It was only a week until the shop closed for Christmas and the staff were given time off for the holiday, but to Rachel it felt like an eternity. As she went through her shifts, conscious, as always, of Emily, she found herself constantly checking the clock above the mantelpiece. Every day she pressed a treat out of her advent calendar—filled with chocolate, since she liked the tradition—and knew that it brought her closer to the Christmas party.
The get together was set a few days before their holiday, organized so that no one had any other plans, and was really just an evening at the local pub. They did it every year—and at Halloween, too—as part of ‘keeping up morale’. At least, that was what Phil said.
Rachel groaned as her alarm beeped anxiously at her from the nightstand. She rolle
