‘No, you’ve worked hard. You deserve it. Go and get yourself a little treat. Also, Hols, I’m going to need you to do full days on a Saturday for me, right up until Christmas at least, and I know in two weeks’ time I’ve got myself booked to do a Christmas market. Thought I’d give it a try. Do you think you can manage here? I could get Bev to come in and give you a hand, knowing how busy it was today. Yes, that’d be better, wouldn’t it?’

‘Yeah, the two of us would be good, if you were away. But yes, that’s fine. The extra pay will be great for getting Christmas presents. I have no idea what to get Adam yet and I want it to be special.’

Emma smiled to herself. They were both thinking of the other. ‘You’ll have to have a think on it. There’s plenty of time yet.’

‘Yeah, I know, but thanks for the extra cash today.’ And with that Holly gave her boss a hug as she left.

She’d better think of something to make for supper for her and Max. Salmon, that would be nice; if she could find some fresh fillets in the supermarket down the road, she could pan-fry them in sweet chilli sauce – she had a jar of that in the cupboard. Okay, that was a bit of a cheat, but she didn’t have a lot of time to play with here, or a large budget, and she could serve them with some baby potatoes and vegetables. For dessert, she could make a couple of batches of brownies for tomorrow for the shop, and use two of them tonight served with some fresh raspberries – hey presto! Meal sorted. She whizzed to the supermarket – yes, they had salmon in, and raspberries, and she also picked up a bottle of white wine as a treat.

Max arrived soon after seven and they dived into each other’s arms. She had missed this so much, this physicality, when you just couldn’t wait to be near to someone.

‘Good day?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, pretty busy. I think word is getting around about the Chocolate Café already.’

‘Great.’

‘You?’

‘Yep, all good. Finally made some progress on those kitchen units, so we can crack on again with that job.’

‘That’s good.’

They chatted, they ate, they enjoyed a glass or two of the wine.

As Emma took the plates across to the sink, Max moved in behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, burying his head in her neck with a flurry of gentle kisses. She turned to kiss him back, deeply, passionately. They were both keen to get back to where they’d left off rather abruptly this morning.