Page 41 of The Merry Christmas Project

‘Please.’ I held up a hand to stop him. ‘I’ve said I’m happy for you, and I meant it, but spare me the details about why I’m not the one. Just because I’m not right for you doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with me.’

‘Of course not.’ He looked horrified. ‘Merry, you’re amazing, you blow me away with your energy and enthusiasm for life. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel differently.’

A wave of relief washed over me. All this time I’d been blaming myself for our break-up, but no one was to blame. It simply wasn’t to be.

‘Oh, well in that case,’ I said flippantly, ‘I forgive you.’

He met my eyes, his gaze sincere. ‘I don’t blame you if you don’t want to, but I really do want us to be friends.’

‘Me too.’

As if by mutual agreement, we both stood and hugged each other. He glanced over my shoulder out of the window.

‘Looks like whoever your lettings agency sent has arrived already.’

‘My knight in shining armour !’ I said, turning to look, as a tall broad man got out of a pick-up truck parked behind my car.

The man spotted us looking at him and raised a hand.

‘I had to park my car further down the road where the flooding wasn’t so bad,’ said Daniel enviously, eyeing up the sturdy vehicle.

‘Listen,’ I said, stepping away from Daniel, ‘now that the cavalry has arrived, I’ll be fine. I’ll let you get on with your day.’

‘Well, if you’re sure,’ he said gratefully. ‘I am very busy.’

‘I’ll show you out.’ I suppressed a smile ; Daniel was always very busy.

The man knocked at the door as I was opening it. I acknowledged the visitor with a brief smile and stood back to let Daniel out.

‘I’ll call you later,’ said Daniel. He nodded to the other man and strode past him.

‘Am I glad to see you,’ I said, turning my attention to the stranger.

Except he wasn’t a stranger , I realised; we’d met before.

Chapter 13

Merry

14 NOVEMBER

‘That’s a promising start,’ my visitor said warily, as if he wasn’t sure whether I was joking or not.

He wore a black padded jacket, jeans and heavy duty boots, and with his charcoal grey woolly hat pulled down low over his ears, I couldn’t see much of his face. But it was enough. The russet hair and melty brown eyes gave it away. It was Cole. The man from the market, the one I’d made silly jokes about dates and nuts with. The nice one.

‘Which is more than can be said for my day,’ I replied, suddenly aware of the state I must look.

The last time I’d looked in the mirror, my lips and tongue had been purple and last night’s eye make-up had been doing a great job of highlighting the bags under my eyes. A small, vain part of me wished he hadn’t seen me looking like I was auditioning for a part in Zombie Apocalypse – The Revenge. Another small part was pleased that this hadn’t even crossed my mind while Daniel was here.

‘You’ve had some flooding, I understand ?’ Cole looking past me and down the hallway.

‘Do you think ?’ I said, splashing my boots up and down on the rug.

‘Sorry.’ He gave me a sheepish smile. ‘It was a daft thing to say, given the swimming pool behind you.’

‘No, I’m sorry,’ I said, taking a step back into the gloom of the hall. ‘I’m like a bear with a sore head this morning.’

He hadn’t recognised me, which either meant I was unrecognisable from the day he met me, or he’d forgotten me as soon as he’d left the market.