‘Yeah, I do. I love that I get to do a bit of garden design as well as work outdoors. I don’t think I’d last very long in an office.’ She pictured him in a suit and her heart fluttered, though he was just as attractive in the thick checked shirt and jeans he was wearing now. ‘Did you always want to be a teacher?’

‘Pretty much. I’ve always loved kids and it seemed the most suitable career.’

‘Do you think you’ll teach me next year, Miss Moore?’

‘Bella,’ corrected Nick.

Freddie tutted. ‘I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that.’

Bella and Nick broke into peals of laughter at his serious, grown-up response.

‘I don’t know, Freddie. We don’t get told which year group we’re teaching next until the end of the school year. Gosh, you and your dad are some of the best elves. I think Santa would be very pleased.’

After more time singing along to the Christmas music and wrapping presents, Nick spoke. ‘You really love Christmas, don’t you?’

‘I do. It’s always been a magical time with my family. I mean, there’s always way too much food and way too much booze, and my mum and dad get ridiculously overexcited, but without all of that, every time I think of Christmas, all I remember is laughter.’

‘That sounds …’ Bella waited as he found the right word. For a second, she hoped he wasn’t going to say silly or childish, but deep down she knew those words wouldn’t cross his mind. ‘Special. Magical.’ Checking to make sure Freddie was occupied, he said, ‘My Christmases were fun, but kind of … reserved. My parents aren’t big on Christmas.’

She nodded. ‘Not everyone is, but I’ve always loved it. It’s my favourite time of the year, and I want it to be wonderful for other people too. You can’t have a magical Christmas if all you’re doing is worrying about money.’

‘It must make it very hard. Sometimes I forget how lucky I am that I can pay the bills.’

‘I think we all do. I still need to sort all that stuff out with Evan, but …’ She let the sentence die, not wanting to think about it any further.

Freddie suddenly thrust a present under their noses. ‘Look what I did, Miss – I mean –Bella.’

‘Great job, Freddie! You really are the best elf in the whole of Meadowbank.’

‘Maybe even the world,’ added Nick.

The day passed in a blur of activity as they finished off the presents. They then worked together to make up some food boxes from the donations they’d been given. The final job was to place the new tags on the giving tree as more requests had come in.