I knew we had to keep things between us straightforward from then on, but he didn’t have to be quite so blunt about it.

‘I just hope they know what they’re letting themselves in for,’ he then teasingly said, which made me feel a little better, as his mouth quirked into a smile.

‘Ha, ha,’ I said, rolling my eyes. ‘Even I can tell the difference between pottery and silver jewellery.’

‘That’s all right then,’ he laughed. ‘Right, I’m going back to the lodge. Don’t be too late, will you? You’re going to be run off your feet tomorrow.’

‘Has it been busy today?’

‘Ever so,’ he nodded. ‘Thankfully, I’ve only got one delivery run to make tomorrow and then I can help out here after that. We’re going to be all in by Christmas Eve.’

‘You’d better save some energy for Saturday night,’ I said, then wished I hadn’t brought it up.

‘Saturday night?’

‘There’s going to be a party, isn’t there?’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Crikey, I’d forgotten all about that. It’s this weekend, isn’t it?’

He sounded genuinely surprised that the date had crept up on him which in turn made me feel slightly better that he hadn’t mentioned it.

‘Apparently,’ I said, brushing my hands down my jeans. ‘Let me know if you need a hand with anything, won’t you?’

‘Thanks for the offer,’ he said, ‘but I’m sure it’s all in hand. I put Maya in charge and you know how efficient she is. I’m sure she’s got it all organised.’

‘In that case,’ I unguardedly said, ‘it’ll be mistletoe central here, come Saturday night.’

I had no idea why I thought it was a good idea to mention mistletoe. Mentioning mistletoe led to thoughts of kissing and that was the last place I wanted either of our minds to end up.

‘I hope not,’ said Ned, backing out of the hut. ‘I’ve already had my fill of Christmas kisses this year.’

Chapter 22

Having offered to step into the breach for Wren and Theo, I didn’t have endless hours to make a detailed dissection of what Ned might have meant about having had his fill of Christmases kisses, however I did manage to find a few seconds in which to obsess.

I knew he could have been referring to having had enough intimate moments with either Maya or me, and in spite of my guilt over betraying my friend, and the fact that I would soon be leaving for good, there was still a part of me jumping up and down and shouting, ‘pick me, pick me!’ whenever Ned glanced in my direction. I didn’t like that version of myself in the slightest, but for some reason, I couldn’t shake her off.