Maria giggled and swung her legs as she tugged Jack’s mug towards her and carefully grasped it in both hands.
‘Wow, that cup is nearly as big as you,’ Phoebe said. ‘You work those muscles, girl.’
Maria’s giggles became louder. ‘I am strong.’
‘I can see that. Remind me to take you shopping next time I go,’ Phoebe replied. ‘You can carry all my bags.’
Jack threw Phoebe an encouraging smile which made her suddenly feel very warm and wanted.
For the next half hour, Phoebe finished her drink and made pleasant small talk with Jack and Maria. It felt nice, being a part of their world, even if it was just for a fleeting instant. Their world, despite its sad beginnings, seemed like a good place to be. When it was time to head back out again, Phoebe was sad to leave it.
‘We can run you somewhere, now that Maria is awake anyway,’ Jack said.
Phoebe waved away the offer. ‘Don’t be daft. Maria has her nightdress on and you don’t want to take her out on a night like this if you don’t have to.’
‘At least let me call you a taxi then.’
‘Honestly, I think I saw the bus stop that I need in the next street, I’ll be fine.’
Jack looked like he would argue for a moment, but then seemed to relent. ‘Get the forty-two; it will take you into the centre of town so you can get a connection from the station. I find it’s the quickest way. Here’s our phone number,’ he added, popping Maria to sit on the table and pulling a notepad and pen from the drawer. He scribbled on it and tore a page off to hand to Phoebe. ‘Call if you’re stuck. And call when you’re home so we know you’re okay.’
Phoebe looked down at the number with a huge smile. ‘Thanks, I will.’
‘Will you come and see us again?’ Maria asked as Jack carried her to the door.
‘I don’t know,’ Phoebe said. ‘But you can always come and see me at the store.’
‘Only until Christmas,’ Maria said with a disappointed frown.
‘Maybe after Christmas,’ Phoebe replied, the resolution to apply for a permanent job at Hendry’s already made as she said it.
‘I like it when you come here,’ Maria insisted. ‘You can’t drink hot chocolate with me at the toy shop.’ She leaned back to look at Jack. ‘You like it when Phoebe comes here too.’
Jack smiled as he smoothed Maria’s hair from her forehead. ‘I do. But Phoebe is busy and we can’t expect her to come around here all the time.’
‘I’m not that busy,’ Phoebe cut in breathlessly, the blush spreading up her neck, ‘I mean, I can come… sometimes… if you wanted me to.’
‘YAY!’ Maria shouted. ‘Come tomorrow!’
Phoebe glanced at Jack uncertainly. ‘Maybe you guys have plans tomorrow. Besides, I have to work for a bit of it.’
Jack gave Maria a quick cuddle and smiled at Phoebe. ‘We don’t have plans tomorrow evening,’ he said, holding her in a warm gaze. ‘But you could be plans… if you wanted to.’
Did Phoebe want to? Where could this go? Did she deserve happiness? Whether she did or didn’t, Jack and Maria certainly did. What if Phoebe could be the person that brought happiness to them? Or would she simply spread her misery further, to people who had already suffered their fair share? Vik’s face swam before her eyes. They’d been happy. Wouldn’t she want him to be happy again if she had died instead of him? If Vik were here, Phoebe knew exactly what he would be doing. He’d give her a nudge with a huge cheeky grin: ‘Go on, then, Phoebes, what are you waiting for?’
‘I think I’d like that,’ Phoebe said, almost to the Vik in her head rather than to Jack and Maria. ‘I think I’d like that very much.’
The phone call had come hot on the heels of their last meeting, and Phoebe found herself making arrangements to see Maria and Jack after her early finish at the store on Sunday. Quite how she felt about this she couldn’t decide. Secretly, a small part of her was pleased that they had been so keen. But then shortly afterwards came the strange mixture of guilt, excitement and trepidation. After all the occasions she had chatted easily with Maria, she suddenly felt like spending time with a small child would be like trying to communicate with aliens. And what about Jack? She couldn’t be sure what he wanted from a friendship with Phoebe, and if she was honest, she wasn’t sure what she wanted from him. What if she gave out the wrong signals? What even were the wrong signals? Or what if she misread his signals? It was as if all the naturalness of these emotions had died in her when Vik had died.
Scrubbed of rosy elf cheeks, dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans, and armed with cake and sweets hastily procured from the corner shop, Phoebe took a deep breath before she knocked at Jack and Maria’s front door.
It was opened a few moments later by a smiling Jack. He looked relaxed – a darned sight more relaxed than Phoebe felt she must have looked – dressed casually in a soft grey sweater and jeans, freshly shaved and groomed, his blue eyes shining with amusement. Maria was clinging to his leg, but as soon as she saw Phoebe she let go. Only tall enough to reach Phoebe’s waist, Maria threw her arms around it and nestled her head against her belly.
‘She’s been driving me mad,’ Jack grinned. ‘Been asking me since nine this morning how many more minutes until you come.’
Maria smiled up at Phoebe. ‘I wanted to show you my new game.’
‘New game? I thought you were supposed to wait until Christmas before you had new toys?’
‘Granny said I could have it. You have to spin a wheel and stretch all over the place.’
Phoebe shot a puzzled look at Jack. ‘That sounds… interesting…’
‘Otherwise known as Twister,’ Jack said in an exaggerated whisper. ‘You’re going to have to let go of Phoebe if you want her to come in,’ he added to Maria.
Maria dutifully stepped away and Jack beckoned Phoebe into the hallway. She handed him the bag full of cakes and sweets, suddenly feeling shy again.
‘I didn’t know what you’d like, so I sort of got a bit of everything.’
Jack peered into the bag and laughed. ‘You did! This would feed us for months. It’s lovely but you shouldn’t have.’
‘Well,’ Phoebe replied as she followed them both through to the kitchen, ‘it would have been rude of me to turn up empty handed.’
‘You’ve done quite enough for us already,’ Jack said. ‘I think it’s our turn to treat you.’ He nodded his head towards the kitchen table where a huge chocolate gateau took pride of place. ‘I hope you like chocolate cake.’
‘Wow!’ Phoebe blinked at it. ‘Did you need to reinforce the table before you put that on it? It’s enormous.’
‘Me and Daddy made it,’ Maria squeaked excitedly.
‘You made it? Now I’m seriously impressed. I can’t bake for toffee.’
‘From scratch,’ Jack said, obviously proud of his handiwork. ‘Don’t know what it will taste like yet but they usually come out alright.’
‘You make them a lot?’
‘From time to time.’ He gave her a shy smile of his own. ‘I’ve got used to cooking, over the years. I quite like it now.’
‘And you’re still single?’ Phoebe blushed. The quip had left her mouth before she had thought about it. Why the hell did she always have to put her foot in things? She waited for his reaction, but he simply shoved his hands in his pockets and gave her a good-natured smile.
Phoebe stood awkwardly for a moment, before angling her head at the carrier. ‘Not sure we’ll need these now.’
‘Oh, I’m sure Maria can make a dent in the sweets,’ he replied, ‘can’t you spud?’ He turned to his daughter. She nodded her head vigorously. ‘Take a seat, Phoebe.’ Jack went to the sink and filled the kettle while Phoebe hung her jacket over the back of a chair and sat down.
Maria tugged at Phoebe’s hand. ‘Come see my game.’
‘Steady on,’ Jack laughed, ‘her bum has hardly hit the chair. At least let her have a cup of tea first.’
‘That’s okay.’ Phoebe jumped
up from the table. ‘We have a couple of minutes until the kettle has boiled.’ She looked down at Maria. ‘Let’s get twisted, eh?’
Twenty minutes later Phoebe was red-faced and out of breath and fairly certain she’d dislocated several major joints, while Maria had collapsed on the floor beneath her arched back, sprawled across the Twister mat in a fit of giggles. Jack stood against the doorframe with a mock serious expression.
‘Maria, you really need to let Phoebe come and have a rest now.’
‘One more go…’ she cried.
Jack went over and swept her up in his arms, throwing her high in the air as he did. ‘Later, bossy.’
Phoebe stood up, wiping her face. ‘I haven’t played Twister in years. I’m sure it didn’t used to be that hard to reach the dots.’
‘It’s harder when Maria is randomly making you put your limbs wherever she wants to,’ Jack laughed. He turned to the door with a still grinning Maria slung over his shoulder and Phoebe followed.
The table had been set as if for afternoon tea at the Ritz – a cake stand displaying the ones Phoebe had brought stood next to the huge chocolate cake, a small selection of sandwiches on a plate nearby, and vintage, blue-striped Cornishware was laid out in two place settings, presumably for Jack and Phoebe since the third had plastic plates and a beaker all depicting a fluffy cartoon bumble bee.
‘You’ve been busy,’ Phoebe said as her gaze swept over the spread.
‘I thought I’d better make myself useful as you were entertaining my demanding little diva,’ he replied, setting Maria down on a chair and ruffling her hair.
‘We’ve had a laugh, haven’t we?’ Phoebe said, winking at Maria. ‘I’m not actually sure that it wasn’t Maria entertaining me.’
It was true. Phoebe couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed, really laughed, like she had done in the brief time she had spent in Maria’s company. The little girl’s enthusiasm and lust for life was infectious and it was hard not to get swept up in her fun-filled world.
‘Can I choose Phoebe’s cakes?’ Maria asked.
Jack raised a questioning eyebrow.
Phoebe smiled broadly. ‘Sounds like a good plan to me. I need a lot of cake though, to replace all the energy I just used playing Twister.’
Maria plopped three of the most colourful items onto a plate. ‘And a big piece of chocolate too,’ she said to Jack, who obediently cut into it and placed a slice alongside the other treats.
‘Wow,’ Phoebe said to Maria in a serious voice. ‘That plateful will really test me… but I’ll do my best.’
An hour later, Phoebe was fairly certain that, much as she loved cake, she never wanted to see one again. She had eaten an impressive amount, accompanied by three cups of tea, and could quite easily have curled up on a squishy armchair somewhere and had a nap.
Maria, equally stuffed full of processed sugar, was almost bouncing off the walls.
‘Let me get my dolls!’ she squeaked. ‘I have to show you all my dolls.’
‘Sure,’ Phoebe said in a sleepy voice. ‘I’d love to see them.’
Maria raced off to her bedroom, Jack watching her go and shaking his head with a broad smile.
‘She absolutely loves you already,’ he said to Phoebe as he stacked the used plates.
‘I think she’s pretty cute too.’
‘And she might only be five, but she’s a brilliant judge of character… much better than I am.’
‘Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.’
‘And so I’ve been thinking,’ Jack glanced towards the stairs and lowered his voice, leaning across the table towards her. ‘This might sound like it’s out of the blue…’ He paused for a moment, gazing at Phoebe as though trying to predict her reaction to the rest of his unfinished sentence. He sighed. ‘This is stupid, and I’m just going to say it. Maria has always liked you, from the first moment she met you… and since we’ve got to know you a little better, I can see why.’
‘Well,’ Phoebe said slowly. ‘I really like you two as well.’
‘That’s good,’ Jack said earnestly. ‘Really good. Because… I wondered if… Well, if you wanted to go out somewhere one night. Just you and me.’
He sat back and watched her intently; his breathing just a little faster than it ought to be.
Phoebe didn’t reply straightaway. ‘Like a date?’ she asked finally with a slight frown.
‘You don’t want to?’ His face fell. ‘I’m sorry, I probably shouldn’t have asked so soon.’
Phoebe held up a hand. ‘It’s fine.’ She took in the dimples, the thick dark hair, the smiling blue eyes, the intelligence and gentleness that seemed to radiate from him. What the hell was wrong with her? He seemed like the perfect man. All she had to do was say yes. ‘It’s just that…’ she paused. Should she tell him about Vik? What would telling him even mean? In her heart, she knew that she had been using Vik as an excuse to check out of life for far too long and Vik would have told her so in no uncertain terms. Was that the only reason she was nervous about saying yes to a man as lovely as Jack?
Say yes! Vik said in her head. Say yes, you silly cow; say yes and be happy.
Maria appeared at the doorway, arms filled with plastic limbs and tangled hair, and broke the spell.
‘Look at all these!’ she beamed, skipping over to Phoebe and dumping them on the table in front of her.
‘Wow!’ Phoebe pulled a seat out and patted it for Maria to sit next to her. ‘Let’s look at them together.’
Maria climbed up and handed one to her. ‘This one is Jemma…’
Phoebe nodded as she inspected the doll, as if in intense concentration. She looked up at the sound of a chair scraping away from the table. Jack began to clear up. He was quiet, and seemed embarrassed as he tried not to look at them and went very deliberately about his task. At that moment, Phoebe melted.
‘Jack… it’s a yes,’ she said quietly.
His head whipped round. ‘Sorry?’
‘I said yes. What you just asked… it’s a yes. A huge, big fat yes.’
A slow smile spread across Jack’s face, one which Phoebe returned.
‘That’s fantastic. I mean… Really…’ Jack stood in the middle of the room, grinning like an idiot, clinging to his pile of dirty plates as if they had suddenly become a lifeline. Phoebe’s grin spread too. He looked sexy and adorable and she could quite happily have leapt up and kissed him to kingdom come if they had been alone. She hadn’t thought like that about a man since…
Maria’s chattering interrupted her thoughts and she turned her attention to the beautiful little girl who had wormed her way so completely into Phoebe’s heart in just a few short days. Maria was like sunshine on a frosty day, radiant enough to melt the thickest ice. It looked as though things were about to change in Phoebe’s life, in ways she couldn’t even begin to imagine. And she couldn’t think of a better Christmas present than that.
If you laughed and cried along with Phoebe, then don’t miss The Mill on Magnolia Lane, another uplifting and heartwarming tale from Tilly Tennant!
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The Mill on Magnolia Lane
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The sky is cornflower blue, the air is scented with the smell of fresh apple blossom and Lizzie Lovell can’t wait to start her new life in the mill on Magnolia Lane. But is she just about to fall in love with someone she shouldn’t?
When Lizzie loses her larger-than-life Dad she doesn’t know how to move forward. Encouraged by a childhood dream she shared with her beloved father, she is determined to continue his legacy and moves to the old Mill on Magnolia lane, a place he had always longed to own.
Restoring the old windmill is a much bigger job than Lizzie bargained for, especially when she is distracted by her new next door neighbour Jude, who has temptingly twinkly eyes and a body to die for. But when Jude’s ex-girlfriend Harriet arrives back on the scene, Lizzie begins to wonder if life wasn’t far simpler before she moved to the mill. Especially when it emerges
that Harriet knows something about Jude’s past, something that could shatter her new start and her heart into smithereens…
Get it here!
If your heart is warmed by Jenny Colgan, Lucy Diamond and Josie Silver’s One Day in December, you’ll fall in love with this beautiful feel-good story about finding love when you least expect it.
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Books by Tilly Tennant
The Summer of Secrets
The Summer Getaway
The Christmas Wish
The Mill on Magnolia Lane
Hattie’s Home for Broken Hearts
The Garden on Sparrow Street
The Break Up
The Waffle House on the Pier
Worth Waiting For
Cathy’s Christmas Kitchen
Once Upon a Winter
An Unforgettable Christmas Series
A Very Vintage Christmas
A Cosy Candlelit Christmas
From Italy with Love Series
Rome is Where the Heart is
A Wedding in Italy
Honeybourne Series
The Little Village Bakery
Christmas at the Little Village Bakery
The Spring of Second Chances
Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn
A Letter from Tilly
Dear reader,
The Spring of Second Chances : An absolutely perfect and uplifting romantic comedy Page 46