Page 79 of A Manny for Christmas

Beside the main entrance stands a huge potted fir studded to within an inch of its life with white fairy lights. Angus told me there are over fifty Christmas trees around the resort at this time of year. Insane, if you ask me, but it’s undeniably magical.

I have to hand it to Jess, Zoe, and Evelyn. They’ve perfected the formula, and it’s crack. Luxury plus authenticity plus integrity plus taste. No wonder they’ve brought Theo Montague in to manage their new joint venture with his family’s global hotel chain, The Montague Group. If they can replicate this format, they’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.

I push open the heavy glass door and the kids push through the gap in excitement. The Oast House is pretty quiet at this time of the afternoon, except for a few tables occupied with laptop workers or coffee drinkers. The lunch crowd is gone, and cocktail hour hasn’t quite begun yet, although I definitely wouldn’t mind nursing a G&T with Molly in front of that roaring fire at the near end. Or a nice glass of red, even. That gigantic velvet sofa looks sinfully comfortable.

Halfway down the vast space stands a gaggle of people, and my Molly-radar homes in on her immediately. She’s still in her chef’s whites, her golden hair glowing like a beacon in the atmospheric lighting. There’s something about having the opportunity to watch her from a distance that makes me feel like the luckiest bastard on earth.

She’s incredible, far more incredible than she seems to realise, and the fact thatIget to go home with her, and take her off to bed with me, and strip her bare, literally and emotionally, is a new and fragile gift after so long without having her in my life.

I watch as the kids weave through the tables in their haste to get to her. Her face lights up when she spots them, and she gets to her knees so she can throw an arm around each of them and pepper their faces with kisses. Seeing that propels me forward, almost without knowing what I’m doing. I want to be close to her. To them. Want to be a part of that circle. I want her face to light up like that when she seesme, even if she can’t act on her feelings in public.

It’s not till I join the little group that I take my eyes off her and realise I recognise a few other faces, too. Evelyn. Zoe. That amusing woman I met that horrific first morning I sought out Mol after the school run—Sadie, wasn’t it? I lean down to kiss my sister-in-law, and Molly catches my eye.

‘Hi,’ she mouths, those lips curving up into a coy smile. She’s blushing, even as she puts her hands on Daisy’s shoulders and steers her towards the display. She looks like a teenager who’s spotted the boy she likes and has no idea how to act towards him, and I fucking love it.

Just for the kick of it, I sling an arm around her shoulder and kiss her on the cheek. It’s nothing more than a friendly kiss, nothing that could embarrass her in front of her colleagues, but her cheek is hot against my lips, and when I pull away, she looks flustered. I spot Sadie’s knowing grin as I come up for air and give her a nod. Clearly, she knows our little secret.

‘Wow,’ Daisy breathes as she gets a clear look at the table’s display. I lean over her to take a look and do a double take. This is fucking incredible.

I jerk my head back at Molly. ‘You did all this?’

‘Team effort,’ she says, a little breathily. I’mreallyenjoying the effect my proximity is having on her. ‘My team did the baking and construction, and we liaised with the Visual Merch team to decorate the buildings and pull together the village.’

‘It’s so cool!’ Toby shouts. ‘Look, Mum! There’s a train!’ He points at the little train chugging around the table.

‘May I remind you that you have something extremely similar gathering dust in your wardrobe?’ she says, kneading his shoulders.

‘Seriously?’ I ask. ‘Mate, we should set that up at the weekend. It’d be great fun.’

‘Really?’ He cranes his head around to look up at me and Molly. ‘Can we, Mum?’

‘Of course you can,’ she says. ‘If it’s okay with Max, that is.’

‘It’ll be amazing,’ I tell Toby. A quick glance around shows there’s no adult behind us, so I run a finger lightly down Molly’s spine. She shivers and glances up at me, eyes wide. It looks as though disapproval and desire are warring beneath their beautiful blue surface. I smirk at her and wiggle my eyebrows. ‘How amazing is this village?’ I ask the kids. ‘Your mum is seriously talented, isn’t she?’

Daisy is, for once in her life, speechless. She’s fisted her hands on the table and has rested her chin on them as she stares at the village. It’s pretty damn cool from where I’m standing, so I imagine it must be a four-year-old girls’s dream. It’s sweet how transported she is by Molly’s staggering creation.

‘There are sooo many sweets,’ she drawls in awe, and I laugh. Okay, so maybe she’s more overcome by the sheer volume of sugary things in this scene than by the talent and bloody hard work that’s gone into creating it.

‘Do you like the lights?’ Molly points, and Daisy sighs.

‘Yeah. And look! There’s a Christmas tree!’

I follow her little finger. There is indeed a tree standing in the middle of the village. It’s fucking cute. ‘How did you make that?’ I ask Molly.

‘It’s just a cardboard cone covered in piped icing, she whispers.

‘It’s seriously clever,’ I tell her. I almost drop a kiss on the top of her golden head but stop myself in the nick of time.

‘Can we make a gingerbread house at home?’ Toby asks. ‘Please, Mummy?’

Molly laugh-groans.

‘I suspect your mother never wants to see a gingerbread house again as long as she lives,’ I tell him.

Zoe jerks her head towards the kitchen. ‘Why doesn’t your mum take you through to find some sweets? You can take them home, and maybe she can cook some gingerbread here with the right equipment and bring a house home for you to assemble?’

Molly sags with relief. ‘That sounds like the right way to do it.’

---