Page 48 of Mistletoe and Mulled Wine at the Christmas Campervan

Daisy had leaped forwards, and was in full defence mode, loyally protecting her owner. Liam now hopping from foot to foot, yelping.

Lucy waited a good thirty seconds before calling her off: ‘That’s enough Daisy.’

The little dog finally backed down; Lucy scooping her up before Liam, foot poised, had a chance to give her a kick. If he’d done that, well, she really would have hung him up by the scrote! Perhaps out in the street, and left him dangling from the top of the village Christmas tree. The biggest, ugliest Christmas bauble ever!

Liam stood defiantly staring the duo down. Lucy was suddenly fearful how she’d be able to physically remove this strong and now angry bloke from her property.

Then, as if knowing he was beaten, all flustered and red in the face, Liam turned, and scuttled out of the kitchen and away. Lucy’s heart was still pounding as she heard the front door slam and his saloon car rev up and go. Good bloody riddance. With feisty heroine Daisy safely in her arms, giving a farewell see-you-off bark, she had a feeling Liam wouldn’t be showing his face around here any time soon … and that suited them both just fine.

The air wasn’t just cleared, a huge storm had broken and thundered her ex out.

Chapter Twenty-Three

With no time to waste after that crazy meet-up, the horsebox was all loaded and ready an hour later. She managed to switch into Christmas mode, and yes, the only thing needed to set the festive scene now was snow, Lucy mused, as she set off on that chilly December morning. The radio news had in fact mentioned flurries over the hills, but often at this time of year the snow was something and nothing, a mere dusting. You might not see any at all down in the valleys.

After dropping Daisy off at her brother’s for the day, Lucy wound her way carefully through the country lanes, heading inland towards the Cheviot Hills. A patchwork of farmland, dotted with sheep and cattle, and fields showing hints of winter barley shoots and cabbage-like sugar-beet tops, rolled away either side of the route. The horsebox bumped along an uneven stretch of tarmac as the road narrowed. Lucy slowed as an old-fashioned road sign indicated the castle was just a mile away.

Turning in through the majestic stone pillars and cast-iron gates of the castle entrance, Lucy drove the horsebox carefully along a grand avenue lined with huge old gnarled-branched beech trees. The castle itself then appeared, all aged-cream stone walls and crenellations, fairytale-like. Stone steps led up to a big old wooden door, where two small Christmas trees stood prettily either side of the ancient portal, adorned with twinkling white lights. Oh yes, this beautiful historic place certainly looked the part and was already more than living up to her expectations.

Just as she was wondering where she was meant to be parking, out came a tall gentleman wrapped up in a long navy woollen coat, sporting – in the place of a scarf – a very jolly red bow-tie with a holly pattern on. He skipped down the steps, calling out, ‘Over here, my lovely. We’ve got you positioned here to this side of the front entrance. That’s it, you’ll be next to …’ He checked his clipboard, ‘Yes, that’s it, The Cocktail Campervan.’

Ah, so not only would Jack be here all day with her, she’d be parked up right beside him too. Oh well, maybe being placed so close might mean they’d get chance to chat, perhaps help each other out. And maybe, she’d get chance to explain the latest Liam saga too, and put paid to any of his unfounded fears of rivalry. Hopefully they’d finally be able to bridge that awkward gap that had started to develop between them. ‘Okay, thank you.’ She began to manoeuvre the horsebox into place, with various hand signals going on from the chap in the bow-tie, as though he were landing a plane. She had to give a smile; she was an ace at parking this now, but it was nice that he was trying to be helpful.

Once she’d pulled up into position, the gentleman was stood beside her window. ‘We have electric hook-ups ready for you, and for anything else you might need, just shout. Myself and Derek will be bobbing about all day. Oh, I’m Malcolm, by the way.’ He put out a hand for her to shake through her Jeep window.

‘Lovely to meet you, Malcolm, and thank you.’

‘Oh, and Ellie and Joe will be on hand too, of course. I expect one of them’ll pop out to see you soon. I’ll let them know you’re here. Well then, I’ll let you get yourself sorted.’

‘Thanks.’

Lucy was looking forward to meeting Ellie in person; she’d sounded so friendly on the phone. Also, she couldn’t wait to have a sneaky peek at the main hall of the castle and take a look at the other stalls. She might even manage to get some extra presents sorted for Christmas for her family and friends, with it now being the festive countdown. With assistant Abby due to turn up in an hour or so to help with the pizza production, she hoped she’d get chance to have a mooch about at some point.

First things first, though. Lucy was here to work, and she needed to get her pizza oven lit and ready as soon as possible. There were logs to burn, and perfect pizzas to prepare.

‘Let’s get this show on the road,’ she called out to herself as she stepped down, ready to open up the horsebox and create her most festive ever version of All Fired Up. Oh yes, she was going all out with the Christmas theming. As well as selling her pizzas, some prettily-boxed mini panettone had caught her eye at the Italian wholesalers. She was going to stack them for sale on the countertop, alongside slices of homemade clementine and limoncello cake made to Nonna’s recipe. Pizza and puddings, why not?!

Lucy, sporting her festive Rudolph jumper, carefully set out a fir-and-pine-cone garland above the open hatch. She had extra fairy lights, silver and red baubles in bunches, a selection of pretty wooden-crafted stars, and her usual Italian bunting had been replaced by a Merry Christmas sign with each flag bearing a letter.

Within twenty minutes, the logs were burning nicely; they’d still need more time to get up to temperature, but they gave such a cosy glow in these winter months. It was so much more pleasant working at the oven now than it had been sweltering away back in the summer.

Looking up, she spotted a striking vintage campervan making its way along the driveway. Ah, Ruby was here. And, of course, along with Ruby came Jack. Lucy’s stomach gave a flip as she saw him there at the wheel.

He pulled up alongside the horsebox and Lucy gave a tentative wave and a smile, but she was met by a stormy-faced Jack.

‘Hi,’ she said meekly, walking over to Ruby to welcome him. ‘All okay? Ready for a busy day?’

‘Ah-hah,’ was his brief reply, as his eyes darted away from her. ‘Right then, I’d better get sorted. Time’s of the essence. We’ve only got an hour until it officially starts.’ It wasn’t just the air that was chilly, Jack’s tone seemed very frosty too. One o’clock was lift-off, so Lucy conceded she’d better get on with her pizza preparations. It certainly wasn’t quite the reunion she’d hoped for.

Bow-tied Malcom appeared once again, clipboard to hand. ‘Good morning, wonderful to see you here at Claverham Castle. You must be Jack, yes?’

Jack gave a brief smile and nodded.

‘You’re the only campervan we’ve got, so lucky guess.’ Malcolm let out a ripple of laughter. ‘Okay then, Jack, you’re just here.’ He gestured to the space next to All Fired Up.

Was it Lucy’s imagination or did Jack’s smile totally drop just then?

‘Wonderful. Have a successful day.’ And with that, Malcom turned with a spin of his black leather heels, with another vehicle arriving tout suite.