“Oh, well, yes, I suppose. You could take these out to the sitting room.” She indicated the plate of biscuits and a stack of matching smaller plates. “Oh, and take the napkins too, dear,” she added. She’d got a “dear” out of Cecily. Progress.

Cecily continued to flit about her kitchen with skilful efficiency, and Chloe did as she was told. Thankfully, being the bearer of biscuits seemed to win her some much-needed brownie points.

She served the committee members in turn, and as they helped themselves to one or two biscuits, each rewarded her with a smile—except Simon, but Chloe was doubtful he’d ever smiled in his entire life. As he took a handful of biscuits, which Chloe thought was extremely rude, he gave her a bit of a grunt. Perhaps it was his way of saying “thank you”.

Just then, there was a loud knock at the door. “Get that will you, Chloe,” Cecily called from the kitchen. So far, co-chairing the Christmas Fair was a lot like being a dogsbody for a bunch of pensioners.

Chloe, still holding the plate of biscuits, took herself off to the front door and opened it. In five hundred million years she would never ever, ever, have guessed who would be standing on the front step, duffel bag over one shoulder and looking even more handsome than he did on the big screen.

She nearly dropped the plate.

“Hello,” said the world’s biggest film star as he wiped raindrops from his shoulders.

“Hello,” she said, unwittingly blocking the doorway.

“Do you mind if I come in?”

She shook her head, dumbly, then realised she was in the way. “Oh, sorry.” What is happening?

“Thanks,” he shuffled past her and raised a hand at the room of people. “Hello everyone, is my mum home?”

“In the kitchen, darling!” Cecily sang out.

Holy frigging hell. Cecily was Archer Tate’s mother.

Once Chloe recovered from the shock of opening the door to the world’s biggest film star, the Christmas Fair meeting had gone quite well. After warm greetings from everyone, including Simon, and a kiss from his mother, Archer had left them to it, settling into the guest room while Chloe asked everyone to explain their roles and update the group on their progress.

It turned out that all Chloe would have to do was help Cecily manage the logistics on the day, so that everything from deliveries to set-up to packing up went smoothly.

The committee members departed, including Susan, all with promises to complete last-minute checks and to call if there were any problems, and Chloe had stayed to help Cecily clean up. At least, that’s what she’d told Cecily, who was putting the furniture back into its proper places while Chloe was up to her elbows in sudsy water.

Chloe eyed the dishwasher with annoyance as she washed another teacup. Why had she been tasked with handwashing everything if there was a dishwasher? And when was Archer going to come and talk to her? As far as she could tell, she was the only person in the entire village who was even close to his age. Maybe they’d hook up. That would certainly make it a Christmas to remember.