‘Right. Well, I’ll see you later. Good luck.’ She heard a shout, another male voice echoing down the line. ‘Sorry, I’ve got to go, the lads need some help here.’

‘Right, no worries. See you.’

‘Bye, Em.’

Bev had busied herself plumping up the window-seat cushions, ready for their first arrivals. ‘Max?’ she asked with a big grin, evidently happy with her matchmaking skills.

‘Might have been,’ Emma answered with a smile, her mind still buzzing. What was he scheming? A meal out somewhere was the most likely, or a cinema trip? Who knew.

‘Love is in the air,’ Bev started singing.

Holly was grinning. ‘Now then, Emma, what has been going on? I knew I recognised that builder bloke the other day.’

‘Hah, now is not the time or the place,’ she answered cryptically. ‘We have work to do, ladies.’ And Emma walked to the shop door where she proudly turned her sign to ‘open’ with a flourish, singing, ‘Ta-dah’, accompanied by a big cheer from Holly and Bev.

Em poked her head out and looked up and down the street; unfortunately, no one was there.

‘We ought to be breaking open a bottle of bubbly or something,’ Bev said to lift the moment. ‘I should have thought and brought something along.’

‘Friday. We’ll wait till Friday and do that at the launch. Remember, we do actually need to work today.’

They took their places behind the counter and waited anxiously. Emma fiddled on, tidying the displays, then read over her new café menu – she’d designed it herself on the computer last night and printed it off on cream-coloured card. To be absolutely honest, there wasn’t an awful lot on the menu as yet: pots of tea (breakfast, Earl Grey, green or fruit blends), cafetière of local ground coffee, hot chocolate (with or without cream and marshmallows), milkshakes, brownies, cookies, chocolate cake (yes, the lovely Maureen had come up trumps!) or choc-chip shortbread. She had also put a chocolate truffle selection on the list too. She would extend her range as soon as she could, once she’d seen what might sell best, and she hoped to keep everything homemade, as well as having all her usual chocolate shop creations for sale too.

Earlier, she’d strung some festive stars up in the windows, to tie in with the pattern on the cushions, and they were catching the light beautifully. She hoped they might also catch the tourists’ eye. She’d have to plan her full window display in the next couple of days to have it ready for the launch – she hadn’t had time this morning – because she was going to go the whole hog and create a full-on Christmas display.