Mitch went back to his own stall, leaving Cleo to finish setting up. And before long, the bell to mark the start of trading was accompanied by a whoop from the traders that Cleo joined in with and it was all systems go. People had been milling and perusing stalls, some ready to pounce on purchases, others happy to take it all in. And Cleo already suspected there wouldn’t be much chance to take out her knitting and sit on the fold-up chair at the back of the chalet while she waited for business to get going.
Cleo put another purchase into a paper bag for her customer. ‘Be sure to hand-wash or put it in the machine on the wool cycle,’ she advised after she took the credit card payment for a deep-teal sweater she’d knitted herself. She and Mitch had compared notes on the drive this morning. Cleo didn’t sell a huge number of ready-made products at the Little Knitting Box, it was mostly yarns and haberdashery, so all year round with holiday markets in mind she was continuously building up as much stock as possible. Mitch was hard at it three hundred and sixty-five days of the year too, cultivating trees in their infancy, others in maturity. Neither of them did much outsourcing, preferring to throw their own energies into businesses that were their passion as much as their livelihood.
‘You’ll have to get the kids knitting, make a production line.’ It was Dylan, ducking to avoid the top of the chalet doorway as he stepped inside.
‘What are you doing here?’ A smile spread across Cleo’s face at the sight of the handsome man with green eyes and dark blond dishevelled hair who’d won her over in a second three years ago when he’d walked her home from her friend’s party and kissed her against a tree. He was still as devastatingly attractive now as he was then, as amazing as he’d been the day he proposed in front of all their family and friends at the Little Knitting Box last December. Some days his daughter Ruby seemed all for the idea of making Cleo an official fixture in her life, other days she scowled across the room or was deliberately obstinate. Dylan assumed the delay to their wedding plans was all down to their hectic lives with Cleo’s knitting business and his web design company, but it wasn’t strictly true. Cleo never wanted to get married unless everyone was one hundred per cent for it, but she didn’t want to cause waves and tell Dylan that Ruby might not be as on board as he thought. Dylan and Ruby were close. She never wanted him to have to choose to please one over the other.
‘I couldn’t let my favourite fiancée hit the Manhattan streets without a bit of support.’ He took her in his arms and kissed her, not in the least bit bothered by the onlooking customers.
‘Gotcha!’ Holly had snapped them, of course, her sharp blue eyes missing nothing.
‘Holly, what are you like?’ Cleo called after their friend, although she could only see the back of her auburn hair as she moved on to capture something else at the Garland Street markets. ‘Where are Emily and Tabitha?’ she asked Dylan.
‘Your gramps and Elaine have come to our place to be childminders for a few hours. I know you worry your gramps is getting too old, but they’ll be fine, and they said it’s like an early Christmas present to have the grandkids.’
‘Yeah, well, we’ll see how they feel about it when you get home. Tabitha has taken to using the word “no” at the top of her voice and stamping her foot whenever she’s asked anything. Little terror.’
‘She’s cute when she does it though.’
She furrowed her brow. ‘Don’t let her know you think that or she’ll wrap you around her little finger.’ Just like older sister Ruby who was becoming more and more like Prue, her mum. Dylan’s ex-wife had always liked to get her own way. Cleo wondered how much of the current unrest Dylan picked up on, whether he could see what she could – how thick as thieves Ruby and Prue were, especially since Cleo and Dylan had started to discuss the wedding more seriously. Ruby had been so excited when they got engaged but it was as though the last calendar year had given her time to rethink and, now, Cleo wasn’t sure Ruby wanted the union to happen at all. In fact, she was convinced Prue must be feeding all kinds of thoughts into Ruby’s head.
‘Don’t worry,’ said Dylan. ‘Jacob is being the doting big brother and puts Tabitha in her place.’
Jacob, unlike Ruby, seemed unphased that his dad was going to marry someone who wasn’t his mum. And he was young enough at seven – almost eight as he liked to remind them – to still want his cuddles, which made Cleo feel as though this would all work out in the end.
‘You know how you could really support me?’ In Dylan’s arms, she looked up at the man she’d trusted with her past and her future.
‘How’s that?’
‘Grab me a hot chocolate from somewhere, it’s freezing in here.’
‘I’ll see what I can do.’ He left her chatting with a customer trying to decide between a dusk-pink scarf or the same pattern in cream.
As soon as he returned Cleo welcomed the hot chocolate Dylan had sourced, the steam swirling from the tiny spout on the lid and instantly warming her. Hands clutched around the vessel, she sipped the liquid gingerly. ‘I really needed this, thank you.’
Dylan took charge of the hot chocolate when another customer plucked the fawn scarf for her husband’s Christmas gift this year. ‘It’s busy, are you happy?’ he asked as he handed Cleo back her drink.
‘I had no idea what it would be like. I wondered whether it would be quiet because it’s new, but a few customers have told me flyers have been circulating around Manhattan for weeks.’
‘And how is it being back in the city?’ He grinned. ‘Come on, I know you. You’ve always missed the buzz.’
‘I couldn’t live here again, I love where I am now. But it is nice to be in amongst the busyness again,’ she admitted – although she refrained from saying how much she needed to have time away from Ruby at the moment.
‘When does Amelia arrive?’
‘She should’ve landed by now; I’m hoping she’ll start in the next couple of days. I’ve already come up with a bit of a rota for me, Kaisha, Amelia and a couple of other helpers I found via Kaisha.’ Her assistant had once been at the highly regarded New York University and had many friends dotted about, all as charming as Cleo’s colourful assistant herself and who all, thankfully, worked just as hard as Kaisha, glad to earn extra cash in the holiday season.
‘It’s pretty full on.’
When he frowned she said simply, ‘Bit late now, I’m signed up until Christmas Eve.’ She sold a pair of cream gloves to a woman who wanted to take off the tag and wear them right away. When the woman moved on Cleo put a hand to Dylan’s cheek. ‘I’ll cope, don’t you worry about me.’ It was harder being here though. Not only did she have to travel into Manhattan, she also couldn’t duck over to her store if things fell quiet or to help out when she was needed. She filled him in on numbers sold.
‘Now that’s impressive, and on day one.’
‘It’ll help fund our wedding.’ It was nice to be able to talk about the wedding without little ears picking up on it and directing attention elsewhere. When they’d begun to talk about venues last week Ruby had stubbed her toe on the bottom of the stairs and wailed until Dylan went running; when Cleo mentioned ring designs to Dylan a couple of nights ago Ruby had mysteriously come into their bedroom with a tummy ache, tucking herself in bed between the both of them.
‘If it ever happens,’ he teased. ‘I’m doing my best to make an honest woman of you, Cleo.’
‘I promise it’ll happen.’ Maybe he’d see for himself what Ruby was doing and they could find a way to deal with it together.
