‘How long do you think it’ll take your dad to get here? Do you know where he was working? I forgot to ask.’

‘He wasn’t working today. He was talking to Mum about Christmas.’

‘Oh, right.’

That explained a lot. On the plus side it meant he shouldn’t be long, but on the downside, her heart tore again. They probably had a lot to sort out. Like who was going to buy what and what time they’d have Christmas dinner.

For the first time, a touch of bitterness crept into Bella’s thoughts as she pictured them all sat around the table having Christmas dinner, pulling crackers and wearing silly paper crowns. All she could see was them laughing, Nick and Paige declaring a toast to each other and clinking glasses. But life wasn’t always fair – it was the whole reason she’d started the giving tree – and Bella reminded herself she had a lot to be grateful for.

‘So do you like my dad?’ Freddie asked again.

‘Me? Well, I suppose—’

Through the fogged-up windscreen, heavy with snow, a light shone round the bend of the road, growing brighter. Bella rubbed at the window as Nick’s truck came to a stop just in front of her car. ‘Oh, look, your dad’s here.’

In the warmth of her embarrassment, she’d forgotten all about her lack of coat and launched out of the car in her full elf costume, immediately shivering. The snow continued to tumble down, layering her hair and shoulders. She stepped towards Nick, her toes refusing to bend from the cold.

‘Where’s your coat?’ Nick asked, grabbing a blanket from the front seat and wrapping it around her shoulders. She pointed to Freddie in the front of her car. He’d rubbed the window too and his smiling face peered out at them above the pile of snow. ‘You must be freezing.’

Feeling Nick’s body close to her, his broad chest and strong arms as they pulled the blanket around her, sent warmth into her veins. After waving at his son, he paused, rubbing her arms and staring into her eyes. ‘I am a bit chilly.’

‘A bit?’ He laughed. ‘You’re something else, you know that? Why didn’t you wear something warmer than an elf costume?’

‘Because it’s Christmas and I’m one of Santa’s elves. I bet my nose is so red it matches my cheeks.’

‘It’s a little pink, but it suits you.’

‘I doubt that.’

‘You look cute.’

Bella’s heart juddered, but she couldn’t read anything into it. He was just being kind as she’d kept his son safe. And he wasn’t about to tell her she looked like Rudolph with a head-cold, was he?

‘What am I going to do with you?’ he joked.