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Lucy felt Dylan’s arm come around her and she naturally leaned into his warmth without thinking. Once she realised what she’d done she felt herself stiffen slightly and Dylan removed his arm without saying a word. She missed it immediately. She looked around to check there wasn’t anyone needing anything in the coffee shop, and caught Ellen’s gaze. The older woman raised her eyebrows, gesturing to Dylan, making Lucy blush and quickly turn back to the tree.

They went back into the shop and began serving again.

Things began to calm down after a while as families dispersed.

“Why don’t you two go and take a break?” said Ellen. “We can manage here for a while.”

“Luce?” said Dylan, “do you fancy coming for a meander around the stalls with me?”

“I don’t often meander,” admitted Lucy, “but I will attempt it.”

They took off their aprons and put on their coats. They were stopped by Pat, a tiny elderly lady who usually came in every Monday when she visited the town to do her shopping. “I wanted to congratulate you both. Ellen told me the news.” She grinned as she asked, “When are you due? It’s about time you two sorted yourselves out.”

It seemed they were the topic of town gossip. Lucy wasn’t really surprised. But just why was everyone so certain there’d been something between her and Dylan to sort out?

“Thank you,” Lucy said. She looked over at Dylan. He was smiling and resolutely not looking at her. His eyes gave away the fact that he was finding the moment amusing. Lucy guessed she was dealing with this herself. He was so annoying. “I’m due in May, but we’re not together. Though we’re going to be working alongside each other to make sure our baby has the best upbringing possible . . .” Lucy trailed off, realising she’d quite an audience listening to her attempting to explain a situation she wasn’t quite sure of herself. She glanced over at Dylan who appeared to be doing his best not to laugh. Some help he was.

“How . . . modern?” Pat offered.

“I’ll let you know if she finally gives into my charms,” Dylan said.

“I’m sure you’re doing your best, dear,” Pat replied to him, making Lucy’s mouth fall open.

“Come on, Luce,” said Dylan. “Let’s get a closer look at this tree.” She felt his hand on the small of her back as he guided her out of the door.

“You could have been more help there,” Lucy hissed, trying to keep her face neutral, knowing Pat was most likely watching them through the window.

“I’m terribly sorry,” he said. “But it was funny.”

“Maybe a little bit,” Lucy admitted. “I think I’m going to have to come up with a better party line for our situation.”

“You know,” said Dylan, “at the end of the day, the only people who need to understand what’s going on between us, is us. It’s no one else’s business.”

Lucy nodded. He was right.

There were still plenty of people wandering around the different stalls and in and out of the shops, even though there was nothing like the crowds of earlier. They instinctively turned left outside the coffee shop and went into the bookshop where Carrie was behind the counter. She gave them a little wave while she finished wrapping up a book in crisp brown paper with a cute robin printed on it drawn by Poppy.

The bookshop looked truly magical, covered in fairy lights and fake snow, and with a white Christmas tree in the corner with an open book on the top in place of a star. Michael’s grumpy cat, Tabitha, glared at shoppers from her favourite chair, and the music from The Nutcracker played softly in the background.

“Hi you two!” Carrie said, coming over to them when she became free. “Managing to take a break?”

“Yeah, it’s been fantastic. So much busier than last year’s event,” Lucy said.

“The weather’s definitely helped,” Carrie said, “as well as all the extra stuff the council’s organised. Have you been down to the rides by the beach? Poppy’s been dragging Michael on all of them.”

“We’re going to head down and have a look now,” Dylan said.

“Cool, have fun,” Carrie said. “Oh, Luce, your copy of next month’s book club read has arrived — the Jenny Colgan Christmas one. Do you want me to dig it out for you now?”

“No, don’t worry, you’re busy,” Lucy said. “I’ll pop in on Monday to grab it.”

Lucy and Dylan left Carrie to her next customer and walked down the high street towards the Christmas tree, where a brass band played O Come All Ye Faithful, which married bizarrely well with the shouts from the children on the fairground rides.

“The tree smells gorgeous,” Lucy commented.

“It does,” agreed Dylan, “especially combined with the roasting chestnuts from the stall over there.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a roasted chestnut,” Lucy said.