She looked distinctly ruffled. It wasn’t a state I’d ever seen her in before. What had happened to everyone all of a sudden? Ned was off on an impromptu away day, David was preoccupied with paperwork and now Maya was stressed. It unsettled me a bit. December the seventeenth was not the ideal date on the Wynter’s Trees calendar to let things slide.

‘No,’ said Maya, with a huff. ‘To tell you the truth, I’m not. I’m fed up. Ned has buggered off, David’s stuck in the office and I’m left selling the trees and trying to organise things for the party.’

She sounded in a right grump.

‘And then there’s…’ she let out a long breath, but didn’t finish her sentence.

‘And then there’s what?’ I asked.

She looked at me for a long moment. ‘Oh nothing,’ she said, shaking her head and dredging up a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. ‘Ignore me. I’ve just got my knickers in a knot, that’s all.’

‘You do sound as though you’ve got your hands full,’ I sympathised. ‘And I would offer to help, but I’m supposed to be taking over from Theo again.’

She really had been left in the lurch. I hoped whatever Ned was up to was worth it.

‘It’s fine,’ she said. ‘Really. Worst case scenario, I’ll leave the party stuff until we’re closed. I’d just planned to get it sorted early because I’m going out tonight and wanted a bit of time to get ready at the end of the day.’

‘Hot date?’

‘Something like that,’ she said, her smile fading.

‘Well, in that case,’ I said, ‘as I haven’t got a date tonight, hot or otherwise, you can leave anything you don’t get finished for me to sort, if you like.’

Her smile brightened and this time looked a lot more genuine.

‘Really?’

‘Of course,’ I insisted. ‘Just leave me a list and I’ll get it done.’

‘You wouldn’t mind?’

Given my recent behaviour, it was the very least I could do. Not only would I be helping Maya out, but my act of kindness might also go some way to assuage the bad feelings about myself that I still harboured. The post-kiss guilt which had gathered was proving to be far longer lived than the tingling sensations Ned’s warm, soft lips had aroused.

‘After rescuing me from the tree muddle,’ I reminded her, ‘I still owe you one and this can be a start.’

‘You don’t have to pay me back for that.’

‘I know I don’t,’ I swallowed, ‘but I want to. Only, make sure you leave the ladders out for me. My reach is nowhere near as long as yours.’

‘You’re a star Liza Wynter,’ she said, making me feel even worse. ‘No wonder Ned…’