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‘If you are real, you’ll bring my daddy back,’ Amelia said, and Daniel flinched as though he’d been struck.
‘Amelia, your daddy doesn’t want to come back,’ Gina said. ‘He doesn’t love us any more.’ She was examining him keenly, and Daniel realised she wasn’t fooled. Gina had known from the start that it was him under the Santa disguise. She grasped her daughter’s arm. ‘If you’re not going to tell Santa what you want, then there’s no point in you being here.’
The elf handed Daniel a present for him to give to Amelia, but the child backed away, so Gina snatched it out of his hands, muttering, ‘I might as well get something for my money.’
Then they were gone, leaving Daniel shaken and upset.
Fancy telling little Amelia that he didn’t love her, because he didn’t doubt that the daddy Amelia had referred to washim– that was what she’d started to call him before he’d discovered Gina in the arms of the child’s biological father.
Never again, he vowed silently. Never again would he become involved with a woman who was also a mother – because he didn’t think he could face breaking another child’s heart. Or his own.
‘What are you smiling about?’ Nicole tapped Seren on the shoulder, making her jump.
‘Nothing…’ Seren had been daydreaming about Daniel when she should have been concentrating on her job. Pamela would have her guts for garters if she caught her slacking.
‘Don’t give me that. How did yesterday go? And why are you blushing?’ Nicole persisted.
Seren lowered her head to the ticket machine and tried to compose her face into a less smug expression, as she continued pricing up some clementines.
‘Seren…’ Nicole warned. ‘I won’t go away until you tell me what’s going on.’
‘You know there was a bit of snow on Thursday?’
‘Yeah, so?’ Nicole frowned.
‘There was loads at the market I was at. It came down really fast and I couldn’t get home.’
Nicole gasped. ‘That’s awful! What did you do?’
‘I tried to get back and got stuck just outside a village about twenty miles away, so I stayed the night in a pub.’ She paused dramatically, then added, ‘With Daniel.’
Nicole’s squeal made Seren wince, and she hurriedly looked around to make sure no one was keeping tabs on her. She’d seen Pamela briefly as she came in, but not since, and Seren was staying out of her way. The less she saw of her manager, the better.
‘You didn’t!’ Nicole said, lowering her voice in response to Seren’s shushing. ‘How was it?’
‘Wonderful,’ Seren replied, dreamily.
‘I’m so pleased for you.’ She gave Seren a quick hug, and as she did so, she whispered, ‘I want all the details.’
‘Oh, no, I’m not telling,’ Seren said, pulling away and scanning the bar code on a six-pack of yoghurts.
‘Spoilsport. You do know that although Aaron and I live together, with him working all hours I have no love life, so I live vicariously through you.’
‘Ha! That’s a laugh, I don’t have one either.’
‘Until now,’ Nicole pointed out and Seren grinned.
‘He’s so lovely,’ she sighed. ‘And it was so romantic. I’ll give you a ring later and we can have a catch-up.’
‘Not seeing lover-boy tonight?’
‘I’m working until ten, so he’s going out with a friend.’ Seren checked the time, disappointed to see she still had another three hours to go until she finished her shift. ‘Will that be too late?’
‘Nah, I’ll still be up. Aaron is off to work soon, so I thought I’d pop out for a bottle of wine and some crisps while I had the chance. I left him reading Freya yet another bedtime story. She’s so wound up about Christmas it’s taking ages to get her off to sleep, so I told him he can take a turn while I came out for some light relief.’
‘You call coming to the supermarket on a Saturday evening “light relief”?’ Seren was incredulous.
‘It is when you’ve been forced to read the same story four times in a row. Your goddaughter is a tyrant.’
