“Two love bombs, please.” I set two gold tokens down and looked around the dingy club, before focusing on the figure next to me.
“What are you doing, Coop?” Sitting on the cracked bar stool, I winced as the elbow of my pink jacket stuck to the tacky bar. “Amoré’s going crazy – you haven’t checked in for three days.”
My colleague’s blue eyes pierced mine. “Cariad,” he acknowledged, while the bartender placed two lurid red drinks in front of us.
“What are you doing?” I repeated.
“Quitting,” Coop replied.
My lips parted in surprise. “The most successful cupid in history can’t quit.”
Coop toasted me with his drink, before setting it back down, untouched. “Successful or scheming?” he muttered.
I frowned. “What’s gotten into you?”
“Probably the season,” he said flatly.
“What’s Christmas got to do with it?”
With a bored expression, Coop watched two elves break into a fight, their ice-mint cheer drinks smashing to the floor, before stating, “Because it’s fake. Do you know how many hideous things I’ve seen mortals do this time of year in the name of ‘love’, as if that’s an excuse.” He ran a hand through his tight blonde curls. “I’m tired of it.”
“But the good always outweighs the bad-”
He interrupted me angrily, “That doesn’t make it right, Cari.”
Uncomfortable, I clutched the stem of my glass. “That’s not our job. Our job is to nudge them when needed.”
“Well, it’s a job I’m no longer passionate for.” Coop stood, hefting his gold bow and sliding it over his dark-red leather jacket.
“The love bomb’s gone to your head, that’s all.”
He quirked one blonde eyebrow at his untouched drink.
“Oh,” I said.
He looked at me and heat spread across my cheeks at his intense gaze. “See you around, love,” he said and strode out.
I went after him, dodging a tipsy fairy, and catching him as he swung a leg over his scarlet motorbike.
“Wait!”
He tensed. “What, Cari?”
“Give me until sunrise to change your mind.”
“Why?” His tone held genuine puzzlement.
“Because…” Because humanity rested on a balance of love and hate, and love must always tip the scales. “We’ve been friends a long time. I can’t let you leave like this.”
Coop scrubbed a hand across his cherubic-with-a-hint-of-danger face. “Fine,” he said in resignation. “But no promises.”
To change his mind, perhaps, I should start at the beginning. I punched in a date on my heart-shaped device. Wispy pink smoke surrounded us and the motorbike. The smoke cleared, revealing a snowy hill overlooking a valley dimpled with huts.
Coop looked around in surprise. “Here, Cari?”
Beneath a large tree, its branches spread wide, stood a young couple. The man gazed at a girl with braided rows of red hair.
“I remember,” Coop said softly. “They met every day for months, yet he couldn’t find the words to express what was in his heart.”
“Until your first assignment.”
Coop tore his eyes from the pair. “Amoré chose my mentor well. I always wondered why we came here to watch them.”
“I needed you to see what happens if we didn’t nudge them occasionally. Their love was obvious, but he needed courage to voice it.” I touched Coop’s arm. “That’s where we come in.”
A thoughtful expression crossed his face. One to me.
“Ready?” At Coop’s nod, I chose different numbers; the smoke swirling again. In a blink, we were outside a golden-pillared red building. Snow dusted the steps beneath a star strewn sky.
Coop groaned. “Headquarters? I don’t remember ever giving Amoré a ‘nudge’.”
“As if Amoré would ever need our help in that area.”
We rode the lift up to Amoré’s office accompanied by piped-in Christmas tunes. The doors opened, revealing Amoré pacing the floor.
Unseen, we listened to Amoré’s inter-departmental conversation.
“… three missed matches…”
I gauged Coop’s reaction, but not even a spark of blue fire ignited his eyes. Didn’t he care? What if a missed match was an epic love story destined to burn throughout time?
Amoré swallowed. “I understand, Madam. I’ll take full responsibility.”
I turned to Coop, but he was no longer beside me. I joined him before the lift doors closed. “Where are you going?” I hissed.
“Come on, Cari. Did you think that would convince me?” Coop stabbed the ground-floor button with the end of his bow.
Disappointment replaced hope. Was Coop really too disillusioned to care? But it wasn’t his head on the line now.
“Amoré’s going to take full responsibility… for your mess!” I let heat edge my voice.
Ignoring me, Coop exited the lift as soon as the doors opened.
“You agreed until sunrise,” I shouted after him.
“Get on then,” he said curtly.
On the motorbike, I tapped in new digits. This was my final location – and chance. The smoke enveloped us for the last time.
“A graveyard?” Coop asked incredulously. “A place of death?”
“No, Coop.” I smiled sadly. “A place of love. Never-ending love.” I trailed my hand over the snowy gravestones. Flowers adorned newer ones, while memories shrouded the older ones.
Coop gently turned me to him. “You love them?” He brushed my cheek and I leaned into him, taking the comfort he offered. “You mourn their losses?”
I trembled. There were so many losses to bear.
“Oh, Cariad. You always were the department’s heartbeat.”
“And you always kept it real.”
Coop grinned then; crooked and dangerous. My heart stuttered. “We make a good team.”
“True.” I smiled.
“Sun’s up. How about we remind people what Christmas is really about?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Does that mean you’re staying?”
In answer, he threaded his fingers through mine and pulled me over to the motorbike. He started it up and I clung to his waist, inhaling his scent of leather and sugar, feeling like I’d won twice this Christmas.
A red exhaust heart floated behind us as we took off.
We had a scale to tip.
This story was chosen for our Christmas countdown and the author wins an email course of their choice.
About the author: E.G. Tudor is an award-winning multi-genre author. She lives on the beautiful South Wales coast with her husband, four children and crazy dog. Christmas is her favourite season, when everything is just that little bit extra magical.