‘I’m pleased it’s all working out for you, Hattie. It would have been awful if you went away and still weren’t talking.’

‘It would,’ I agreed, not that I was planning on going anywhere. ‘But thanks to you,’ I told him, ‘I don’t have to worry about that now. That card might have been sent in error, but I’m very grateful that it ended up in the postbox.’

Beamish nodded, but didn’t look half as happy or relieved by my words as I hoped he would. Come to think of it, he didn’t look anything like as cheerful as he had earlier on.

‘Hattie,’ he sighed, his change in tone making me sit up straighter.

‘What?’

‘Is there anything else you want to talk about?’

‘No,’ I said, ‘I don’t think so.’

‘Are you sure?’

I chewed my lip. This could be the moment, the last opportunity to explain everything. He was offering it to me on a plate, but I couldn’t do it. There was no point in doing it now my relationship with Jonathan was over, was there?

‘Yes, I’m sure.’ I nodded, swivelling back to face the screen, ‘one hundred per cent.’

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

There wasn’t space to put down another thing in Dolly’s cottage by the time we had finished unloading the contents of Beamish’s truck. Flowers, cards, gifts and cake covered every available surface and if my friend joked again that ‘Christmas had come early’, she would have said it a hundred times since I arrived in town.

‘I’m certain there’s at least twice as much as when I retired the first time,’ she said, shaking her head as she took the scene in.

‘Yes, well,’ Beamish reminded her, as he nudged things aside to set down one last vase on the dresser, ‘you’ve added a fair few extra years of service on to the tally since then, Dolly.’

‘I suppose you’re right,’ she yawned.

I tried to catch Beamish’s eye but failed. Dolly’s decision to leave school now, rather than in the summer, had definitely been the right one and I was certain he would agree.

‘And now you can do all the things you’ve never had time for,’ I suggested. ‘Perhaps you’ll find another hotel to stay in that you’ll come to love just as much as the Lucca’s.’

‘Yes,’ she said, heading to fill the kettle, ‘perhaps. If there’s time.’

‘I think she needs an early night,’ Beamish said to me, then added in a whisper. ‘I’ll bring those bits round for you in the morning.’

‘As long as you’re sure it’s no bother.’

I had come up with something else for the Wish List that I thought Dolly would love and Beamish had offered to collect what I needed to make it happen.

‘Of course not,’ he shrugged, ‘I’ve already told you.’