Nope. There was no way I could be in a well-lit room with Maeve. I was just going to have to stay in this hedge. For ever.
“Maybe, but one of our friends has gone AWOL.” Harry looked back at the maze. “Weird, Molly was right here.”
Oh no, Harry. Ohhhh nooooo. There was no way I was moving. Never. Not for anyone.
But Jack stepped forward in my direction, his hand on his hip.
“Molly. Get out from behind the tree and stop being weird.” I stopped breathing in case it somehow could make me translucent. “And yes, I can see you.”
Jack literally reached in and pulled me out.
I fell forward, right towards Maeve, some twig impaled into my hat. In hindsight, this probably wasn’t the best entrance to convince her I wasn’t completely unhinged.
“Course. There you were. In a … tree?” Harry said, trying to keep a straight face. “Maeve, this is Molly. She’s actually more normal than she seems.”
Hmm. I’d dispute that. Maeve smiled – she looked like a goddess. And I looked a hedge monster.
“Niiii,” I said. Which was a mixture of “no” and “hi”. “Sorry, I meant ho.”
Nope. This wasn’t getting any better.
“I’m Maeve,” she said as if the whole world didn’t know. “Do I…” She tilted her head, giving me an intense look. I buried my face down as much as I could into my scarf. “Do I know you from somewhere?”
I had to play this cool. Not raise suspicions. “Nope. No. No. Nooooooooo.” I laughed. “Nicht. Nein. Just one of those faces.”
“Such a familiar face…” But Maeve didn’t look freaked out – she just gave me a really warm smile. “Well, if you guys don’t have plans, shall we head? I’m SO hungry.” Grace turned and gave me a look. The look of someone who was one second watching a film, and was now IN IT. Maeve didn’t even finish her sentence before Grace had said yes and started walking. But I had to drop the phone off with Elijah and grab the box so I said I’d catch them up.
“Well, you look like the elf that’s got the candy cane,” Elijah said as I ran back into the room, where all the production phones were back on charge. Please don’t let him tell me off for not being in any of the content. “Something happen?”
“Nah.” I tossed him the phone. “Just grabbing food with friends, that’s all.”
He raised an eyebrow. “No other plans?” I shook my head. He was so nosy. I could see why his job was trying to make stories.
“Sorry, Elijah. No gossip for you.”
He pretended to be offended. “As if… Just want you to have a good time. What are you up to tomorrow?”
I shrugged. “Don’t know. But Dad’s making us get up early to do a walk, so I might check out that bakery by our hotel for breakfast.”
Elijah nodded. “Oh Crumbs!”
“Is that a bad choice?”
Elijah actually tutted in despair. “No, that’s what it’s called. Oh Crumbs.” Right. “Anyway, I wanted to say, nice job today. You guys did good.” I wasn’t expecting that! “That livestream with Stormy’s dog got major traffic.”
“All Grace’s idea.” I smiled. It was nice to get something right for a change.
“Why do you think I said yes to bringing her along?”
“Because I said I wouldn’t come unless you did?”
Elijah rolled his eyes. “Details, details. Although … I do still need one thing…”
“If you mean the music video, still no.” I’d done my part.
“And there’s nothing that could make you say yes?”
I shook my head. Nope, there really was nothing worth giving up the normal life I’d worked so hard to protect. “Sorry…” I walked over to the big box of stuff he’d given us earlier. “So, does this mean we are done? You delete the clip and no more Sleigh Another Day for me?” I tried to pick up the box. It was so heavy!
“And I thought elves were meant to be good with parcels...” He grinned. “Don’t stress, I’ll get it biked to your hotel. Leave it there.”
“Thanks, but … is that a yes? About the clip? In fact, can you send it to me and then delete?” Having the evidence might come in useful if Maeve did recognize me. I could prove it was an accident.
There was a pause, which felt like an hour.
But then Elijah took out his phone.
“Sure.” It was his personal one and brand new, unlike the production ones we’d all been using. “Got it safe and sound?”
I turned my phone so we could both see it and opened up my messages. Oof. I needed to reply to Ru. His message was still just sitting there, asking about skating. But that wasn’t important right now. Above it was the thumbnail of the clip which had just arrived from Elijah.
“The eagle has landed,” I said solemnly, and with a nod, Elijah showed me his screen and deleted the original. “Happy now?” I watched as it disappeared, a weight disappearing off me too. “Although, if you change your mind about the music video. “You know where to find me.”
But I did feel better, which is why once I’d met back up with the others, despite googling venues for Grampy G’s Grotto whenever I had a spare second, I ended up having a ridiculously fun evening. First stop was a coffee shop in a tiny alleyway off the Royal Mile then Maeve got us a people carrier with blacked-out windows to take us to a path that ran along a small river. The huge buildings along it looked like they should be in a Harry Potter film, and when we headed up some stone steps, suddenly we were slap bang in the cutest little row of shops, the doors decked with wreaths, the windows full of snow and beautiful Christmas decorations everywhere. Forget Sleigh Another Day, this was like a film set. And they’d closed the whole top floor for us in this posh restaurant called Scran and Scotty! Grace and I froze when we saw the prices, but the manager came over and said the whole meal was free. Maeve’s life was ridiculous!
And maybe it was the sugar high, or maybe it was having the film events over, or maybe it was that Elijah had deleted the clip, or maybe it was seeing how Grace looked at Harry, or maybe it was that Maeve didn’t recognize me, or maybe it was the fact I messaged Ru to say we couldn’t meet, like a good Jingle Lady should, but I didn’t even cringe when Mr W and Dad turned up. In matching kilts. And things got even better when we got back to the hotel and went through the raffle prizes from Elijah. Grace sprinted down the hotel corridor in her gown and slippers to drag her dad out of bed to come and have a look.
I’d never seen someone go teary eyed over a prop fake hot chocolate before. But Mr W did. Everything was all signed by the cast – prop after prop, even a script from Maeve. We really were going to raise so much money for the hospice. We really were going to do Grampy G proud.
