Page 54 of The Merry Christmas Project

‘Yep.’ She sighed again. ‘Don’t suppose you know any celebs, do you ?’

‘Um …’ His sister would kill him, but Merry looked so overwhelmed and he’d love to be the one to come to her rescue. ‘As it happens I do.’

He took out his phone, opened his sister’s Instagram page and clicked on her profile picture. ‘This is my sister.’

He handed the phone to Merry, feeling a little bit smug that he was about to make her day but as he did so, it pinged. His stomach dropped like a stone. That ping meant a new notification from the dating app. Before he could grab the phone back off Merry, she swiped the screen, clearly thinking that it would get rid of the message, but instead it opened it.

She frowned. ‘Hey Rufty-Tufty. I’ve shown you mine, now you know what to do. Ugh !’ She thrust the phone back at him. ‘Nope, definitely don’t recognise her.’

‘Shit, sorry,’ said Cole, forcing himself to look. It was Evelyn. Topless. ‘That was not who I was trying to show you. That is not my sister.’

‘Good to know,’ she said archly. ‘I take it it’s not your wife either.’

‘I don’t have a wife,’ he said, wiping the phone on his sleeve to polish it. ‘I’m divorced.’

Merry pressed a hand to her chest. ‘Thank goodness for that. Because if you were married and you were getting notifications for a dating app, then you wouldn’t be the person I thought you were.’

‘I’m single, I promise.’ Despite his total embarrassment, he did take some comfort from her words. ‘If you don’t mind me asking, are you single ?’

‘I am.’ She sighed and then laughed at herself. ‘Sorry, another sigh.’

‘I hear you,’ said Cole, shifting in his seat. ‘My mates think I should be having a great time now I’m a bachelor again. But I look at their wives and I’m envious.’

She cocked an eyebrow. ‘And how do your mates feel about you staring at their wives ?’

‘No, no,’ he groaned. ‘That came out wrong, what I meant was—

‘I know what you meant,’ she said. ‘I’m teasing. I thought I was with “the one” until recently. So much so that I proposed to him. But heyho, it wasn’t to be.’

He blinked. ‘You asked him to marry you ?’

‘Yep.’

‘And he turned you down ?’ He shook his head in disbelief.

Merry’s cheeks flushed. ‘I know. How rude ! You’ve met him actually … Daniel. He was leaving the cottage on the morning of the flood when you arrived.’

‘Ah yes, I remember.’ Cole nodded ; that explained why they’d seemed close. And it also explained why he hadn’t stopped to help her out when her home was flooded. The man was clearly an idiot. Anyway, none of his business, the main thing was that Merry was definitely single.

‘So, after that slight detour into my disastrous love life, back to you.’ Merry propped her elbows on the table and leaned closer. ‘If that wasn’t your wife or sister, who is she ?’

‘She is history,’ he said, pressing on the app and deleting it permanently. He was never, never going to dabble in internet dating again.

She giggled. ‘Well, that’s a relief. Because if she was your suggestion for a celebrity to switch on the Christmas lights, it wouldn’t make for a very family-friendly show.’

Cole laughed softly, grateful that she seemed to have a good sense of humour. ‘But thankfully my sister is. Have you heard of The Retail Therapy Show on the shopping channel ?’

This time he made sure that he found Hester’s Instagram profile before he handed his phone back to Merry.

‘No way.’ She gasped. ‘Hester Smart is your sister ?’

Cole nodded proudly.

‘I absolutely have heard of that show. Nell and I watched it last week. Nell bought some wrinkle cream for her mum for Christmas.’

‘Will she do as your celebrity ?’ Cole asked. ‘I mean I know she’s not exactly A-list but—’

‘Are you kidding me ?’ Merry nodded excitedly. ‘This is amazing, Cole, you’ve made my night, my day, my week ! Will she really do it ?’