Page 55 of The Christmas Fayre on Holly Field

‘Idris Elba? Henry Cavill?’ Harriet guessed, laughing.

‘I wish! No, this man is much closer to home. Do you want to guess again or are you going to give up?’ Without waiting for an answer, Pen carried on, ‘It was Owen. Did you know he’s rather good at pub quizzes?’

‘I didn’t.’ But then, why would she? She had never even been to the pub with Owen, let alone joined him in a pub quiz.

‘Mrs Moxley took a real shine to him. She told him he could come again next week if he wanted.’

‘Crumbs, she must like him!’ Mrs Moxley was well known for being nosy and cantankerous, although she had a heart of gold, but nothing was more sacred to her than the pub quiz. She was very particular about who was on her team, and for years the three witches hadn’t allowed anyone else to join them – not even when quiz night had changed from Friday to Thursday and there had been a danger that Dee would have to drop out because it clashed with her Pilates class. Mrs Moxley had kicked up such a stink, it had forced Dee to change to another class so she could carry on with the quiz. Mrs Moxley could be a stubborn and determined so-and-so when she wanted to be. Owen was honoured!

‘She’s not the only one,’ Pen said, smirking. ‘I think you’ve got a soft spot for him too. I told him as much.’

‘Pen! You didn’t!’ Harriet was appalled.

‘Do you want to hear what he said about you?’

‘I don’t know. Do I?’ Harriet was still reeling.

‘I think you do. Here, take that over to table three,’ she said, placing a teapot on the tray alongside the milk.

Harriet did as she was asked and hurried back. ‘Well, what did he say?’ she demanded.

Pen wiped the coffee machine, paying particular attention to the nozzles, and Harriet waited impatiently for her to answer, knowing that her boss was enjoying every second.

‘He said he likes you a lot.’ Pen gave Harriet a ‘what are you going to do about it?’ look.

‘He said that?’

‘I’m not making it up. Anyway, any fool can tell he’s head over heels.’

‘He’s not!’ Harriet argued, but the thought that Pen might be telling the truth sent a shiver of excitement right through her. ‘We haven’t even kissed yet.’

‘Isn’t it about time you did? You know, try before you buy? You can tell a lot about a man in his kiss.’

‘That’s a song, isn’t it? Cher?’

‘Yeah. She knew a thing or two, did Cher.’

‘I don’t think she wrote those lyrics herself,’ Harriet said, and Pen snorted.

‘Stop trying to change the subject. He admitted he likes you a lot. I’d go one further and say that he’s smitten, just like you are.’

‘As I said, we’ve not even kissed, so how could either of us be smitten?’

‘Mark my words, lady, you’ll see that I’m right.’

Pen’s words swirled around her head throughout the rest of the day, until Harriet couldn’t think about anything else, not even the assorted Halloween things that she had picked up in the charity shop on the way to work that morning. The kids broke up for half-term today, and she was planning on spending the weekend making the costumes for Halloween, which was on Monday. The kids always loved trick-or-treating, although she wasn’t too keen on it herself; but just because she was dreading tramping around the streets, and the accompanying sugar hit afterwards, didn’t mean she wouldn’t take them.

She was fully anticipating Sara asking if she could go with her friends, but Harriet had already had a conversation with Kelly and neither of them was prepared to let their eleven-year-old girls go wandering around Foxmore in the dark, no matter how safe the village was. And Bobby was far too young to go on his own anyway.

Harriet didn’t intend doing all the work when making the costumes. She would make sure Sara and Bobby helped. Both children loved arts and crafts (although she would do most of the sewing) and she couldn’t wait to see them in their outfits. She must remember to send a photo to Owen, she thought, because surely this could count towards her pre-loved challenge. In the past, she would probably have bought a cheap outfit from one of the supermarkets, something that would have fallen apart within half an hour of putting it on. Her own efforts might not be much better, but it would be far more fun, and she loved doing things as a family.

She was hurrying home at the end of her shift, her eyes automatically scooting to the left as she passed shop window after shop window, when she glanced ahead and saw a familiar figure about to step into Sero.

‘Owen!’ she called, waving when he looked around.

The smile that lit up his face sent her pulse soaring. He looked thrilled to bits to see her, which did wonders for her self-esteem. It wasn’t doing much for her heart rate, though, and she took a deep breath to steady herself.

‘Off home?’ he asked.

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