A/N: First to everyone who has asked I continue '25 days to Christmas' - I promise I will. I'm just in a bit of a flow with this one right now. (The good news, if you like my writing, is that I'm off work until Jan 7 so I hope to get quite a bit of writing done even if there is a lot of family gatherings too.) As always, thanks for the reviews! I really enjoy writing both these Christmas stories, so I'm happy if you like reading them too.

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Chapter 5

Next morning, Dave and Molly brought me to the pub to show me how everything worked out there. I was a complete novice in the field, if one does not count being a bar customer as experience. There had not been too much of that either in the last years. I had been a frequent pub goer in my student days and when Elvis and I were cadets. That changed long before he died. First we reduced the frequency because we both wanted to stay fit and realised we did not like the loss of focus that being pissed meant, then it happened even more seldom as he met Georgie and prioritized family life. I had only been pleased to see it, see that Elvis was done jumping around among women even if I sometimes missed his company. Now I stroke with my palm over the smooth counter, polished by all the elbows leaning on it over the years and felt sad that we would never get to have a beer together again.

"You look sad? Is it the prospect of working in the pub?" Molly asked me.

"No, I'm looking forward to it actually. I was sentimental over a lost drinking buddie."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I already had talked to her about it many times, she just did not know.

"Maybe some other time. Now I'm here to learn the bar so I can be of help."

She looked at me, for a moment without her cheeky smile.

"Okay but know that I'd love to listen if you need to talk."

I nodded, suddenly unable to say anything because I knew she meant it and that meant a great deal to me.

It seemed it would not be too difficult to handle the bar if only I could serve beer and wine. People did not tend to order fancy drinks here, except the occasional G&T and that was a drink which I knew how to make with eyes folded.

As Bella had been working last night, she had missed the latest development.

"Are you going to work here?"

"Don't you see that I'm the new Dave? Or his replacement anyway?"

"I dare say that the ladies will be pleased with that replacement", she smirked and then, turning to her father; "This will be good for the business you know, at least for the female customers."

"Oi, are you saying I'm not as appealing to the ladies as captain James?"

Dave chuckled, and I felt myself blush. I know I do not look bad but unlike Elvis, I have never been very good at taking advantage of it. I had dated a bit, had a few longer relationships but in the last years mostly stayed single as I anyway had been away on tour much and even at home focused on my job. I was really bad at flirting though and the posibility of women hanging in the pub because I was standing in the bar made me uncomfortable. I'm the kind of guy who prefers to hang in the corner of the bar with my friends.

"We open at lunch time", Dave continued. "Maybe you can take your first shift then with Bella to get started when it is still quite calm, then take a break and continue the evening shift with Molly after dinner tonight?"

I was already looking forward to working with Molly. Nothing wrong with Bella but it was Molly I wanted to be with.

"Do you want to join me for a walk before you start? It's still an hour until the pub opens and I'm not due in the shop yet either", she now said.

"Yes, give him a tour – and make sure you show him our favourite spot", Dave mused. I did not know why, but I got the feeling that he liked the idea of Molly spending time with me.

"Sure, let's go."

We walked the streets, still almost empty at this hour of the day and came to the outskirts of the village in the opposite direction to where the Dawes family's house was located. The street changed into a narrow, winding, snowy path, first leading us over a field, the into a forrest. The firs trees were covered in thick layers of snow, the bare leafy trees were covered in crystals, making them sparkle in the sunshine. Suddenly we came to a clearing among the trees, and there was a small pond, covered with ice. It was such a serene and beautiful place.

"This is my parents' favourite place. Dad brought mum her for a pic-nic on their first date, he proposed to her here and they even got married here."

"I can see why they like it. I've been around the world, but places as beautiful as this are rare."

"It's even better in the summer."

"I can imagine."

"The only thing missing is a bench so one can sit down and enjoy it."

We stood there silent for a while, looking at the frozen sparkling scenery and I imagined a young Dave and Belinda getting married in a green version of it. I liked being here with Molly, almost even more when we were silent than when we spoke. Liked the mere presence of her next to me.

"We need to return now", she finally said, and I had the feeling she was only reluctantly interrupting the comfortable silence.

We went back to the village and I was about to head inside the pub, Molly to continue to Mr. Adams' shop, when a black sports car came driving down the street in high speed and stopped outside the pub with squealing breaks. I nearly made a comment to Molly about that it had to be a jerk driving like that here and such a car must mean the driver was trying to compensating for shortcomings in some other area, when I glanced at her and saw that she was smiling, indicating that she knew the driver and I swallowed my comment.

Out of the car came a guy her age, but the way he dressed in a suit and full-length wool coat suggested that he was trying to look older and distinguished. It is difficult to look distinguished when one is not taller than he was and has protruding ears though, and instead his outfit looked a bit ridiculous. He made me think of Dopey in Snow White. He did not look bad otherwise, with dark hair and ice blue eyes, but I got the feeling this was a guy I would find hard to take seriously, meanwhile he would expect to be taken very seriously. I instantly disliked him, and even more so when he walked up to Molly and gave her a kiss. I had hoped that Smurf was out of the picture, but apparently he was not.

"Charles, this is my boyfriend, Dylan."

I shook his hand, the first person in Snowhaven I did not like. He looked suspiciously at me.

"And you are?"

"Charles James."

"Charles will be helping us in the pub for a few days. Dad sprained his ankle yesterday and with the high-season and all we needed a pair of extra hands."

He still did not look very pleased but chose to ignore me, turned his back to me and spoke only to Molly.

"Are you on your way to the shop?"

"I am."

"Then I'll come with you and ask if you can have the afternoon free."

"I don't know, it's really busy days before Christmas."

"I'm sure I can convince Adams. I think I have the right to spend time with my girlfriend when I'm finally here."

I had to bite my lip not to tell him that it was hardly everyone else's problem that he chose to stay away from his girlfriend and that he could not expect the village life to evolve around him when he returned, but it was between them and none of my business, so I kept quiet. I said goodbye and went inside with a damp blanket of disappointment over me. I had felt like Molly and I connected just in the way I had hoped, but I must be mistaken because she already had a boyfriend. Sure, I remembered that she had doubts about him, but if she stayed with him, must that not mean that she still loved him?

Despite this distraction, my first hours I the pub went very well. Even my stern mentor, Bella, was pleased.

"Very promising start, Charles. You might consider starting a pub of your own after this experience."

"I promise I'll consider that as an alternative career to beeing a captain."

In the late afternoon, I returned to the Dawes house for a few hours break and dinner before Molly and I were to work the evening. Unfortunately, Smurf was there as Molly had invited him for dinner. He was in a bad mood because Molly had not managed to take the day off as Mr. Adams needed her and she came home at the same time as me. He was very surprised seeing me at the house.

"What are you doing here Charles?"

"I'm staying here, in the guest room."

He turned to Molly.

"He's staying here?"

"All the B&B rooms are occupied around Christmas and at Mrs. Jones' pension too, you know that. We need the help and mum and dad offered him the room. Nothing strange about that."

"But I'm not staying here", he sulked.

"Because your parents have a house where you have a room, remember? Stop behaving like a little boy, Smurf."

"Dylan!"

"Sorry." She looked at me and she looked simultaneously embarrassed, I assumed over him questioning me staying there, and amused, I thought over the Smurf/Dylan thing. She was right when she wrote that he took himself far too seriously. I found it difficult to accept that she wanted to be with him, he seemed to be a schmuck, but she had said they had known each other since they were kids, maybe that explained it. I left them alone but as I walked up the stairs I heard that he did not let go of the subject.

"Have you let a stranger into your home? You never know if you can trust unknown people…"

"He saved dad's life, I told you, and he's in the army. I think he can be trusted."

"So he's not even a bartender? He's a bleedin' private? There are twisted freaks in the army too."

"Zip it, no need to be upset. No, he's not a bartender but he seems quite capable of handling the job. And he's not a private, he's a captain. Sure it's not the green-eyed monster that bothers you?"

"I'm not jealous, I'm just protective. I want my girlfriend to be safe."

I smirked to myself, because I had the feeling that that piece of information would disturb Smurf. He was the type of guy that did not like to feel inferior to anyone, but quite easily did. I had seen his type in the army and the way they usually made themselves feel more important was by repressing others. I hoped he was treating Molly well even if I did not like him.

Before the dinner, the family gathered around the big dining table because Smurf had offered, or rather insisted, to hold a wine tasting.

"I'm not sure this is a good time", Molly had objected. "Charles and I should not be drinking a lot before working."

"I think it's really unfair of you to go working this evening too when I'm here. The least you can do is to allow me to have some fun before you go. Come on, you know you can spit it out if you're worried about getting drunk", he said. "I've brought some really nice wines. This red one is a merlot from Chile with a fantastic bouquet…"

I watched Molly swirling the wine around in her glass, putting on the face of a connoisseur. She met my gaze and looked embarrassed, like she knew I could see she was just faking it.

"Do you like wine?", I asked innocently.

"Yes, I find it fascinating how different they are, the colour, the smell, the taste."

"The complex bouquet and the variation in tannins?"

"Yes", she lied shamelessly. "You too?"

"I know a bit about wine, but I prefer a beer." I grinned, and she looked at me suspiciously, then whispered.

"Me too, but don't tell Smurf."

"Now you will taste a really fine wine and see if you can have a guess what country and grape it is", Smurf said.

He seemed totally oblivious to that he was shooting above the target, that it was obvious that even if the Dawses enjoyed a glass of wine they had no need to analyse its components. He on the other hand, had a need to shine with his knowledge. Now he poured a dark brick red wine into the glasses from a bottle where he had covered the label, the colour so deep one could not see the bottom of the glass looking into it from above. He looked challenging at me.

"This is a notch better than what you get to drink in the army", his voice was disdainful for no reason and despite that I had not intended to first I could not resist giving the little shit what he deserved. My parents had a huge wine cellar and my dad had taught me about wines since I was a teenager.

I swirled by glass, inhaled deeply and then had a taste.

"Dense and full-bodied, well-defined tannins and stringent fruit acids…"

I saw his eyebrows raise but I was not finished.

"I taste fruit... berries, raspberry and blackberry, some spicy notes and bay leaf. Long after-taste… My guess is this is a wine from France, from the Rhône wine region. To be even more specific, I think it is a Châteauneuf-du-Pape, bottled by Guigal, probably from last year. And it's not one type of grape. Even if it's mostly Grenache noir, there's part Syrah and Mourvèdre too. Am I right?"

Smurf looked like he had eaten a lemon and I mentally high-fived myself.

"It's from this year."

"Amazing!" Dave said. "How could you guess?"

"My parents have fine wines as a hobby, so they have taught me a thing or two over the years, but I prefer not to over-analyse what I drink. I'd rather just have a glass and enjoy the taste."

"Well said", Dave giggled and I saw that Molly had to hold back not to giggle too.

Belinda tried to smooth things over.

"Anyway, thanks Dylan for arranging this. Now we need to clear the table so we can eat before Molly and Charles have to leave."

I think everyone enjoyed the dinner, except Smurf who looked like a thunder cloud. After the meal, he said he could drive us to the pub and when he dropped us off and said goodbye he got his revenge, even if I could not be sure he was aware of the effect on me. Outside the pub, he pulled Molly to him, groping her arse possesively and gave her a very long, deep snog for being in public. I turned my gaze the other direction and almost felt like vomiting. I really hated his guts.

"Sorry about that", Molly said as we entered.

"No need to apologize for kissing your boyfriend."

"Maybe not, but he's a bit overly affectionate when we haven't seen each other for some time."

"He's away a lot then?"

"He travels much for the wine importing firm and when he doesn't he works in their office in London and only comes here weekends."

"And you're fine with that?"

"I don't know. Anyway, time to work."

We had a few great hours working together. We were like a well-oiled machinery, completely compatible and managed to have a lot of fun while serving the orders. I thought Bella had a point, I liked this so much I could almost consider it as an alternative career, at least if I got to work alongside Molly.

After the final round of beers had been served and the last customers left, we cleaned up the place together and Molly locked. It was only fifteen minutes walk to their house so off we went in the cold winter's night. The snow creaked under our soles and our breath came out as smoke.

Molly stopped.

"Look up."

I did as she said and was overwhelmed. The sky was clear and here were there was not city lights like in London or even in Bath, there were layers upon layers of thousands of stars. For once one could see that the sky was bottomless.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Amazing. Do you know any constellations?"

"Hardly any. I think it's a bit like the wine thing. I don't need names for them to enjoy them."

"I agree."

In that moment, which was perfectly romantic, gazing at the stars after a night of fun team work, I was dying to pull her to me and kiss her, but I knew it would have destroyed everything as she already had a boyfriend. I wondered if he knew how lucky he was.

"But I have one favourite star which I have named. That one."

She pointed to one of the brightest shining ones.

"What do you call it then?"

"The unknown soldier. Don't ask, it was just a silly thing."

She started walking again and I caught up with her, walking in silence. I glanced at the star, which I now felt pretty sure was the one which she had made a wish to on my account. Wished that the unknown soldier who got her card, I, would get to come home to my loved ones. Now I made a wish of my own, that I would get to stay with her.