Bright

Klaus had been thrilled to see Bern, Di and the kids. It was a relief, Bright had to admit, that he had recognised them. He had wondered if his dad might get confused, especially with the twin thing.

As kids, they had tried to trick their parents numerous

times, but never succeeded. They’d had more luck at school, with teachers and other kids. Their best switch had been with Di though, when she and Bern had first started dating. It took her almost twenty minutes to work out that Bright had swapped places with Bern at the movies, although, to be fair, it was dark.

These days there were more obvious differences between them, and they were no longer in school uniforms either. Bern was a far more casual dresser, and a little bit fuller in the waist now too.

“So, Dad,” Bern said after they’d had a cup of tea, “I hear you have a secret workshop.”

Klaus took them into the garage and Bern stood looking around, an expression of sadness on his face.

“I’m having a few technical issues with the transport,” Klaus said. “I could do with some help.”

The ‘sleigh’ looked like it was made from pallets. One was probably from the bulk order of mince pies, Bright would guess. Klaus had been a carpenter in his day so he’d made a pretty good job of it. The swan-like back and seat looked sturdy. But it was sitting flat on the ground and wasn’t going to move, magic or otherwise.

“This isn’t bad, Dad,” Bern said, giving his dad an affec- tionate pat on the shoulder. “How about we finish it off?”

Bern shrugged. “Look, it only needs a base and a coat of

paint and the kids will love it. What else am I going to do today? Plus it might be fun.”

Bright looked between his brother and his dad. They used to make lots of things with their father as children, even the wooden garage Klaus must have forgotten, and Bern was right, it had been fun. “What the hell, why not?” he shrugged. “What do we need?”

They spent several hours sanding, nailing and glueing, and then they painted it red. The end result was pretty im- pressive. “You know, if we got one of the house trailers from work, this would be pretty cool to tow for a parade,” Bright said. “Maybe next year I could see if anyone wants it.”

He’d been at his dad’s all morning, so he popped up to the office to check in, and maybe catch Mary too.

He found Dougal first. He was sitting at the baby grand piano, his back straighter than Bright had seen it, playing a beautiful rendition of ‘Silent Night’. It sounded incredible.

Mary was in the main room with a handful of residents, putting on tablecloths and setting places. Lois was direct- ing Bets on where to put some sort of candle decorations. Glenda was there, handing around pieces of Christmas cake. Bright was glad Klaus hadn’t smelt it out like a bloodhound. “You’ll have a piece, won’t you, Bright?” Glenda said, thrusting a napkin at him with a wedge of cake in it, the

white icing sticking to the thin paper. “Oh, I’m not much of a ...”

“But you have to,” Glenda insisted. “It’s Christmas Eve

Bright had never heard of that tradition. He surveyed the cake in his hand, eyeballing the dreaded almond icing.

“You never told me about the wish thing, Glenda,” Mary said, coming over to stand next to him. “Do you mind, Bright?” She lifted the cake slice and took a large bite off the top, leaving only the fruitcake behind. She gave Bright a wink and then screwed shut her eyes, her hands in prayer, and made a wish.

He ate the rest of the cake and made a silent wish himself.

Buddy was asleep in Bright’s chair when he got to the of- fice, but was happy enough to be picked up and placed on Bright’s lap to finish his nap.

He didn’t have much left to do, only a couple of last-min- ute payments. Janice popped her head around the corner to say goodbye. “Hope you’ve got your costume sorted for the party,” she said with a wink. “See you tomorrow.”

Bright sat and thought for a minute. He really wasn’t a dressing up sort of guy. But he’d bet good money Mary was. He thought about her face at the skating rink and again when she told the kids about the candy canes, then he typed something into the search on his laptop, fishing in his pock- et for his wallet to retrieve his credit card. What the hell, it was Christmas after all.

The clubhouse was closed until the party now and he was about to leave when he heard a strange noise coming from the cafe kitchen. On closer inspection, he discovered Mary, singing away badly, standing at the kitchen bench crying.

“Mary, what’s going on?” he said, going in to comfort her. She looked up and grinned, her Christmas tree earrings swaying.

She told him about the kids planting the peppermints while they worked. Bright chopped fresh herbs while she cracked eggs into a bowl. “They were so cute, they insist- ed on planting one for everyone, even the cat.” She poured breadcrumbs into her stuffing mix. “Luckily, your dad had a big bag of candy canes for Bern to plant once they go to bed.” The stuffing done, they washed their hands under the tap,

“You have something, maybe red paint, on your wrist.” She rubbed at the paint with her fingers. Her hand felt warm when she touched him.

“I missed you today,” he said, and she turned to him. “I missed you too.”

He leant in and kissed her. She kissed him back and then he lifted her up, sitting her on the bench, and her legs went around his waist.

“This can’t be hygienic,” she said with a laugh when they caught their breath.

CHAPTER 36