‘That’s right,’ said Ned. ‘She was relieved to get it back and most impressed with Liam. She said the lad was a credit to the place.’

‘He’s a credit to himself,’ I said, feeling proud on Liam’s behalf. ‘I bet you’re pleased I offered him a job now, aren’t you?’

I slipped out before he had time to reply.

Chapter 18

When I went down to breakfast the next morning, safe in the knowledge that Ned and Bandit were out on their run, there was a gift-wrapped present with a label addressed to me, sitting on the coffee table.

I tore into the paper and discovered, to my delight, a leather-bound journal, complete with pockets, envelopes and plain and lined pages. It was absolutely exquisite and already a work of art in itself. As I flicked through it, a business card fell out. I picked it up and read it. The journal was from a stationer’s in Wynbridge.

He hadn’t signed his name, but this was clearly a peace offering from Ned. A very beautiful acceptance of my decision to leave Wynter’s Trees and a wonderful tome in which to jot down my business ideas and perhaps even record the details of my adventure to see the northern lights.

I ran my hands over the cover, imagining myself filling it in and feeling relieved that Ned had finally calmed down. I hadn’t thought he was all that changed when he’d arrived back from Wynbridge the evening before, but the gift suggested otherwise and I set about cooking breakfast feeling lighter of heart than I had all week.

‘What’s all this?’ panted Ned, when he and Bandit burst in, having taken much longer than they usually would, and spotted the laden table.

‘Breakfast,’ I said, as Bandit skittered over to his water bowl. ‘I thought I’d make enough for both of us and I wanted to say thank you for the journal too.’

I picked it up and stroked the cover. It was so tactile; I couldn’t not caress it.

‘I haven’t got time for breakfast here,’ Ned gruffly said, as I caught sight of Maya bending and stretching on the veranda, in close-fitting running gear. ‘Maya and I have just had a run and now we’re going to get showered and have breakfast in the office.’

‘Oh,’ I swallowed. ‘Right.’

‘It’s a working breakfast,’ he added. ‘We’ve got the deliveries to run through. From today it’s going to get crazy busy. With just a couple of weeks until Christmas, we’re heading into prime tree buying season.’

It was a working breakfast and a bout of busyness that obviously didn’t include me. But then, why should it? I put the journal down again.

‘And that’s from Maya,’ he said, nodding at the gift. ‘Not me. She picked it up in Wynbridge yesterday after we’d had lunch.’