She heard her mobile phone ring, but had to leave it unanswered, as it was back to action with a gift box to fill for an elderly lady who also wanted several bags of fudge and some dark-chocolate Florentines – a new festive addition to Emma’s range. Seeing the selection together, Emma suddenly thought that a small wicker Christmas chocolate hamper might be nice, filled with a pretty selection. A bit late for today, but yes, for the shop in these last few weeks running up to 25 December. Ooh, yes, customers could even select their own items with which to fill it if they wanted – ‘build a basket’. Hmm, now there was a thought.

A few more sales later and her stocks were noticeably depleted. She had some extra supplies in cardboard boxes below the trestle table, so she quickly refilled her display and was off again, serving, smiling, chatting. It was going well, and hey presto, with all the activity her hands had come back to life and her body just about thawed out.

In a quieter moment she checked her phone. It was a missed call from Max. Max … she’d only spoken to him twice after their last weekend. Physically, things were great between them, but hearing from Luke’s mum had really unsettled her, and Em didn’t know how it would be when she faced him again, so she had just texted back the last time saying how busy she was and had left off contacting him for the past week. She put the phone back into her pocket. She looked around her at the market in full swing, listened to the animated talk, watched families and couples all wrapped up in hats, scarfs, and winter coats, some holding mugs of hot drinks. Coffee Cabin seemed to be doing well with their mulled wine too, and the gorgeous wafts of spice and cinnamon kept drifting past Emma’s stall.