‘Hang on a minute, I’ve done nothing wrong here at all.’ Emma was very aware that her reputation was at stake, and felt conscious of the poor customers still hovering in the shop having to hear all this. ‘But,’ she continued calmly, despite her heart going ten to the dozen, ‘it certainly sounds as though you and Max have things to sort out. Anyhow, I doubt if I’ll be seeing him – as far as I know he’s already headed back for work.’

In fact, she doubted she’d be seeing him again at all, after this incident.

‘Well, let me just make it clear: he’s taken. We go back a long way. So, I’ll be on my way.’ With that, Siobhan flounced out of the shop.

Em stood behind the counter, feeling shellshocked.

‘I’m so sorry about that,’ she rallied, apologising to the couple.

‘Well, she was a bit of a whirlwind.’ The gentleman smiled awkwardly. With that, they picked up a small bag of fudge – the nearest thing to them – paid, and quickly left. It felt like the damned woman had sucked the air out of the place.

Once the shop was empty, Emma felt a tear crowd her eye, dammit.

Bloody hell! What a mess. She might have known something like this would happen. So, she’d gone and dipped her toe into the pool of romance, got swayed by a handsome face and a nice physique and here she was already feeling battered and bruised. See, she knew this romance lark wasn’t worth all the bloody bother. Just wait till she told Bev about this one. Maybe it was a lucky escape. Okay, so her heart had had its edges torn, but hey, the centre of it had been ripped out years ago.

The shop was quiet after that, thank heavens, and now it was nearly closing time. Emma still felt a little battered from the day’s incidents. She looked around her little shop and let her mind drift back to the start, when she’d first seen this place up for rent seven years ago.

It was a winter’s day in the week before Christmas. Of course, it wasn’t a chocolate shop then, just a rather rundown cottage that had had its front room converted into a shop.