Page 79 of The Cosy Travelling Christmas Shop

‘Why, what?’

Her dad frowned and screwed up his face, but he didn’t say anything further and Seren guessed he didn’t want to hurt her feelings.

‘Never mind,’ she said, letting him off the hook, and she caught the expression of relief on his face. ‘I’m not looking forward to telling her, but I suppose I’ll have to. I’ll go visit her soon.’

Patrick handed her a steaming mug. ‘Drink that, you’ll feel better.’

Seren didn’t think so. A cup of tea was nice, but it wasn’t going to magic away the last few hours. She was still facing the sack for gross misconduct.

She shuddered when she considered those words. In her mind they were associated with things like theft, or sexual harassment, or bullying: not for having a little hobby on the side.

Butwasit a hobby? In all honesty, she didn’t know. For her to have spent the kind of money it took to convert the van into what she wanted, it definitely wasn’t a hobby, but at the time she thought she’d have the luxury of a secure job to fund it. And she had to admit, it was doing well so far. She hadn’t made anywhere near enough profit to make any dent in replacing what she’d shelled out for the renovation, but at least shewasmaking a profit. Even with having to cut short the market on Thursday (a warm glow engulfed her at the memory), she’d still made a decent amount of money.

Maybe her dad was right in that she did now have the time to devote to it, although it was a bit late for this Christmas, considering it was already the fifteenth of December and there was only one more shopping weekend to go until the big day. If she worked fast, though, she might be able to arrange to visit a couple more care homes and even a market or two.

Feeling a little more positive, she sent Daniel a quick message saying she was thinking of him. There was no point in phoning him now because he was meeting Tobias for a drink. She’d tell him all about it tomorrow, and by then she’d hopefully have a plan for her travelling gift shop, which would take her beyond Christmas and into the new year.

It was the end of a long day and Daniel had never felt so relieved in his life to be able to rid himself of the blasted Santa suit and walk to the pub. He was due to play Santa at the mall again next Saturday, so he’d left his outfit there because he had nothing else lined up between now and then, which saved Tobias from spotting it and giving him a ribbing.

Daniel was early, so he got a round in, took the drinks to a free table and checked his messages while he waited, smiling to himself when he saw one from Seren, saying she was missing him. He was missing her too, and he pinged the same message back along with a red heart emoji. Neither of them had said the ‘L’ word yet, but he thought it was only a matter of time and, after the night they’d spent together, telling her he loved her was more of a formality, because he was pretty sure she’d guessed how he felt. And, as she still wanted to be with him, he hoped she felt the same way.

He’d downed half of his drink and was thinking he’d better take it easy because he didn’t want to have a hangover tomorrow, when Tobias showed up.

‘Ta, mate,’ his friend said, taking a deep draught, then wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘I needed that. I’ve had a shit day.’

‘I know the feeling.’

‘What’s up?’

‘I’ll tell you in a minute, but before I forget, do you remember that conversion you did on the ice cream van? For a woman called Seren?’ He thought he’d best come clean and tell Tobias he was seeing Seren, and he hoped it wouldn’t lead to any awkwardness between them.

‘How could I forget?’

‘Yeah, she is lovely, isn’t she?’

Tobias said, ‘I thought so. Simple lines, elegantly done. What about it?’

It took Daniel a second to realise Tobias was referring to the van and not Seren. ‘I’ve been seeing Seren. As in, we’re dating.’

‘You dark horse! Good for you, mate.’

‘Anyway, she asked me to remind you she hadn’t had an invoice from you. That’s not like you – you’re usually on the ball when it comes to getting paid. Are you being charitable in your old age?’

‘Not bloody likely! The bill’s been paid, mate. I wouldn’t have let her take the van out of the garage if it hadn’t.’

‘But I’m sure she said—’

‘There’s a story behind this.’ Tobias leant forward, his forearms on his thighs. ‘You were there when I got that call from that chap saying he wanted an ice cream van converted? That was Seren’s dad. He bought it for her without telling her first.’

Daniel nodded – he knew all this. ‘So?’

‘It wasn’thimwho bought it. It was her aunt. Orhisaunt… Anyway, it was some relative of hers who bought it. She paid for the work to be done, too. But Seren isn’t supposed to know.’

‘Why not?’ Daniel was taken aback.

‘Some old-fashioned idea about not handing it to her on a plate. That if Seren thinks she has to pay for it herself, she’ll appreciate it more.’

Daniel could see the logic in that, but it put him in a difficult position and he wished Tobias hadn’t told him. How was he going to keep it secret from Seren? He’d told her he was seeing Tobias this evening – she was bound to want to know if he’d remembered to ask him about the money she owed him. Or thought she owed him.

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