Page 32 of Winter Magic on Railway Lane

‘Exactly,’ said Flora, nodding. ‘You have this amazing life travelling the world.’

Flora had stayed to run the family farm since her late teens and had never really left Cranfield for any length of time. She too had spurned all forms of romance until Nico had arrived from Italy last summer and changed everything for the better for her.

‘I did have,’ said Libby, reminding them of her job loss. ‘Actually, I haven’t yet decided which of the many men in my little black book will be the lucky recipient of being my date at your fabulous wedding,’ she announced with a winning smile.

‘Well, you wait until those bridesmaid dresses arrive next week,’ Harriet told her, with gleaming eyes. ‘You’ll have them lining up for a date.’

‘Oooh, I can’t wait to try mine on,’ said Katy.

‘As soon as they get here, I’ll let you know,’ said Harriet. ‘We could make a day of it on Sunday, if you like. What do you think?’

As her friends all nodded their approval, Libby stayed silent. The thought of taking any more precious time away from making chocolate filled her with dread. Which was ridiculous because it was all about spending time with her friends. She had promised Bob and Eddie that she would help out with the Halloween train the next day, but she didn’t want to finish work early. She didn’t know what was wrong with her at the moment.

‘I guess the dates might dry up a little if you’re no longer around all those hunky pilots,’ murmured Flora.

Libby gave her a look. ‘Thankfully, there are many more fish in the sea,’ she said before draining her gin glass. ‘Fill me up, Katy.’

Katy raised her eyebrows at the speed with which Libby had drunk her gin cocktail but said nothing. Instead, she leaned forward to pour another large measure from the jug on the table.

Thanks to the gin, and only having time to snatch a piece of toast for dinner before she had arrived, the rest of the evening went in a bit of a blur, to Libby’s relief. Conversations passed her by, but she was content to be a bystander, for once. She just wanted someone to invent a time machine to whisk her to when the truffle order was delivered and she could finally relax.

But, in the meantime, the gin was helping, she decided, draining her glass once more.

20

Ethan always enjoyed getting together with his friends and having a spirited game of darts in the Black Swan Inn. But, that evening, he found his mind kept wandering back to the Halloween train and the long to-do list to get everything done on time.

‘Hey,’ said his brother, taking the remaining darts out of his hands. ‘Do you want to play properly or do you want to try and hit as many of us as you can?’

Ethan looked at him. ‘What?’ he asked, in a daze.

Ryan rolled his eyes. ‘My point exactly. So put down the lethal objects and go get us all another round.’

Ethan wandered away to the bar but found his dad had been cornered by Dodgy Del.

‘Just let me have a little drive of the choo-choo train and we’ll call it even,’ Del was saying.

Ethan and Bob immediately started to shake their heads. Del didn’t have the best track record on driving any vehicle, let alone anything as big as a massive steam engine.

‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ began Bob.

‘There’s absolutely no way you can drive the train,’ added Ethan in a firm tone.

‘Aww, come on, Uncle Bob,’ said Del. ‘After all, I’m family. Kith and kin and all that.’

Bob looked at Ethan. ‘I guess he could stand in the driver’s cab for a while,’ said Bob eventually.

‘Whilst doing absolutely nothing and touching no levers whatsoever,’ insisted Ethan.

‘Great!’ said Del, seemingly oblivious to their warnings. ‘How about tomorrow morning?’

‘Well, the train is all set for another run with the carriages,’ said Bob. ‘I guess you could come along then if you’re free.’

‘I’ll make sure of it,’ said Del, smiling. ‘This is going to be amazing!’

‘Maybe if we go early then it’ll be too late,’ murmured Ethan.

‘In any case, I’d better not have anything else to drink tonight,’ replied his dad.