Page 58 of Winter Magic on Railway Lane

‘I was just a little bit tired,’ muttered Libby.

‘Well, thank goodness for Ethan,’ said Harriet.

Libby was still embarrassed about the huge furore that she had caused by falling asleep. But at least Ethan had been gracious afterwards, not letting her take the blame for the smoke damage when she knew that it was all her fault, her wretched pride that had caused the accident.

‘The boys are still over there, helping clean up the soot from, well, everywhere,’ Katy told her.

‘Looks like everyone needs a hand this week,’ announced Grams. ‘So let’s get the coffee and tea flowing and get going.’

Libby explained her process of making her truffles, all the way from the cocoa bean to the final chocolate truffle. They split the work down to individual tasks. Grams was put in charge of timing the roasting of the cocoa beans in her oven. Flora was measuring all the ingredients out in preparation, Maggie was in charge of the melanger, which, thankfully, had survived the fire, Harriet was rolling out the truffles and Katy, who had absolutely no cooking skills whatsoever, was putting the flat-pack boxes together as well as ordering more to cover the ones that had been lost to smoke damage.

They all began to work steadily but quickly, the conversation washing over Libby as they made inroads into the amount of chocolates still left to be made.

Perhaps, thought Libby, glancing around at her friends, some good could come out of something so awful. And that asking for help wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

35

As the day went on, Ethan had to agree with Ryan that it was a good thing that he hadn’t had time to unpack as the majority of his stuff was still in boxes and therefore immune from the soot.

But they still carried everything outside to give it a good airing, along with the leather sofas and the old oven, which had been disconnected and would be taken to the rubbish tip later.

At least, with all the ceilings and the walls having been scrubbed, the soot was beginning to be removed. The kitchen was still a work in progress as every cupboard needed wiping down, inside and out.

In the middle of the afternoon, there was a tentative knock on the front door despite it being open to continue to air the place.

Ethan headed over and was amazed to see Philip standing there, looking nervous.

‘Hello, Philip,’ he said. ‘Is everything okay? Is it Libby?’

Philip gave him a tentative smile. ‘She’s fine, thank you. Safe with all the ladies up at Strawberry Hill Farm,’ he replied. ‘Actually, I was going to ask if I could do anything to help.’

‘That’s very kind,’ Ethan told him.

‘Not at all,’ replied Philip. ‘I think it’s the least I can do when you saved my daughter’s life last night.’

Ethan gulped. The memory of those few seconds when he didn’t know what had happened to Libby still played over in his mind.

‘It sounds more dramatic than it actually was,’ he said, wanting to allay Philip’s fears.

Philip glanced over Ethan’s shoulder and a look of dismay crossed his face. ‘It certainly looks quite dramatic,’ he said, taking in the wall next to the fireplace which was still smeared with soot.

Ethan stepped aside to let Philip inside.

Philip had been the infant school headmaster when they had been growing up, as well as the strict father that Libby had spent so long rebelling against. They hadn’t really spoken since Ethan had left Cranfield so it felt a little strange to be doing so at that moment. But perhaps time was the great healer that his dad had always told him it was.

Philip looked around thoughtfully as he went. ‘Goodness, it’s been years since I’ve been in here,’ he said.

‘Bit of a mess now,’ said Ethan, with a grimace.

‘Nothing that a lick of paint won’t sort out!’ shouted over Nico, as he continued to wash down the ceiling.

‘The oak beams were from a local tree apparently,’ said Philip, looking up to the ceiling. ‘I always liked them.’

‘Me too,’ replied Ethan.

But Philip was frowning as he looked around once more. ‘I think I never really appreciated this place until I lost my job,’ he murmured.

Ethan looked at him in surprise at this confession but didn’t say anything, letting Philip say what was on his mind.