Page 107 of The Cornish Cream Tea Bookshop
‘What is it?’ she asked.
He bent down and retrieved something from the shadows of the doorstep, then held it out to her. It was a small, perfectly adorned Christmas wreath. Ivy, holly and mistletoewere wound around a glittering, gold twine frame, and in amongst the foliage were little paper books, the details intricate, each of their covers a different colour.
‘Who made this?’ Ollie asked, her voice softened by wonder.
Max paused, then said, ‘Misty Nicolas?’
‘No.’ She laughed. ‘No way!’ She walked along the front of the barn, looked in through the glass and saw that Liam was on the sofa, with a sleepy Meg on his knee. ‘That’s just one of Liam’s made-up legends.’
‘I didn’t hear anyone come outside,’ Max said.
‘The fireworks were loud,’ Ollie protested. ‘It could beanyone.They were all there last night: everyone heard that story.’ She thought for a moment. ‘Except you. You didn’t get to A New Chapter until after Liam’s reading. How do you know about Misty Nicolas?’ She narrowed her eyes at him, and he laughed.
‘I might have snuck a peek at the little grey book a few times when you’ve been otherwise occupied. Liam’s stories are pretty good, after all. It doesn’t mean I’m behind this.’
‘Fair enough,’ she murmured, then turned in a slow circle. ‘Anyway, the night’s clear. It’s not even misty.’
But as she spoke, drifts of thick grey fog wafted through the darkness to meet them.
‘Smoke from the fireworks,’ she said.
‘They were too far away for that.’ Max’s voice was matter-of-fact. ‘But you know what the legend said.’
‘That everyone who gets a wreath gets some good news straight afterwards?’
He nodded. ‘And technically, as of five minutes ago, this is my front doorstep, too.’
‘Oh.’ Ollie laughed. ‘I suppose it is. So you’re hoping for a bit of good fortune now, are you?’
He stepped closer, the beautiful wreath between them. ‘I’ve already got it,’ he said. ‘It’s you, Ollie Spencer. I can’t think of anything that could top having you in my life; you wanting a future with me. Misty Nic’s dropped off his talisman after the good news has already happened.’
‘How very sloppy of him,’ Ollie whispered, tilting her face up to meet Max’s, shivering as his lips brushed hers, as the first chords of ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’rang out from inside, and she heard Meredith and Thea, Finn and Ben, start to sing along.
Max laughed, ran his thumb along her bottom lip, then pressed his smile against hers. ‘Give him a break, Ollie,’ he murmured. ‘It is Christmas, after all.’ Then he took her breath away with a kiss that made her truly believe, for those few minutes at least, that Christmas magic really did exist.
