Page 16 of The Cosy Christmas Chocolate Shop

She spotted the three of them ordering, and suddenly felt a little nervous – like she’d fallen back into her insecure teenage years. She smiled across at Bev, and walked over, taking in the outline of the third person. He looked tall, slim – on the side of skinny, actually – as she approached. Blond hair starting to thin on top, a nice smile, phew, and yes, nice grey-blue eyes. Definitely okay at first glance.

‘Hey, hello, Emma.’ Bev greeted her warmly, giving her a hug. ‘Nigel, this is Emma. Emma, Nigel.’

Emma went to shake hands, just as he moved in for a kiss on the cheek, which was fine but slightly out of kilter.

‘Nice to meet you, Nigel.’

Pete kissed her then too, and offered to get her a drink.

‘Gin and tonic please, Pete. That’d be lovely, thank you.’ She’d just have the one, and stick to the plain tonic thereafter. She was driving, after all.

‘Busy day?’ Bev asked.

‘Yes, I’m building up supplies for Valentine’s Day now, so I’ve been busy crafting.’

‘Emma is a chocolatier,’ Bev announced proudly for the sake of Nigel.

‘Great,’ he replied.

‘Bev makes it sound very grand. I make chocolates and sell them,’ Emma explained.

‘She has her own business, in Warkton-by-the-Sea. It’s gorgeous.’ Bev was obviously keen to make her sound fabulous.

Emma smiled. ‘It’s just a small shop. But I do enjoy it.’

‘Good. I have to admit, I don’t generally eat chocolate, though. I do a lot of running, marathons, trails – have to keep an eye on my dietary requirements. Stock up on the healthy carbs and proteins, you know.’

‘Right. Well, it’s good to eat healthy.’ She smiled stiffly. And boring. So, he doesn’t like chocolate. It wasn’t the best of starts.

‘I suppose you have to do a lot of training?’ She tried to make conversation.

‘Yes, a lot of it’s in the gym at this time of year. Half-hour to an hour running sessions, and I try and do a bit up in the hills at weekends. The odd twenty-miler.’

Twenty miles.

‘Do you run at all?’ he continued.

That was like asking Emma if she’d ever been to the moon. Emma would have trouble running twenty metres. In fact, she hated running. Cross-country at school was always a disaster.

‘Ah, no, not really. I walk a lot, on the beach, with Alfie, my dog,’ she explained.

‘Ah, I see. Well, no dogs for me, I have a pet allergy.’

Oh my, this was going to be harder than she’d even imagined. Emma gave a sideways glance at Bev, who quickly diverted the conversation with, ‘Right, well who’s looking forward to the film? I’ve heard some great reviews of it.’

Pete handed Emma her gin, whilst Nigel sipped his pint of real ale. ‘Yes,’ Pete added chirpily, ‘I think the theme tune is up for a BAFTA.’

‘Great.’ Emma then took a large slurp of G & T; she had a feeling she was going to need it.

‘So, where’s home for you?’ She persevered with the polite conversation, hoping he wasn’t going to say that he’d just moved up to the Warkton area.

‘Newcastle way, Gosforth. I moved in to a new flat about six weeks ago. Used to have a country pad, Corbridge way.’

Recent divorcee was clanging like an alarm bell in Emma’s mind. Messy divorce? Still in the horrible post-relationship throes? She felt a little sorry for him, if so. He was probably missing his wife and kids. Not wanting to quiz him any further on what might be a difficult subject she just said, ‘That’s a nice area, Gosforth.’ Playing it safe.

‘Yes, I’m finding my feet.’

It was a relief when the bell sounded to announce there were just five minutes to the start of the movie. They made their way through to the small theatre and found their seats. Pete filed in first, then Bev. Nigel stood back to allow Emma to sit next to her friend, and then he followed. The seats were fairly close and quite small, traditional pull-down plush red velvet pads, with wooden armrests, and there was the usual shuffling as the audience settled down.