They were lucky to find a table in the restaurant packed with families out for a Saturday night's treat for the kids.
It took Nora a while to persuade Martin that it was her turn to pay, but after he finally gave in, and the three of them carried their dinner to the table, they had a great time, as if this was something they did regularly, and not the first time ever.
Martin and Nora talked across the narrow table packed with plastic trays and cups, leaning closer and closer to catch each other's every single word over the medley of voices filling the place, while Daniel got lost in assembling his Happy Meal toy.
Nora smiled and reached for a clean napkin to wipe a drop of ketchup from the corner of Martin's lips, when he stood up suddenly and waved at someone standing outside, beyond one of the restaurant's large window. The person was nearly invisible in the darkness, which seemed impenetrable after the bright lights flooding the interior.
"I'll be right back," Martin said, rushing towards the door, then out of sight.
Nora saw him again a couple of moments later as he joined the person-- squinting into the darkness Nora saw an attractive redhead, a woman nearly as tall as Martin in her high heels, perfectly inappropriate for walking in the snow. She pulled Martin into a warm hug, wiping the ketchup off his face with a tissue she produced from her handbag, which was as faux-furry as her knee-length coat. A short girl now appeared from behind the woman, smiling up at Martin, before she looked through the window inside the restaurant and waved shyly at Daniel.
"I think a friend of yours is outside," Nora told the boy who was still immersed in his new toy.
He looked up and waved, then dropped his eyes back down.
"She's not my friend, just a classmate," he muttered on a sigh.
The contrast between Daniel's cold, uninterested treatment of the girl, and Martin's friendly behaviour to whom she believed to be the girl's mother, judging by their identical, reddish-brown, curly long hair, made Nora curious.
"Who are they?" she asked, feeling like it shouldn't concern her. But somehow she couldn't help it, she wanted to know.
"That's Victoria. Daddy works with her sometimes. And Lily," Daniel muttered, frowning, as he finished his drink, very loudly, sipping the last drops through his straw.
"And... you don't like Lily because...?" Nora probed. The little girl looked nice.
"Lily's good, I don't like Victoria. I like you more."
Nora stared at him, surprised into silence by the child's honesty. What did he mean by that? Clelia's words about the whole town hoping that Martin and Victoria would finally get together officially started to seep into the forefront of her mind, but they didn't have time to settle and click with what Daniel had just said, when she looked back to the window finding everyone gone, and Martin plopping back onto his seat.
"It's really cold outside," he said, smiling at them, running his hands up and down his arms to warm up.
His smile faltered as Daniel told him, "You should have worn your coat. Victoria would have waited."
Nora noticed Martin's gaze resting on Daniel, then dropped her eyes a moment before she felt him looking at her. She didn't look up until she heard him talking to his son.
"You knew that I needed to talk to her, right? To ask if we can finally release that fox, it's been with us for too long..."
"I don't want you to release it. Socks is my friend."
Martin sighed, "He is a wild animal, Daniel. He needs to go back home, he might have a family waiting for him somewhere. You have all the dogs, cats, and reindeer. " He took another deep breath, giving up the argument, before he added, "Lily is coming over, for a playdate, tomorrow afternoon."
Daniel groaned but said nothing, giving up too.
"Thanks for the dinner," Martin said as the three of them reached Clelia's market stall nearly an hour later.
The small square was packed with people, and the decorations and music playing from some of the stalls were adding a perfect Christmassy feel to the huge snowflakes fluttering from the sky.
"My pleasure," Nora said, freeing her hand from his, mussing Daniel's hair, then taking a step away from them, towards Clelia, who was observing them curiously from behind her stall.
"When..." Martin started, but Nora didn't let him finish.
"Enjoy your playdate tomorrow," she told the boy before she raised her eyes to meet Martin's, "I suppose I'll see you on Monday. Thanks for tonight, guys, I really enjoyed it."
She turned and walked away from them, looking back shortly to smile at Martin as he reminded her to call should she need anything.
Nora took a deep breath when she saw them walking towards the castle. She had had such a great time, right until Victoria had appeared to ruin her evening. From that moment on, Nora didn't know how to behave.
Who was she, Nora, for Martin? And who was this Victoria for him? The way the woman behaved around him hinted at the two being closer, more intimate than simple friends... The fact that Martin had not volunteered any information, coupled by the memory of what Clelia had told her, and Nora's feeling that she had no right to ask him did not help.
She sighed, reminding herself that it was she who had wanted to keep Martin within a friend zone, when had that changed?! It hadn't, she told herself firmly now. Whether Victoria was his friend or more, it didn't matter.
Nora resolved not to think about Martin anymore, but the world seemed to have conspired against her. Her new friend Richard was at her side with a cup of mulled wine the moment she deposited her handbag on the chair behind Clelia's stall.
"Are you two together?" he asked, nodding in the general direction where Martin and Daniel had vanished.
"Oh... no. Of course not. Thanks for the wine," she said, turning away, addressing a customer to avoid more unwelcome questions. What was between her and Martin was nobody's business.
However, the moment Richard was gone, her godmother started, and Nora spent the rest of the evening deflecting her questions and assumptions, trying to focus on books and customers.
A couple of hours later, Clelia finally decided that she had had enough of standing in the cold and let her go after they packed up for the night.
The old woman pulled Nora in an embrace before they parted ways. "Are you sure you don't want to stay over at my place tonight? It's late for you to go home alone. Or let me ask Mary if she would let Richard accompany you, he's not helping her much, anyway," she proposed, eyeing the young man who was laughing with a group of his friends.
"No, and no, thank you. Please, Clelia, I'll be fine. Don't let him see me go, I really don't need him to come along. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon." With that she walked away, hiding from Richard's sight among the few people still strolling across the square, certain that he would insist on walking with her, should he see that she was leaving alone.
Reaching the end of the square, Nora decided to avoid the dark and deserted park, opting to walk along the empty but well-lit street up to the castle. The worst part was when she passed the stables-- dark this time of the night-- and reached the meadow. The overcast sky did not offer her any help tonight, the night was lightless. But once her eyes adapted to the darkness, she realised that the snow covering the sloping meadow emanated enough whiteness to pass for light, and she quickly found the path, partly buried under a new layer of snow, which led to her cottage.
Once there, she dug her phone from her bag to use its light to see the stairs well and unlock the door, finding a text from Martin, sent nearly an hour ago, asking her if he should come to pick her up when she finished in the market.
Nora shut the door and leaned against its wood for a few moments, thinking, before she switched on the light. She was happy that she had not seen the text before, otherwise, she would have been tempted to accept, and she felt like she needed some time and distance between them... Didn't she?
Why don't you just stop thinking and... And what? she mused.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she took her coat and shoes off, gathered an armful of wood from the basket by the door, and lit the fire in the sitting room. Once that was done, she replied to Martin, thanking him, and explaining that she found his text late and was already back at home. She sent one to Clelia, too, before her worried godmother would call.