Page 79 of The Merry Christmas Project

My smile was so wide that my cheeks were beginning to ache. I’d been so worried about this first conversation following that night and I needn’t have been. We were good ; I felt the tension ease from my shoulders.

‘And now I know that all I need to do to distract myself from having a panic attack is to pour out all the secrets of my sordid past to a stranger,’ I said, pulling a comical face.

Cole sat down on the edge of the sofa and stretched out his long legs. ‘It wasn’t sordid. And we’re not strangers anymore, are we ?’ he smiled, a question in his lovely eyes. ‘We’re friends.’

Friends. I felt a wave of disappointment. Had I been friend-zoned ? I hoped not. The hug I’d had from him that night had taken my breath away ; I didn’t want it to end there. I wanted more. I wanted to feel his mouth against mine. I wanted to taste …

‘Merry ?’ Cole laughed uneasily, ‘are you OK ? Are we not friends ?’

‘Yes, yes of course we are,’ I confirmed briskly. I jumped to my feet. ‘Coffee ?’

He hesitated. ‘Oh, go one then, you’ve twisted my arm, but I can’t stop long, I’ve got Christmas wrapping to do.’ He nodded to his bags ; there were two rolls of paper poking out of one of them.

‘I’ll help if you like,’ I offered. ‘I’m good at wrapping.’

‘That’s an offer I can’t refuse,’ he grinned. ‘I’m all fingers and thumbs where sticky tape is concerned.’

Five minutes later, I’d made us both drinks, put the flowers in water and the two of us were sitting on the sofa with Cole’s Christmas shopping on the floor in front of us divided into two piles.

‘Is this one for your daughter ?’ I pointed to the pile on the right where a small pair of slippers decorated with rainbows sat on top of a long packet of pastel highlighter pens and a toy vet’s kit.

He laughed. ‘How did you guess ? Freya is still into toys. Harley is only interested in snow sports or bits for his laptop or phone.’

I found us both a pair of scissors and some sticky tape and we set to work, me on Freya’s toys and Cole wrapping things for his son. It was a lovely way to spend time, I thought, as together we ploughed through the pile of chocolate, books, pyjamas, card games and colouring sets.

‘You’re very organised,’ I said, wrapping three pairs of fluffy socks in a square sheet of paper, ‘getting all your Christmas shopping done so early.’

I hid a smile, watching as he struggled to find the end of the sellotape.

‘Not all of it,’ he replied. ‘So far, I’ve only bought stuff for my special people.’

His kids. He seemed to be such a dedicated dad. I could almost feel my ovaries pinging to attention. Although of course, he might feel he’d already done his bit for the future of the species. Which would be no good to me ; I hadn’t even started. I gave myself a shake, imagining if Nell could hear my inner monologue. He had literally just pronounced us friends and here I was, sizing him up as a potential Baby Daddy.

‘I’ve only got one special person to buy for,’ I said, pulling myself together. ‘And it’s something I can order online. No Christmas magic required.’

By special, I meant children. Nell’s stepson Max. He’d even supplied me with a link to make sure I didn’t get the wrong thing. As far as everyone else went, I didn’t have a clue what I was going to buy or when. But it would get done eventually, it always did.

Cole didn’t reply for a moment, concentrating on cutting the paper in a straight line.

‘But you have got a special person, which is great,’ he said finally. ‘And if you’ve bought them the gift they wanted, I’m sure they’ll love you for it.’

I shrugged. ‘You can’t go wrong with an Xbox game.’

‘I suppose not.’ He blinked at me. ‘I have to admit, I wasn’t looking forward to shopping, I’ve always seen it as a necessary evil. But as I was choosing things, I was imagining their happy faces on Christmas morning and I got quite a kick out of it. And the fact I can mark something as done on my spreadsheet is even better.’

I raised an eyebrow. ‘You enter Christmas shopping onto a spreadsheet ?’ I set the socks to one side for Cole to add a gift tag to it and picked up the vet’s set.

He nodded. ‘I enter everything onto a spreadsheet, whether it’s for work or pleasure, otherwise it doesn’t get done. I work best when I’ve got a structure to stick to. I colour code everything by priority.’

Everything ? A wicked thought crossed my mind. What colour did he use for sex ? I stifled a giggle. Cole looked at me and smiled.

‘You’re thinking what a geek I am, aren’t you ?’ he said with a grin. He picked up some sort of gadget for Harley and peeled the price sticker off the back of it. I stared at his large strong hands, the callouses on his palms and wondered if they’d be rough against my skin.

‘No !’ I felt myself blushing, glad he couldn’t tell what I was really thinking. ‘I’m seriously impressed. I remember doing spreadsheets at school.’ I shuddered. ‘The stuff of nightmares.’

He laughed softly. ‘We’re all different. What sort of scheduling system do you use for your business ?’

I smiled to myself, thinking of the scribbled reminders on my whiteboard ; he’d be horrified.