into the tea rooms.’ If he sounded flippant it wasn’t because he meant to; he was dreading this. ‘It’s time for me to apologise.’
‘Good for you.’ And something in the way she smiled suggested she believed he was a changed man. He picked up the remaining few flyers from where he’d left them when he came in. ‘Wish me luck.’
‘Let me know how it goes.’
‘Will do.’ Was she inviting him back? He hoped so. She’d been an unexpected perk of coming back here and he liked it.
Daniel stepped out into the cold and buttoned up his coat. He hadn’t been back here for thirteen years but already he was appreciating the reminders of what Christmas in Heritage Cove was like. The decorations lined the main road running through the village and businesses on The Street had put up their own festive cheer. He’d passed Tilly’s Bits ’n’ Pieces on the way home from the pub last night and seen a small tree in the bay window of the shop as well as a four-foot snowman with a black hat and pink dotted cheeks beside the front entrance. He’d crossed over the road to see the nativity display out front of the chapel too. It was still in the same position as it had been every year when he was a kid. One of the wise men still even had a crack in his crown, indicating that although time had moved on here, some things stayed the same. Heritage Cove was still a village people moved to but rarely left. Unless you were running away, of course, like he had.
Leaving Lucy’s now, he passed the ice-creamery, which still had its blackboard sign out front. Weighted down so any winter winds didn’t carry it away and with tinsel around the edge, it prominently listed winter flavours of Christmas-cake crunch, apple cinnamon, cranberry, and Christmas pudding. He could vouch for the Christmas-cake crunch – one flavour that would definitely make his final cut.
He crossed the road and passed the bakery that was a winter wonderland with its criss-cross glass windows edged with fake snow, the Tudor-style exterior exhibiting a green garland with twinkling white lights looped across the top of the window frame and another around its doorway. A Santa pulling a sleigh full of presents sat behind the glass along with plated displays of gingerbread men with colourful coat buttons, mince pies, meringue snowmen and decadent chocolate yule logs.
Daniel walked past the archway that separated the bakery from the tea rooms and stopped outside. He might be a lot older than when he’d got caught red-handed by Etna, but that didn’t make him any less petrified about doing this.
Etna hadn’t held back on the decorations at the tea rooms. There was a garland on the front door festooned with gold velvet ribbon amongst the greenery and tied at the top, and when Daniel pushed open the dark wooden door to the interior it was as inviting and cosy as he remembered, with a small tree in one corner. Each table had a bowl in the centre with red, green, gold and silver pieces that looked like dried petals. A string of lights hung around the front of the counter, framing the menu. It was the way it had always been, and when Etna came out from the back concentrating on carrying two mugs brimming with hot drinks topped with cream she didn’t see him at first.
‘Merry Christmas,’ she greeted, walking back to him and around the other side of the counter. ‘Now, what can I get for you?’ Her smile wavered when she lifted her eyes to his. ‘I heard you were back in the village,’ she said after a pause.
‘Etna, Merry Christmas to you too.’
‘To what do I owe this pleasure?’ she carried on formally, brushing her hands on the green apron that had a big reindeer emblazoned on the front.
‘I’m here to finally say I’m sorry.’
She was trying not to grin, or at least he hoped he’d read her reaction correctly. ‘You’re sorry for what?’
‘Come on, Etna, you know what I’m sorry for.’
‘I want you to say it.’
‘Stop teasing him,’ came a voice and he turned to see Barney sitting with a woman who had to be Lois. ‘He’s apologising. Let him get on with it.’
Etna smiled at last. ‘I’m winding him up. If I can’t have a little fun at Christmas then when can I? Don’t you agree, Lois?’ she called over to the woman with Barney.
With delicate features