Page 41 of The Cosy Travelling Christmas Shop

He had twisted around and was gazing down at the scene of the minor accident, but almost as though he could feel someone watching him, he looked her way and their eyes met.

It was Daniel. ‘Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world…’ she thought, her heart leaping at the sight of him. She’d been half-expecting to see him, but not up a ladder. She’d hoped he might be playing Santa, considering a grotto was advertised as part of the attraction, but the last place she would have thought to look for him was fifteen metres above the ground.

Hastily, she broke eye contact as she remembered the accident, and turned her attention to that instead. The driver of the transit had got out and was talking to the driver of the Twingo, who was still in his car. Neither bloke looked happy, and the elderly gentleman who was behind the wheel of the Twingo was grimacing and rubbing the back of his neck.

For a second she debated whether to offer to help, but there were enough people around already and she suspected she’d only get in the way. Besides, she didn’t have first aid training and neither had she witnessed the accident, so she would be of little use.

Glancing back at Daniel she saw he was still staring at her, so she gave him a small wave of acknowledgement, then wished she hadn’t as she imagined him letting go to wave back.

He gave her a single nod in return.

Seren smiled at him, then walked back to Dippy, but all the time she felt he might still be staring at her, so when she was about to turn the corner, she risked a quick look over her shoulder.

To her disappointment, he’d gone back to removing the ivy and was taking no notice of her whatsoever. It reinforced her view that he wasn’t interested in her.

‘What took you so long?’ her dad asked, when Seren finally arrived back at the van with two mugs of hot chocolate.

‘Sorry, there was a prang in the car park. An old guy in a Twingo and a transit van. Guess who I just saw?’ She put them on the counter and straightened one of the woven baskets. This one contained angels in every colour imaginable.

‘Who?’ Her dad sipped his drink and licked his lips. ‘Mmm, this is good.’

‘Santa Claus.’

‘Really.’ Her dad gave her a ‘so what’ look.

‘Not therealFather Christmas—’ she began.

‘I didn’t think so, because he’s still at the North Pole,’ Patrick interrupted with a chuckle.

‘—the guy who was Father Christmas at the market last weekend,’ Seren finished.

‘The fella who’s got a relative in Aunt Nelly’s care home? There’s a Santa’s grotto. I expect that’s why he’s here.’

‘He was up a ladder, clearing ivy off the back of the house.’

‘Interesting.’

‘Ivy?’

‘No, my little star… that you felt you needed to share that bit of information.’ Her father’s gaze sharpened and he focused on Seren.

Seren squirmed under his stare. ‘What?’ She wished he wouldn’t call her his ‘little star’ – it made her feel as though she was a celebrity of some kind, when in reality Seren meant ‘star’ in Welsh. She blamed her parents’ choice of name for her on a weekend in Llandudno shortly before she was born, although she supposed it was better than some of the names they might have come up with after their stay in the seaside resort.

Her father poked her in the ribs. ‘You know what. Why such an interest? You must have mentioned him at least six times. More times than that Tobias guy you went out with.’

‘I’ve hardly mentioned him at all.’

‘Hmm.’ He raised his eyebrows. ‘You can’t fool me – you like him.’

Seren almost dropped a delicate pair of glass skates and yelped as she caught them just in time. ‘Don’t you think you’d be better off concentrating on customers rather than on my love life?’

‘You haven’t got a love life. Anyway, there aren’t any customers yet; the fayre isn’t due to open until ten.’ Abruptly Patrick stopped talking, and Seren turned to see what had caught her dad’s attention.

An ambulance was rumbling slowly down the drive, and Seren watched as it made for the back of the house and disappeared out of sight.

Oh, no…

‘Where are you going?’ he cried as she shoved the glass skates she was still holding into her dad’s hands and climbed out of the trailer. ‘Rubbernecker!’ he called after her when she failed to answer, but Seren took no notice.

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