I’ve called friends for years. I send Carmen a Christmas card every year and she could barely look at me.’
I’m stomping down the honey-coloured paving stones like they’ve come loose and I’m trying to stamp them back into place, and he reaches out and catches hold of my hand and pulls me back, wrapping his good arm around me and pulling me into his side.
‘I’m sorry, Nee,’ he murmurs, his lips
