‘Well, that’s good,’ I sighed, feeling all floaty again as the kiss ended. ‘I’d hate to hurt her. She’s such a good friend. Sorry,’ I then added, as I tried but failed to stifle a yawn.

The previous night’s exertions were catching up with me after all and Ned looked well pleased to be the cause of my exhaustion.

‘You stay inside and finish wrapping the puddings,’ he grinned. ‘If it gets too manic later, I’ll call you over.’

‘All right,’ I relented, eager to stay out of sight. ‘If you insist.’

Once Ned had gone, leaving Bandit snoozing next to the log burner, I spent a wonderful couple of hours sorting through a large wicker hamper which had belonged to Mum and was full of fabrics.

She had always hoarded scraps of material and ends of rolls, including those featuring Christmas designs and they were going to be just the thing for wrapping up the pudding bowls. I found a bundle of raffia too, which would be ideal for tying the material in place. But most poignant of all was the box of old Christmas cards which Mum painstakingly cut up to make labels. I could remember her doing it every year when the decorations came down.

Ordinarily the rush of memories would have either been pushed away or resulted in a flood of tears, but aside from slightly damp eyes, there was no dramatic reaction. In fact, I was happy to let the remembrance come and took comfort in it. I could think of Mum now feeling light of heart and with no gnawing bitterness about Dad’s decision to move us south to Wynmouth.

What an emotional journey I’d been on since accepting David’s invitation to return. Within the last twenty-four hours alone, I’d gone from planning to leave for good, to allowing myself to fall headlong in love and declaring I would be staying at Wynter’s Trees forever. It was a miraculous turnaround and almost entirely the result of and reaction to Ned’s kind endeavours. What a wonder he was. I closed my eyes and saw myself standing where I had previously imagined Maya to be, right by his side, far into the future.

I hoped Ned had correctly interpreted our friend’s reaction to everything. The last thing I wanted was to upset Maya and I knew I mustn’t delay talking to her for long. In fact, the sooner I saw her, the better.

‘Knock, knock.’

And as if by magic, there she was.

‘Maya,’ I croaked, stunned to have summoned her. ‘Hey.’

My hands started to sweat and my internal thermostat soared as my brain scrabbled for something to say.

‘Have you got a sec?’ she asked.

‘Of course,’ I said. ‘Come in. I was just thinking about coming to find you actually.’