already passed the crafted trivet to Barney so he could gift-wrap and put it beneath his tree for Lois. Lucy wondered how much they’d laugh when they realised they’d both sourced their presents from the local blacksmith. It showed how made for each other they were, anyway, and they’d have a wonderful Christmas, the two of them.
‘I’m afraid I haven’t had a chance to read anything,’ Tilly confessed when Melissa asked who’d read the novel they’d selected months ago. ‘The shop is busier than it’s been any other year and I can’t knock it, long may it last.’
‘The inn is the same, Christmas is as busy as the summer season for me,’ said Tracy, tucking into a mince pie and enjoying a couple of hours off.
Celeste and Jade apologised that they hadn’t read the book either and Melissa asked Lucy whether she’d had a chance.
Lucy shook her head. ‘I’ve been flat out with work too.’ That and thinking about Daniel, not to mention working on the tortoise design to give him for Christmas. After the run-in with Julian that had interrupted the special moment she’d shared with Daniel as they hung his new sign in place and took photographs, Lucy had come inside, restless, and being unable to sleep, she’d gone down to the workshop and got on with the gift she was sure he was going to love. It was the same size as the tortoise she’d made for a family previously, and should Daniel want to keep it outside she could easily apply a protective coating later. She’d added a grey tinge to the iron to make it more realistic and had even worked a small compartment into the bottom so he could use it to hide a spare key.
Lucy brought herself back to the conversation. It was Etna’s turn to defend her lack of reading this month. It seemed they all had manic lives.
‘My tea rooms have been the busiest they’ve ever been in December,’ Etna shared. ‘I’m looking forward to palming off some customers to Daniel’s new waffle shack, let me tell you. I’m too old to be working this hard.’
Patricia laughed. ‘Don’t say that, I’ll be out of a job if you send people away.’
‘Never,’ said Etna. ‘I’ll put my feet up a bit and you can still be busy.’
Lois recalled her first visit to the tea rooms, how they’d stayed in there for hours and commented on what a welcoming place it was. ‘For a small village, Heritage Cove does well. The Street has businesses I hope stick around forever.’
Lucy wondered what it would take for Lois to stick around forever instead of going back and forth to Ireland.
‘We’re small enough that we’ve got character,’ Melissa put in, ‘but I agree, we want businesses to stay here for the duration. And I get the feeling Daniel’s will.’
‘Cheers to that,’ said Lucy, raising her glass to each of them.
‘Cheers to the businesses staying, or cheers to Daniel?’ Tilly teased and Lucy shot her a look. She might be keen on the guy but she was nowhere near ready to share that with anyone else.
‘Cheers to Heritage Cove,’ Lucy said to distract everyone. A sure way to do that was to bring the attention back to the village and it worked, as Celeste and Jade shared their recipes for mince pies with Tracy and Lucy, and Etna and Tilly lapsed into a conversation about Christmas decorations on The Street and in the shop windows and how snowfall would make everything extra perfect if it happened this year.
‘Are you sure you won’t have a glass of bubbly?’ Patricia said to Lois yet again as she took a turn to top up glasses. ‘This is the last book club before Christmas.’
‘A fine book club it is when nobody reads the book,’ Melissa laughed. ‘I was the only one this time. I guess being cabin crew and having stopovers has its perks – I fit in a lot of reading.’
‘No bubbly for me,’ Lois said again. Patricia had had a few and as a result was rather persistent. ‘I’ll have a nightcap with Barney but that’s all. You know, that man is wearing me out, it’s a rest to come here. These days I fall asleep the second my head hits the pillow.’
‘Hey, some of us aren’t getting any sex,’ said Tilly. ‘The less we have to hear about yours the better.’
Raucous laughter at Lois’s blushes and denial ensured they wouldn’t be talking much about any book tonight so