Page 106 of The Christmas Highland Lodge

Oh well. I supposed nothing ever stays the same and we all have to move on in the end.

Mum was busy wrapping up Christmas presents when I let myself in and called through to the sitting room. ‘Only me!’

She thrust a half-wrapped gift behind her back, out of my line of sight. ‘No peeking, young lady.’

‘As if!’

The old black and white version of Scrooge with Alasdair Sim, which the three of us always used to snuggle up on the sofa and watch on Christmas Eve, was on the TV.

‘Are you sure you and your young man want me round at yours tomorrow?’ she asked. ‘I mean, you’ve both been working flat out. I don’t mind making Christmas dinner for us.’

I shook my head. ‘And you’ve been busy too, getting all the loose ends tied up with the shop. No, Mum. Blake and I insist.’

Mum twinkled. ‘All right. Thank you. That will be lovely.’ She hesitated. ‘So how are things going with you two?’

‘Good. No. Great. It’s like there’s another side to Blake I never knew existed. If you’d asked me a couple of months ago if I thought we would be where we are now, I would have laughed.’

Mum played with a sparkly Christmas tag. ‘Just goes to show you never know where life can take you.’

She flicked me an apprehensive smile. ‘Are you sure I’m not going to be playing gooseberry tomorrow, Lottie?’

‘Don’t be daft, Mum. Of course not. It will be lovely.’

I instructed her to be ready to be collected for 11am, so she wouldn’t have to drive and could indulge in a dry sherry or two.

‘Ugh. Dry sherry!’ she groaned. ‘Perish the thought.’

Almost in unison, our attention moved to one of Dad’s photos that Mum had dotted around the sitting room and along the top of her heavy stone fireplace.

‘He would have been sitting on that sofa right now, mouthing along to the end of Scrooge and wearing one of his Christmas jumpers,’ I pointed out through a sad smile.

Mum nodded. ‘I was thinking just the same thing.’

She changed the subject, her light eyes melancholy. ‘How did things go yesterday with Blake and his dad?’

‘They had a good long chat. Blake said they’ve agreed to meet up again in the New Year. He said it was all a bit strained at first, as you might expect, but Rob went for a walk to make himself scarce and after a bit, Blake and Jason just heard each other out.’

I watched the flickering black and white credits at the end of the film scrolling up on Mum’s TV. ‘It’s going to take some time for them both to get to know one another again, but at least things are moving in the right direction.’

‘Good. I’m glad.’

* * *

I returned to my flat at the other end of Craig Brae.

I had expected Blake to be back by now, but there was so sign of him or his car.

I let myself back in to my flat and drifted around, switching on my Christmas lights laced around a couple of the sitting room walls and on my tree in the corner.

I’d already wrapped and stashed Blake’s Christmas present in the bottom of my wardrobe. I ‘d bought him a pen knife, made from Ben Linn stone, which I was sure he would love and appreciate.

Unbeknownst to Blake, I had accidentally come across the gift he had bought me for Christmas, when I was looking for a lost earring in the back of his car. He had stashed it under the blanket on the back seat, not realising I might have to venture there.

It was the most beautiful rose-gold bracelet, from which dangled three little Christmas trees. I’d spotted it in the local jeweller’s window the other day. He must have noticed me admiring it.

Swallowing back happy tears, I tugged the tartan blanket back over the gift to conceal it and didn’t reveal what I had seen. I didn’t want to spoil the surprise.

I’d just clicked on my digital radio in the kitchen, which was pumping out Maria Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’, when I heard a knock on the front door.