Page 77 of Hope and Hot Chocolate on Mistletoe Lane

‘I think it’s beautiful here. Everyone seems so close too. Definitely far removed from the city. I mean, there’s no Starbucks but your man can make a mean hot chocolate to make up for it.’ She winked. ‘More importantly, you seem to love it here. I was always unsure how happy you were in the city, you seemed restless for something or someone, but here, you’re much calmer and you haven’t stopped smiling either. Especially when a certain hunk of a baking god is nearby.’

I laughed out loud as we passed through the mistletoe arc at the end of the tunnels. I glanced up at it, remembering the hot kiss I’d shared with Paul here. We’d been trying to act like we were just friends but that kiss had been impossible to ignore.

‘So, do you think I should say yes to what Willow and Taylor are offering me?’ I asked Georgia. I had spoken to her about it on the phone a lot but now she’d seen my life here, I wanted to know what she really thought.

‘You’d be a fool to let this go,’ she said in her typically blunt way. ‘You have a man who is crazy about you. He’s known you pretty much your whole life and worships the ground you walk on. You’d be close to your mum, and things are better with her, aren’t they?’

I nodded. ‘I had coffee at the cottage to tell her what happened with my dad. She was shocked I’d gone to see him but pleased I had. She didn’t want to know what we’d spoken about, only that I was okay and got what I needed from it. I told her it’s helped me close the past and look to the future. She said she was proud of me. We do seem to have turned a corner,’ I said, pleased that we were rebuilding our relationship.

‘That’s great. And everyone at the farm seems fun and kind. Plus, you have guaranteed work here if you take up their offer. Events, which you love. This is pretty special, I have to admit,’ she said, gesturing around us. ‘I never see people come together like this in the city. And you feel like a big part of it, Holly.’

We walked out of the tunnels down the lit-up trail towards the ice rink and Paul’s van. Lights guided the way and I could hear happy squeals from the skaters on the rink. I thought back to skating there with Paul. That had been the best date of my life. ‘What if Paul still thinks I’ll run, though?’ I asked as I looked at him handing out hot chocolates that bore my name while he chatted to Lucas in the van. ‘He hasn’t asked me to stay.’ He had been quiet about the offer, and I knew he hadn’t wanted to push me away but I had hoped he might tell me what he wanted by now.

‘Because he knows it has to be your choice. But he clearly loves you.’

‘He hasn’t said that, though!’

‘Do you want him to?’ Georgia asked as we reached the ice rink.

I thought back to when Paul was telling me we could take things one step at a time, how uneasy I had felt. I realised then it was because I didn’t want to do that. I wanted a future with him. ‘Yes. I want to tell him I love him. And to hear it back from him.’ I probably had wanted it since we’d first kissed if I was being completely honest. But we’d had to work through the past first. The present was brilliant. ‘I need to know if he wants a future with me like I want one with him.’

We leaned on the ice rink railing for a moment.

‘Then go and tell him how you feel, and he will. Go get your man,’ Georgia said. ‘It’s Christmas – if you can’t tell someone you love them in a magical spot like this at this time of year, when can you?’ She nodded at a couple kissing on the rink then turned to look at her husband and then back at me with a raised eyebrow.

‘I’ll miss you, though,’ I said, the only hesitation I felt about the idea of staying on in Birchbrook.

‘Yeah, me too.’ She stood up from the railing and turned to me. ‘But you know, maybe we might consider moving out of the city now that we’re starting a family…’ She touched her stomach with a sly smile.

‘Oh my God! I wondered why you’d only had Coke last night but I was too nervous to grill you!’ I grabbed her and pulled her in for a hug. ‘That’s amazing news, Georgia! Congratulations.’

‘Thanks, Hols.’ She drew back and beamed at me. ‘I got my happy ending; now you need to go and get yours. Deal?’

I took a breath. No running away. That was my life motto from here on out. And I had to keep on reminding myself of it every day.

‘Deal,’ I agreed.

51

PAUL

Holly knocked on the café van door after I’d served the last person at the winter wonderland and had shut the hatch with a firm thud. I opened the door and gestured her inside. ‘Quick, before someone else decides they need a hot chocolate; I think I might have RSI from making them!’

She chuckled. ‘It was packed today but Willow has just locked the main gate. She wants us all to come into the farmhouse and toast to the last day of the winter wonderland. Shall we go?’

‘I need to do this first.’ I drew her to me by her waist and she smiled. ‘You look all cute and cosy tonight,’ I told her as I gave her a soft kiss. I still couldn’t believe I got to kiss my best friend.

‘You too,’ she said, stroking the sleeves of my jumper. ‘And you smell good too.’

‘Are you sure it’s not sweat?’ I shook my head. It had been a long day but we had made more profit this year than any year thanks to this event, so I couldn’t grumble. My parents had agreed to shut the café for three days now that the festive season was over, and I wanted to snuggle Holly for all of them.

‘A little bit but mostly gingerbread and cinnamon, like usual, mixed with pine and musk.’ Holly grinned. ‘It might be my favourite scent.’

‘You’re definitely my favourite,’ I told her, kissing her again. ‘Okay, let’s go and have a drink then can we escape and be alone for the rest of the night?’

‘Let’s go and see the ice rink one last time,’ Holly suggested.

‘I’ll never say no to some alone time with you,’ I quickly agreed. I’d spent all day wondering what she was going to do about Willow and Taylor’s offer, and if I should say something, anything, that would tempt her to accept it. I really wanted to. I couldn’t risk losing her again. But I also wanted her to choose me this time by herself.