‘What are we going to do?’ asked Nina. ‘Mr Whittaker’s not coming in till later. He’s got to take Mitzie to the vet. She ate something yesterday that’s upset her tummy. I’ll spare you the precise details he gave me about what he came down to this morning. To be honest, it’s put me off ever getting a dog.’

‘He’s probably been feeding her people food again. He’s been told it’s too rich for her, but he does spoil that dog.’

Nina checked her watch. ‘The grotto opens in ten minutes and children are already starting to arrive. What are we going to do?’

They couldn’t disappoint all those children and they didn’t have any other old men to take the part. Sadly, a Mrs Santa just wasn’t going to cut it and she didn’t trust her dad not to say something inappropriate, so he was out. ‘Wait!’ Bella declared. They didn’t have an old man to take the part, but they did have a young one right there. She turned to Nick.

‘Why are you looking at me like … Oh no! No! No. No. No. No. No.’ He shook his head then leaned in and whispered, ‘What about Freddie?’

‘He can stay with me and help wrap the donations,’ Bella replied, crossing her arms over her chest. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll look after him.’

‘Or he could come to the information point with me,’ Nina said. ‘It’d give him a change and I’ve got a secret stash of chocolate buttons there.’

‘We all know about your secret stash,’ Bella replied. ‘Why do you think it never goes down?’

‘Oh.’ Nina pushed her hair back from her face. ‘I never realised that actually.’

‘You just thought you’d had the same bag of chocolate buttons for the three weeks?’

‘Maybe.’

Bella smiled at her friend, then turned back to Nick. ‘Anyway, there’s no one else.’

‘But I’m not jolly.’

‘Of course you are. You’re perfectly jolly. You just need to deepen your voice a little.’

‘What’s wrong with my voice?’

‘Nothing.’ She panicked now, thinking she’d upset him. ‘Nothing. It’s just not old-mannish. It’s more young-mannish …’ She searched for more descriptive words. ‘Kind of … gruff and sexy-ish. No, not sexy, just umm …’ Nick’s gaze stopped on her while Nina giggled. Why did she keep doing this? Why was she unable to speak to him without embarrassing herself? Bella hurried on, her heart palpitating. ‘It’s just not like a jolly old man. Know what I mean? You have to help us.’

After staring at her for a second too long he pulled his eyes away and let out a deep, heavy sigh. ‘Fine. Let me just tell Freddie I’m helping somewhere else for a bit.’

‘Brilliant,’ said Nina. ‘We’ll get you kitted out in no time.’