‘I’m here to help with the trees,’ she beamed, looking thrilled at the prospect. ‘And I’m totally in love with this place. Always have been! Aren’t the beach huts amazing?’

She let go of my hand and stared down at me.

‘Um… yes,’ I stammered. ‘They are.’

‘Sorry,’ she laughed, when she realised I was feeling dazed. ‘I tend to talk too much.’

‘You certainly do,’ said Ned, earning himself a playful thump on the arm.

‘Are you here to work?’ I asked. ‘It’s rather early.’

‘Oh, I’m used to dark starts,’ she told me, with a wave of her hand. ‘My family own a farm up the road, so this is more mid-morning to me.’

‘Right,’ I nodded. ‘I see.’

‘We’re going through the order book today,’ said Ned, ‘and looking over the biggest potted trees. Maya’s become quite an expert in tree health over the last couple of years.’

‘Ah, thanks Ned,’ she said, giving him a gentler nudge. ‘There’s not much for me to do on the family farm at this time of year,’ she then told me. ‘So, I work here instead and I absolutely love it.’

‘You’ve already said that,’ teased Ned.

‘Have I?’ she frowned. ‘Sorry, I’m a bit starstruck.’

‘Starstruck?’ Ned frowned.

‘Yes,’ she said, gazing at me. ‘I’ve told you a million times how much this place meant to me was when I was growing up, Ned, and now I get to work alongside Liza Wynter herself.’

Ned rolled his eyes. ‘That’s me out of favour then,’ he sighed.

‘Please don’t say that,’ I told Maya, turning warm under her scrutiny. I was bound to be found wanting. ‘There’s really nothing special about me.’

Maya shook her head in disbelief. She wouldn’t hear a word of it and I couldn’t help but smile. In the few minutes since I’d met her, she’d made me feel far less inadequate than I had when I walked in. I appreciated that, even when her next words took me by surprise.

‘You told me she was pretty, Ned,’ she said in a very loud whisper, ‘but you never mentioned that she was self-effacing, too.’

‘Oh Maya,’ Ned groaned, turning crimson, which made me feel even better. ‘You’re incorrigible. Go and do some bloody work.’

‘But what about the…’ she said, her eyes flicking to the ceiling and the big ball of mistletoe. ‘I had to wrestle that into my truck this morning, don’t I even get a peck on the cheek as reward?’