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Returning to her, they checked their phones and spent a little longer than necessary studying the photographs. With the phones put away, their eyes caught again, then darted away.

“Where next, then?” her dad asked, pulling his scarf up over his bearded chin.

“The light show starts in twenty minutes, so we could head there and grab one of the snow globes,” Lucie suggested. “It will keep the wind off us.”

As they came to the end of the woodland trail, they joined the main path, which was lined with the food vans. Up ahead, Lucie could make out two familiar figures in long coats and hats, arms linked as they walked towards them — Frances and Rose, their faces lit by the string lights overhead. Unsure whether she wanted her dad and Mandy to meet them, she almost directed them along Candy Cane Lane, but a nod from Frances said it was too late.

Mandy nudged her shoulder. “Can I take it that’s Rose and Frances?”

“Sure is.” Lucie grimaced, praying this wasn’t about to become embarrassing.

Both parties walked towards each other, Lucie a little ahead of her group while, behind her, she heard her dad ask Mandy if these were the Delaneys who run the hall.

Her eyes met Frances’s, and she couldn’t hold back her pleasure at seeing them. Nor could Frances, it seemed. Lucie sucked in a breath, needing all the oxygen she could get.

“Hi, Frances... Rose,” she said, making eye contact with the older woman for fear her smile might reach embarrassing proportions if she kept looking at Frances. “Would you like to meet my family?”

Rose nodded eagerly.

“We’d love to,” Frances replied.

Lucie stepped to the side.

“You must be Lucie’s dad,” Frances said, holding out a leather-gloved hand. “I’m Frances.”

He shook it. “Pete. Pleased to meet you.”

“And is this your — ”

“I’m Mandy, a friend of the family,” Mandy said, stepping forward and shaking her hand. “Nice to finally meet you.”

Frances raised an eyebrow. “Finally?”

“Lucie’s spoken a lot about you.”

Lucie groaned internally.

Frances’s gaze flicked to her, and she raised an eyebrow. All Lucie could manage in return was a goofy grin, a small shrug, and a silent prayer for the ground to swallow her whole. With the light so dim, she hoped Frances wouldn’t notice the heat rising in her cheeks.

“And you must be Rose,” Mandy said, turning her attention away from Frances. “I’ve heard a lot about you too.”

Rose nodded as Mandy and then Lucie’s dad shook her hand.

“We were about to head to a snow globe to watch the illuminations. Would you like to join us?” Mandy asked.

“Yes, we were heading that way ourselves,” Frances answered.

As much as Lucie wanted to spend time with Frances, she feared Mandy might say something else to embarrass her. Noticing that the nearby hot chocolate van had no queue, she devised a plan to avoid walking with them.

“I’ve been dying to try one of those hot chocolates,” she said. “Would anyone else like one?”

“We had this company here last year. They are divine, so I won’t say no,” Frances said.

“Anyone else?” Lucie asked, secretly pleased that Frances was a hot chocolate fan too.

“No, thanks,” came the murmur from her dad and Mandy.

“Mum, would you like a hot chocolate?” Frances asked.