He hesitates, looking me in the eyes. ‘Nee, I …’
‘Sir!’ the factory man shouts, and James starts after him, still unable to run properly with the ribs.
‘I’m sorry, Nia. This is not how you were meant to find out, but someone’s hurt and I have to go. I swear to you, I’ll explain later.’ He shoves the notebook he’s holding at me. I don’t realise my hands are shaking until our fingers brush when I take it off him and I realise it’s not just my hands. My whole body is shaking like I’m standing on one of those vibrating circulation booster things they sell on late-night shopping channels.
I stare at the empty space where he was stood for a long time. Shoppers move on around me, nuts are cracked and wishes are made, carols are sung, and there’s the constant chatter of shoppers planning Christmas dinner and talking of plans for the next few days, but I ignore it all. If I just stand here without moving, he’s going to come back and admit this is all a practical joke. If I stay right in this spot, it won’t be real.
I don’t move until Carmen wraps her arm around my shoulders. ‘Must admit, I did not see that coming.’
She didn’t? There is no way it can be true. James is the most trustworthy man I’ve met for years. James hates Scrooge. I’ve moaned about Scrooge endlessly to James. They cannot be the same person.
‘You okay, Nia?’ Hubert shakes his head as he comes over. ‘No wonder he never answered his phone. You’ve gone pale. Do you want to sit down?’ He digs around in his multiple pockets until he eventually produces a bag of sweets. ‘Here, have a peppermint cream; that’ll cheer you up.’
I take one of the soft round mints that are chocolate-dipped on one side, even though I think it’ll take a bit more than a peppermint cream to sort this one out. I clutch the notebook to my chest, holding it against me like if I somehow squeeze it tight enough, he’ll magically appear in front of me and offer a perfectly reasonable explanation about how someone’s got their wires crossed and this is all a huge, gigantic, monumental misunderstanding. Any minute now …
Carmen is still smoothing my jumper down and Hubert is patting my shoulder and waving the peppermint creams in my face again, and I need space. I paste on my brightest smile and shrug them off in the politest way possible and head back to Starlight Rainbows. I can’t make sense of my own brain. I’ve heard the words, but I don’t understand them.
‘What’s all the commotion out there? Has something happened?’ Stacey says as soon as I step in the door.
I half-snort and half-choke at the same time. ‘“Something” is an understatement.’
I must look as dazed as I feel because Stacey cocks her head to the side and appraises me for a moment, and without another word, opens the till and hands a tenner to Lily. ‘Lil, run across to the bakery and get three hot chocolates and three cakes stuffed with the largest amount of cream, okay?’
This is one of the benefits of working with your best friend.
There are a few customers browsing and she serves a lady before turning back to me. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘He’s Scrooge.’
‘Who? That guy in the yellow safety gear?’
‘No. James.’
It’s Stacey’s turn to burst out laughing. ‘No, he’s not. Scrooge is old and decrepit and a grouchy, nasty, angry, bitter man who takes pleasure in making others miserable. James is adorable, funny, brings people coffee, and is so perfect for you that he could have been manufactured to your specifications. If he’s anyone in disguise, it’s Flynn Rider.’
‘I’m not joking, Stace. He’s Scrooge. He’s been Scrooge all along.’
She shakes her head, still not taking me seriously. ‘Well, what’s he doing here then? If James hated Nutcracker Lane as much as Scrooge does, he wouldn’t be here, would he?’
‘I don’t know.’ I slap his notebook against the palm of my opposite hand. ‘Come to gloat as he watches the lane he’s taken such great pleasure in destroying glug its final glug and sink beneath the waves as Leo and Kate jump off it?’
‘That was Titanic, Nee …’
‘I’m serious though. What the hell is he doing here? Spectating? Getting himself a front-row seat to the final demise of Nutcracker Lane? Does he get some kind of sadistic pleasure from meeting the people he’s personally putting out of a job? Has he sat there laughing while we’ve all run around like drunken giraffes trying to save this place from him?’
She finally falls in that I’m really not joking. ‘This can’t be right. There’s got to be a misunderstanding somewhere.’
‘There isn’t, Stace. He made it abundantly clear just now. I’ve spent the past three weeks trying to Un-Scrooge Scrooge.’
She sucks in a breath. ‘I think you’ve done a little bit more than that with him, don’t you?’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that. I’ve only gone and fallen in love with the man I hate more than anyone else in the world … You know, the same man who I was absolutely certain would never cheat on me like other boyfriends have, the one I let in and opened up to, the one I knew was a good, honest, trustworthy person? I’d rather he cheated on me than this. At least that would be a one-time thing. James has been weaving a carefully constructed lie since the moment I walked into his shop that first time.’
‘He’s got just as involved in trying to save the lane as everyone has. Nia, there must be something else going on here.’
‘Humouring us. Having a laugh at our expense. Nutcracker Lane is a sport to him. Teasing us, giving us hope, dangling this place like a carrot, letting us think there was a chance while he gleefully slices our budget like Edward Scissorhands.’ I’m still miming Johnny Depp’s cutting motions from the film when Lily
