He smiled disarmingly. ‘I wanted to come and see you. Vonnie and I have broken up and, now I’m single, I’m inundated with women looking for Christmas party dates. I came to ask you back for protection.’ He laughed, but there was a wistful note to it.

Laurel barely noticed the surprising news about Vonnie. She was too busy being nettled by both his words and manner. ‘I’m not sure why I’m supposed to find it funny that you’d make use of me like that.’

He sobered. ‘Wow, that joke missed its mark.’ Then, when Laurel continued to regard him steadily, ignoring a family bustling past, arms full of finds from the pre-loved toy stall, he said, simply, ‘I’m missing you. I ended things with Vonnie because your absence is so hard.’ He edged closer when a woman caught his sleeve with the holly on one of Daisy’s wreaths. ‘I got to thinking …’ He drew a long, slow breath. ‘Plenty of people are perfectly happy without children. I don’t like being divorced.’

Laurel’s heart gave an uncomfortable thump. ‘Why decide that now? We were divorced for almost a year before I actually moved out.’ Realising she sounded prickly, she softened her voice. ‘Sorry. You took me by surprise. I meant that we agreed our marriage had run out of steam. Both of us.’ The slightest emphasis on the word both. ‘You no longer found me desirable.’

Alex flushed, glancing round uncomfortably. ‘Every guy has a failure now and then.’

Some children pushed past, laughing. ‘I’m not …’ What? Criticising? Complaining? Laurel wasn’t sure what word to use and felt her cheeks fire up. ‘It was confirmation that the joy had gone out of … it. That’s all I meant. We both knew it already but that’s what made us accept it.’

He rubbed the back of his neck. ‘I think we jumped too soon. Took two decisions at once – not to persist with fertility treatment and to give up on the marriage. We should have made the first decision then waited until we were less raw to consider the second.’

‘Well … OK,’ she conceded, pushing back her hair. ‘With hindsight, maybe you’ve got something there. But those decisions were taken. You seemed relieved. You began seeing Vonnie and I—’

‘Hiya,’ said Grady’s voice in her ear. His hand slipped around her waist. ‘I’ve got Mac to take over my stall while I grab lunch.’

Laurel turned, relieved and glad to see him but also knowing his presence could only escalate the tension.

Before she could introduce him, Grady said to Alex, ‘Hello. I’m Grady Cassidy.’