Mary

Bright had asked her out on a date. All morning as she did the last-minute party organising, she thought about it. He hadn’t said where he was taking her, just that she didn’t need to get dressed up.

Andrew was back in the New Year. Then Bright would go back to his business and she might not see him much. But also that would mean he wasn’t her ‘boss’ as such. This would be good because what Mary wanted to do with Bright was not something you should do with your boss.

The area beside the bar was the biggest space in the communal rooms, so Mary had set up the tables in there, dragging in the chairs they used for events and stacking all the plates, cutlery and tablecloths in a tidy pile of boxes and crates ready to be laid out tomorrow. She was getting excited for Christmas now, she thought as she surveyed the room.

The tree looked lovely, even with the cheap paper chains,

and the room was decorated, the music sorted. She hoped Dougal was okay on the piano. It was a lovely black baby grand and she didn’t want him banging away and ruining it somehow.

The shopping was put away in the kitchen. Jars of cran- berry sauce and mustard in the cupboard, cream and custard in the fridge. Mary ticked off a pile of things on her list, feel- ing satisfied. All she had left to do was chill the wine, brine the turkeys and prepare the potatoes, then on Christmas Day she would cook those, decorate the pavlovas and dress the salads. It was a shame the budget hadn’t stretched to something a bit more exciting, but she was happy enough now everything was done.

She’d found a lot of useful things in Klaus’s garage, even a few bottles of alcohol. After checking with Bright, she’d used some to make brandy butter and put the others behind the bar.

Last night she had done a bit of sewing and decorated some of the socks with ribbon and edging. She thought they had turned out quite well, with little bottles of bubbles, mini fans, oranges, nuts and chocolates stuffed inside them. There were forty-five residents coming and she had made one for each of them. She made a mental note to bring them up in the morning.

Mary had almost finished her costume for the party too and she had a bag of fun headbands and hats for those resi- dents who didn’t want to dress up. She stacked those and the

other plastic container full of homemade Christmas crackers onto the box of table decorations and then headed out to meet Bright.

He was standing outside next to his car, talking to Klaus who was eating yet another Christmas mince pie. There were still three boxes of them in the garage.

“I thought you could take me to the mall,” Klaus said. “Absolutely not,” Bright said firmly.

“All right but in that case, I’ll need your help bringing my chair up to the clubhouse,” Klaus told him. “You can do it tomorrow.”

Bright sighed, then smiled when he caught Mary’s eye. “I’ll see you later, Dad. Mary and I are off on a date.” He opened the passenger door for her. “Ready?”

“That cat seems to have found you,” Mary commented as they drove. Bright looked over at her briefly, then back at the road.

“What? Buddy? No, I mean he’s not mine,” Bright said, then paused. He gave her a funny look. “Do you know what? You might be right. Bloody hell. I have a cat.”

They drove into town, past the shops that were busier than usual with all the pre-Christmas rush. All the shops’ displays were Christmas themed, some with fake snow bor- ders. Most of the awnings and doorways were decorated and

the trees lining the street had lights or baubles on them. It looked beautiful. Mary sighed contentedly.

“Well, I hope you’ll like this then.” Bright pulled into a car park and looked for a spot. Mary could see a large archway a little way down the path, with a line of fake trees, covered in white snow. Lights hung from the arch and two giant blow- up candy canes sat either side of the entrance.

“Oh, my goodness, what is this?” she asked, bouncing a little in her seat. Bright had spotted a people mover backing out and he indicated to go in, manoeuvring his car back into the park in that way some people make look so easy and cool.

They got out and lined up behind a woman with a push- chair and two small kids. Mary could smell candy floss and there was a gorgeous blue vintage caravan parked out front selling hot chocolate. A large hanging sign read ‘CHRIST- MAS ON ICE’.

He’d taken her to a Winter Wonderland. A Christ- mas-themed skating rink. It was the most romantic thing that had ever happened to her and Mary thought she might burst with joy.

“Just so you know,” she said, “this is the best date I’ve ever been on.”

In the UK, for a Christmas to be officially classified as ‘white’, a single snowflake needs to be observed falling in the 24 hours of the 25th of December on the rooftop of the Met Office HQ in London.