Page 74 of The Cosy Christmas Chocolate Shop

Max waited quietly for the few seconds it took her to form the words.

‘No. No children. I was engaged …’

‘Oh, wow.’ Max looked a bit awkward.

She stared into the dusky sky, where the stars were just beginning to come out. She was almost afraid to go there, it was still so raw in her mind, that most awful of days.

‘He was called Luke. He got killed, riding his bicycle home from work one day … he-he never came home.’ And her eyes misted and she couldn’t speak any more, the words still having such power to hurt, the memory drawing her back to the ragged edges of that grief.

Max’s arm tightened gently around her, and she felt a soft kiss pressed down on the top of her head. ‘I’m so sorry, Emma.’

And she really didn’t know how she felt. Crying for one man whilst in the arms of another seemed so very strange.

They stayed in their spot in the dunes, keeping close as they watched the darkness creep across the sky. There were strawberries and chocolates – a bar of Dairy Milk, which had made Emma laugh, though she had to admit she did quite enjoy a cube or two. Max had tried and failed to light some tealight candles, as the breeze kept blowing them out. But Emma didn’t mind the darkness around them, with the odd star twinkling up above, a crescent moon, and the two of them plus Alfie snuggled up on the picnic rug. But in time it became too chilly to stay for much longer, and a glance at her watch told her it was eight o’clock.

‘I suppose we’d better get going soon.’

‘Yeah, we might just freeze to death here if we stay much longer. I should have brought a flask of coffee to warm us up.’ Max smiled in the half-light. ‘But yes, I do need to get back home sharpish. Early start tomorrow.’

She wondered what his home was like – bachelor pad, modern flat, semi, scruffy, neat? She wondered if she would ever get the chance to see it – but why she was even thinking that way? ‘Yes, of course.’ She pulled herself back from her thoughts. ‘Thank you, Max. This evening has been really lovely.’ It had been a momentous kind of day, and she felt a bit emotional. She had shared a little of her tattered heart and she really wasn’t sure how to deal with what was going on inside her.

‘You’re very welcome, Emma.’

And they finished the picnic with a strawberry-and-chocolate-flavoured kiss that was so damn tender, it felt almost magical.

After a swift drive back, Emma and Max were once again parked outside The Chocolate Shop.

‘Would you like to come in for a coffee?’ She wasn’t sure where this was going, or even if she was quite ready for the next step, but what she did know was that she didn’t want this night to end just yet. Going in to her flat on her own seemed suddenly a lonely prospect, even with Alfie at her side.

‘I’d have loved to, but I really do have a crazily early start and I think it might be better if I get away now.’

She felt a dart of disappointment. Had she been reading this wrong? Perhaps the knowledge of Luke and her past was scaring him off. But this evening, the winter seaside picnic, was one of the most romantic things anyone had done for her, even considering the many things Luke had done.

And then Luke was there in her head … that balmy night when they had made love in the garden of his flat under a canopy of stars, when they thought they had forever and the world was still so sweet.

A tumble of emotions was building within as Max leant across the vehicle and took her in his arms.

‘Another time maybe?’ he said with a gentle smile, his stubble catching her cheek, gently abrasive, as he moved in to kiss her. His kiss wasn’t saying that he was uncertain, or desperate to leave. She felt herself gradually melt into it, as she told her brain to shut up, set aside those thoughts of Luke, and be in the here and now.

As she pulled away, she spoke. ‘Thank you for this evening, Max. It was really special. I loved it.’

‘You’re welcome,’ he said, with a smile to make her heart sing.

She got out of the truck, let Alfie out from the back, and the pair of them stood watching from outside the front door of the shop as the vehicle moved off, Max giving them a final wave out of the open window and a toot of the horn. The wave of emotions that hit her was so powerful, she found herself sobbing right there out on the pavement.

‘Come on, Alfie,’ she sniffed, as he gave a little whimper beside her. ‘Time to go home.’

34

‘Okay, so what’s going on? I’ve been trying to ring you, to see if you need any help with the coffee shop this week. Couldn’t get hold of you at all last night, I tried to ring you at home on the landline and nothing, and your mobile went straight to answerphone.’

‘Hi, Bev. I’m allowed to have a social life, aren’t I? Isn’t that what you’ve been nagging about for years? I was out. And, anyhow, my mobile doesn’t get signal down on the beach.’

‘What the heck were you doing down on the beach? It was after dark when I tried … Okay, what are you hiding from me?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Are you okay, Em? Come on, what are you doing taking Alfie down on the beach after dark? If there are things on your mind, you know you can always talk to me.’