Page 94 of The Best Little Christmas Shop
I knew getting Mum that camera with the zoomlens was going to come back to bite me one day. Social media wasn’t really my favourite thing, and my brother Matt tended to take care of that for the business, although Mum had rather got into it, and loved adding photos. The one Marco had seen being a case in point.
I tried to be casual about it all. ‘Late-night shopping events can be busy. I spoke to lots of people.’
‘Were they all gazingadoringly at you like he was?’
I snapped my head up. ‘What?’
‘Tall, muscular, dark. There was a child with him in one of the photos. Is he the man you’re not sure if you’ve met or not?’ His mouth was teasing but there was hesitation in his eyes.
‘He is. But he most certainly wasn’t gazing at me, adoringly or otherwise.’
Marco gave me a look that I knew of old. It meant “you can say what youlike but I’m sticking my heels in on this one”.
‘Anyway, it’s complicated.’
‘I saw the way he was looking at you. There’s nothing complicated about that.’
‘There really is.’
‘Is he married?’
‘No! Of course not!’
‘Then he’s single.’
‘Yes.’
‘And so are you.’
‘Yes.’
Marco spread his hands. ‘So, where’s complicated?’
I gave him a look under my lashes. ‘You, of all people, know there’s alwaysmore to it than that. Anyway, those photos don’t mean anything.’ I blew my fringe up and ran a hand back over my hair. ‘It was just a fun evening. Everyone was smiling and laughing like that.’
Marco leant his forehead against mine. ‘No, Lexi. Not like that. Believe me.’
He released me and opened the door of my car.
‘The other offer still stands. Think about it. Take your time. But really thinkabout it. I know you say you’re happy doing what you’re doing right now, but we both know where your talents lie and that things would be different this time.’
I glanced at my phone to check the time. ‘I ought to get back before I hit too much traffic. Thank you so much for lunch, and it was so wonderful to see you.’ I took his hand for a moment. ‘I promise I will think about it, honestly.’
‘Good.’
Clicking my seatbelt into place, I looked up at him.
‘You know, Lexi, sometimes complicated is worth it. Just remember that.’ With that he closed the door and stood back, allowing me to pull out.
Waving in the mirror as I turned off down the long avenue of the driveway, my mind wanted to start attempting to process everything from the meeting, but as I pulled out of the entrance to thegrounds and onto the main road, the weather began to worsen and hail began bouncing off the bodywork and windscreen. My concentration shifted to the road and traffic, with all other thoughts sidelined. For the moment, at least.
