Page 3 of A Very Crumbleton Christmas
‘The muse has struck,’ said Caroline with a tilt of her head towards the back room where Ruby was still hard at it.
‘Mid-sentence, in fact,’ added Milly.
‘Finally!’ said Oli, with a look of relief. ‘Let’s hope it sticks this time. I swear, I’ve never seen our flat this clean – she’s been avoiding writing anything for days now.’
‘And here I am, offering her the perfect excuse,’ said Caroline, ‘and she goes and turns me down!’
‘Christmas lights?’ said Oli.
Caroline nodded.
‘She said no?’ said Oli.
Caroline nodded again.
‘Thank goodness!’ said Oli. ‘No offence, but at least it means she’s serious about getting to the end of this draft.’
‘We’d better go,’ murmured Milly with a tiny nod towards the back room.
The three of them turned to peep at Ruby, only to find her glaring right back at them.
‘We’ve officially entered writer-in-residence status!’ whispered Oli. ‘Run! Save yourselves!’
Caroline blew Ruby a kiss, and then she and Milly shuffled out of the shop, giving Oli a tiny wave as they pulled the door closed behind them.
‘You heading back up to the shop?’ said Caroline.
‘Nah,’ said Milly, shaking her head. ‘I’ve left Jo in charge for the rest of the afternoon. It’s mostly just people picking up their Christmas wreaths today, so I’m going to spend the afternoon decorating the trawler.’
‘Oh, nice,’ said Caroline.
It wasn’t her idea of fun, but after a whirlwind romance earlier in the year, Milly had moved in with Murray and now the pair of them lived on his giant trawler out in the middle of the marshes. It was strange what some people did for love.
‘Shall I walk you down to the wharf, then?’ said Caroline.
‘I’m meeting Murray for lunch first down at the Dolphin and Anchor,’ said Milly. ‘Fancy joining us?’
Caroline shook her head. As much as she’d love to skive for the rest of the day, she had work to do.
‘I’d better head back to the office and scan my contacts again.’
‘Seriously?’ said Milly.
‘The event’s not going to organise itself,’ said Caroline.
‘When is it, anyway?’ said Milly as they set off down the hill together.
‘Whatever night I can kidnap some random celeb and drag them to town!’ said Caroline.
‘Well, good luck with that,’ said Milly.
‘As long as the weather behaves itself…’ said Caroline, eyeballing the dark grey duvet of cloud that had settled over Crumbleton and the marshes while they’d been in the bookshop.
‘Erm, I don’t think it’s going to,’ said Milly. ‘Look!’
Caroline watched as her friend stuck out her hand. Sure enough – a soft white flake floated down to settle on her palm.
‘I love Crumbleton at Christmas time,’ she sighed.
