Page 117 of The Holiday Cottage

She glanced at Miles, who was the only person who knew the whole truth about her complicated life with her colleagues.

He smiled back. “That’s the best kind of dog to have at work. Also the vet bills will be low.”

“Now it’s my turn.” Dorothy held a small, prettily wrapped parcel in her hands. “I spent a lot of time thinking about what I could give you, Imogen. I wanted it to be special, to mark our first Christmas together. Something that you would always remember.”

Imogen was touched. “I’m always going to remember today.” How could she not? “I don’t need a gift for that.”

“Well, I hope you’re going to like this.” Dorothy gave her the gift and Imogen unwrapped it carefully, wondering what it could be.

She opened the box and inside she found a key. She lifted it out, mystified. “A key?”

“It’s the key to Holly Cottage.” Dorothy’s voice was husky. “It’s yours, sweetheart. I want you to have it. I know you live in London, and your life is in London, but I thought maybe that if you had somewhere that was yours here, you might come for weekends occasionally and visit us. Maybe you could work the occasional day from home if Rosalind would allow it. Or better still, come and work for us. We could use someone with your skills.”

Imogen was silent. She couldn’t speak.

“There’s no pressure,” Sara said quickly. “We know you’re really busy and once you get back to work you’ll be snowed under again and you probably won’t even have time to think about us. But there are probably times when you feel like getting out of London, so hopefully this will allow you to do that. And just to be clear—you don’t have to join the family business, just because you’re family.”

Join the family business.

“I don’t know what to say.” Her eyes filled, but she blinked back the tears because today was supposed to be happy and she didn’t want to confuse her little cousins. And shewashappy, of course. Incredibly happy. “It’s such a generous gift.”

And the gift was so much more than bricks and mortar, and she had a feeling Dorothy knew that.

Her grandmother wasn’t just giving her a cottage, she was giving her security.

For the first time in her life, she had a safety net.

For the first time in her life, she wasn’t alone.

“I’m going to stay here as often as I can.” Imogen felt the weight of the key in her hand. “I’ve already decided to change things when I go back.”

She’d given it a lot of thought and she’d emailed Rosalind a few days before and been surprised when Rosalind had immediately called her. She was conscious that Rosalind would already have seen the letter she’d written, so there were no more secrets.

They’d had a frank conversation during which Imogen had admitted that Rosalind had been right—she had been near burnout. She knew she had to find a way of working that still allowed her to perform at her best, without veering into the unhealthy. She also wanted to find a way to spend more time with Miles. Rosalind had proposed a compromise. Imogen could work from home whenever it fitted with her schedule (it helped that they had a couple of clients based in the Cotswolds) and would try and delegate more, so that she didn’t have to be present at every event. Rosalind hadn’t mentioned the card Imogen had sent, or the embarrassing saga of Midas. Imogen had been feeling mortified, but now she had this funny and thoughtful gift from her colleagues and she felt so much better.

She’d go back in January and it would be a fresh start. A new way of working.

It was enough for now, and maybe, at some point in the future, she would consider taking a job with the family business.

She looked at Dorothy. “You’re not going to believe this, but I was going to ask you if I could book Holly Cottage for a few weeks next year.”

“This way you won’t have to book anything, and I’d much rather it was a home for you than a rental.”

A home.

She imagined herself drinking her morning coffee outside in the spring, with daffodils and tulips all around her and lambs in the fields beyond. She imagined taking summer walks across the fields to the village. Spending time in the bookshop, meeting Miles for lunch in the pub.

And when she needed to work, she could do it at the desk in the spare room, overlooking the glorious countryside and maybe take Ralph for a walk on her lunch break if Miles would let her.

“I don’t know what to say.” Overwhelmed, she stood up and hugged Dorothy. “Thank you. This means the world. I’ll be coming here so often you’ll probably live to regret your generosity.”

“Never.” Dorothy hugged Imogen tightly and then let her go and cleared her throat. “Now then, if that’s all the present opening finished, we should do some last-minute lunch prep and perhaps Iris and Ava could check the table.”

“One minute—” Miles interrupted her. “The present opening isn’t quite finished. I have something for Imogen.”

She’d expected a woolly hat, so she was surprised when he left the room. She heard the sound of the front door opening, the slam of a car door and then a familiar bark.

Ralph came thundering into the room and skidded to a halt in front of Imogen, an adoring expression on his face.

---