New Boys Can't Date The Snow Queen, Part 4
Wednesday
The garden centre didn’t close until seven p.m., so that would give me plenty of time to talk about ideas with Blake. The lampposts dotted around the car park were already lit, flooding the area with amber light and allowing me to find the perfect parking space.
Clutching my small ring binder, I got out of the car and locked it. The exterior of the garden centre was decorated with wreaths, and lights woven around thick green and red tinsel. It looked welcoming, almost homely.
I walked right into the place, binder tucked against my side. The scents of green, spices and warmth almost sent me reeling right back out again. All around the place were winter plants like poinsettias, cyclamen, amaryllis and something that looked like ivy, but couldn’t be.
“Hello there, dearie!” A woman in a bright pink shirt and dark green apron came bustling over towards me. “Would you like some help with anything?”
“No, thanks. I’m just here to meet someone at the café.”
“Well, if you do want to browse or want help buying anything, just let one of us know. We’ve got some lovely gift ideas in stock, and some brand-new Christmas tree decorations! They came in just yesterday – you can find them over there.” She pointed somewhere to the right, smiled at me whilst wrinkling her nose in a friendly manner, then went away again.
I wove my way through the tables of plants and into the main section of the garden centre. Luckily, the café was right in the centre instead of being tucked away in a corner somewhere.
Lights were set above it like a veil of stars, and each table had a perfect little green and red decoration in the centre. Christmas carols played softly in the background, and I felt my throat ache a little.
This wasn’t right. This was a warm place, a welcoming place; someone like me shouldn’t even be…
“Claire! Over here!”
Blake sat at a nearby table, waving at me. I couldn’t think how I had missed him.
“Are you OK?” he asked as I sat down. “You looked…”
I raised my eyebrows, daring him to complete the sentence.
“…like you were scared of something.”
“I wasn’t.” At least, nothing he would understand.
A girl with curly blonde hair came over to the table. I recognised her from college: Flora Greenfield, the first host of the Three Autumn nights. It made sense that she’d be here; she’d specialised in plant magic, like her mother.
“Would you like to order anything?” She put a pen to a notepad, looking at us expectantly.
“I’d like a cherry pie, with a cinnamon hot chocolate, please,” Blake said.
She wrote it down. “Would you like marshmallows, whipped cream, neither or both?”
“I’ll have whipped cream on top. Claire, you having anything? My treat.”
Oh. That was…kind.
“Thank you. I’ll have the same as him,” I told Flora, who smiled at us both and walked away. I turned back to Blake. “Do you mind if I go first with my ideas?”
He shook his head. “Nope. Can’t wait to see what you’ve got.”
I opened the binder and pushed it across the table to him. He turned the pages slowly, studying the sketches.
“Is this a winter wonderland?”
I shook my head. “It’s a palace of ice. The colour scheme would be white, silver and different shades of blue. I was thinking some snowflake decorations, and the colour of the glass in the windows would be changed temporarily. There is a charm that can do that. Also, there are blue and white strobe lights, and white LED lights strung from wall to wall to look like stars.”
Blake gestured to the tiny lights above us. “You mean like these?”
“Yes.” Flora had done something similar at her autumn party.
“That’s great; I love these ideas. I had a look at the decorations and themes for the last three balls, and they all had green, red and gold for colour schemes. Blue, silver and white are winter colours, but…there’s just one thing that’s bugging me.”
“What’s that?”
Blake gestured to the binder. “This is supposed to be a Christmas celebration. Ice and snow are gorgeous, but on their own they aren’t very…”
“Christmassy?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
He did have a point.
Flora returned, carefully carrying a tray. “Two cherry pies, and two hot chocolates with whipped cream.” She placed the plates and brimming mugs in front of us and peered at the binder. “Hey, are those ideas for the ball? That looks great! Can’t wait to see them next week!”
After she’d gone, Blake said: “Why don’t we have Christmas trees dotted about the place, with silver and blue baubles and lights? Also, we could decorate the food and drinks tables with pine branches and tinsel around the edges.”
“That’d be pretty festive.” I took a long gulp of the hot chocolate; the cream on top had cooled it down slightly. Then I tried the pie.
The rich and sweet cherries made my mouth water, and the pastry was sweet and buttery with a touch of icing sugar. Immediately, I took another bite – I couldn’t help myself.
“I knew you’d love it,” Blake said with his mouth full. There was a tiny bit of whipped cream on the end of his nose.
I gestured awkwardly at him. “You’ve, um…you’ve got a bit of…”
“Hmm? Oh.” He blushed and wiped it off. “Thanks.”
Blake smiled, and I couldn’t look away from him. Was it the way the little golden lights above us seemed to shine in his eyes, or was it the warmth of his smile?
“Hey, why don’t we look up some aesthetics?” He took out his phone and started tapping on the screen.
I edged my chair around the table until I could see what he was looking at. Those pictures certainly were pretty, but they’d be way beyond our budget. I did like the look of some tiny crystals hanging in streams, as if to form a makeshift door.
“Do you think that could work?” I asked, pointing at the image.
“Yeah, that’d certainly be atmospheric.” He laughed, rolling his eyes. “If my cousins heard me use that word, they’d never let me forget it.”
I was sitting too close to him. I knew I should move away, but at the same time I couldn’t make myself. He felt warm. When was the last time I’d felt this at ease?
To distract myself, I glanced around the café and saw a young man in a black leather jacket sat at the table in the far corner. His expression was sullen, but I could see the glint of his eyes as Flora walked up to his table and placed his order in front of him. He nodded at her, but his eyes followed her as she went back to the counter.
“That’s Hayden Ashcroft,” Blake said.
“I’ve never seen him before.”
Blake shook his head. “You wouldn’t have; he doesn’t go to college with us.”
“He’s our age?” I almost glanced back at that table in surprise.
“Yeah, he turned eighteen a few weeks ago and moved away from his family. He’s renting somewhere outside town.”
“So how do you know him?”
“Well, you know my uncle owns the property agency here, right? He’s been wanting to rent that place out for ages, but nobody wanted it except Hayden. He…” Blake glanced guiltily at the table, as if to check Hayden wasn’t watching or listening. “He came to borrow some of our things like plates, knives and glasses, just until he can buy his own. Guess he enjoys the treats here just like the rest of us.”
Clearly, the pies and cakes weren’t all that was catching his attention here. I hoped for Hayden’s sake that Flora’s mother didn’t know about his crush.
Wait a moment. “When you say Ashcroft, do you mean…”
Blake nodded. “Yup. Those guys.”
No wonder Hayden left.
“So are we OK with this?” Blake asked. “We’re going for the ice palace?”
“You haven’t told me any of your ideas yet.”
Now he looked a little embarrassed. “That’s because I didn’t bring any.” He pointed at a rucksack lying beside his chair. “I did bring this huge, empty notebook so we could brainstorm but we don’t need to do that now. I think the ice palace is brilliant.”
“Really?”
I almost blushed. Why had I said that?
“Yes,” he said seriously.
I cleared my throat. “I’ve had another idea. Someone told me there are some new tree ornaments for sale in the centre. I’m not sure about the size of our budget, but maybe we could have a look while we’re here. After we finish our food.”
“Yeah, we’ve still got…” Blake looked at his phone. “…about an hour left? I think it’s Brendan’s turn to help my aunt with supper tonight, so we should be OK.”
For lack of anything better to talk about, I asked: “How old were you when you first used your magic?”
“I was ten. Got into an argument with this kid at my school; I kept getting angrier and angrier, and next thing I know my hands have caught fire. I don’t know how I managed to stop myself from burning the carpet!” He put his hot chocolate to his lips and took a long, leisurely gulp. “The school called my parents, and I was whisked off to get tested.”
“Tested?”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds, just a series of tasks they ask you to so they can measure how strong your magic is. I’ve gotten a lot better at controlling it now, but sometimes it appears when I…you know, lose my temper. Is there magic in your family?”
I shook my head. “There was, but there isn’t now.”
After we’d finished our treats, I waited at the table while he paid at the counter, then we went to look for the decorations.
“I think she said they were over here.” I wandered in the direction the store employee had pointed, hoping that it was the correct way.
It was. For a moment, I thought we’d walked into a completely different shop. In front of us was an array of wreaths woven out of all kinds of greenery and adorned in a myriad of ways; behind them were boxes and shelves filled with baubles, tinsels, velvet bows, dried fruit, lights and candles.
“Wow,” Blake laughed. “If my mum ever sees this, she’ll think she’s gone to heaven.”
“I think that’s what we’re looking for.” I walked right towards the boxes with baubles. Most were in green, red or gold, but some were in the colours we were looking for. “Do you think they’ll do?”
Blake picked up a clear box of baubles and frowned. “They look pretty good – but like you said, we haven’t been told what our budget is yet. We should definitely keep this in mind.”
I cleared my throat. “Thank you for the hot chocolate and the pie.”
He looked right at me and smiled that warm smile again. “You’re welcome.”
The mirror would still be there when I went home. But for now, I could pretend that everything was all right.