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‘I know,’ Daisy said, even though she hadn’t until he said It was nice to kno, though
‘I don’t suppose Mrs Teain?’
‘She’s going to call the pound’ Daisy dropped her head to her hands ‘I think I s even worse And I wasn’t sure that was physically possible’
‘Oh, things can always be worse,’ Oliver said, unhelpfully, as Lara started to wail, as if on cue
‘Apparently so,’ Daisy agreed, taking the baby froet home As soon as possible’
Claude would never forgive them if they didn’t If he was even still there when they made it back
Her new outdoor lights wouldn’t arrive until the next , and Holly didn’t want to put the icicles back up before they caain Far better to spring the whole display on her at once, Holly had decided But she did want to decorate so, and with the tree already up, and every room made suitably festive, that only left Perdita
Perdita was not enjoying the experience, Holly could tell
Finally, once she’d wrestled the cat into her Christmas jumper, set a tiny Santa hat on her head, and taken a few photos for her blog, Holly gave up
‘Oh, okay Go find a nice warm radiator to curl up on, then,’ Holly said, and Perdita took her chance at escape, the Santa hat toppling off as she darted up the stairs
Holly looked around at her living roohts, and decorated in a perfect red and white colour schearland rested on the mantlepiece, and a cinnalass of h the telly What else could she possibly need?
She sighed She needed so toSo to make her feel less alone
So to distract her fro to be preparing for her wedding tomorrow
She couldn’t help but think about it Even knowing she ell rid of Sebastian, she couldn’t help but visualise her wedding dress hanging on the back of the door: snohite lace and a beautiful chiffon skirt, adorned with tiny diaht She’d have been sipping prosecco with her friends, herwould still be heavy on her left hand, and she’d be feeling relaxed froiven her as a treat
They’d probably have been doing all the last tiny touches tonight – tying ribbons on the handned, finishing off the individual favours she’d made It would all have been personal and crafty and perfect – and orld was she living in, exactly?
Holly took another swig of mulled wine, and forced herself to face reality
Sebastian would have insisted on ordering all the wedding stationery and favours and stuff froht to book her a pa day in a million years Her mother would be sick with nerves, Sebastian’s sisters would never have spent the evening here, and she didn’t even like prosecco all that much
Most ie mistake
With Sebastian out of her life, she got to be herself again To focus on the things she loved – her craft business, Christmas, Perdita
And she got to do it all alone
Holly sighed At least there was the prospect of seeing Jack tomorrow, even if it was only because he wanted to surprise the lady next door with a Christmas treat She had to keep that in et distracted by his lovely arms, or his nice smile, or those eyes …
No She was not going to spend the evening fantasising about the postman That was si to stoop to
But she needed to do souy she’d had the slightest spark with since Sebastian left had told her flat out that he was leaving soon At least he’d had the decency to give her fair warning, before she got invested It was more than Sebastian had done
Restless, Holly got to her feet andmore upbeat and less slow and sy Action
Maybe she could do some preparation for Kathleen’s Christht reasons too – not just because she wanted to flirt with hiht? But what? The decorations were already ordered, it was too late to go food shopping, she’d alreadyand napkins and table cloths to host three Christmases and … The cake!
Dashing out of the lounge, Holly yanked open the under stairs cupboard and pulled out the tin she’d hidden away at the botto it out periodically to top it up with brandy How could she have forgotten the Christmas cake? She’d made it in a fit of despair after Sebastian had left, and then put it away and not given it another thought If she hadn’t been desperate for distraction tonight, she ht not have remembered to decorate it at all!
Taking the tin through to the kitchen she cleared a space for it on the table and set it out It smelled heavenly, and she had sowere all ready and waiting, too
Holly frowned The only thing was, it didn’t look so big, now Understandably; when she’d made it, she’d assumed she’d be alone for Christ by there was no one else to eat it anyway But now … it looked sort of sad and small There was probably plenty for her and Jack and Kathleen, though And Claude, if he came back
But what if some of the other people on the street stopped by? Or ht pop in for coffee, sometime between Christht?