Page 1 of Mistletoe and Wishes at The Cornish Bakery

Chapter One

Holly Hughes watchedher train leave the platform, slowly gaining speed the further it travelled.

This was it. She was on her own. No, she was being independent.

Yes. Joe was right. She needed to change the words she used, how she thought. Instead of telling herself she was travelling alone, she needed to remind herself that she had chosen to do this, that this was exciting. And it was, wasn’t it? She was on an exciting adventure. Travelling down from Manchester, all the way to Cornwall - it was an adventure. It was further than she’d ever travelled by herself. Further than she’d ever travelled full stop.

Hefting her suitcase down from the final step, Holly looked towards the exit of Trestow Train Station. If she was lucky, there would be a taxi rank outside to take her on the last leg of her journey to Penworth Bay and the bakery she had signed up to volunteer at.

She grinned at the memory of telling Susie, Joe, and Lara. They hadn’t believed her. Not to begin with. She knew they’d never in a million years think she was capable of doing something like this.

But she’d show them. To prove to them - and herself - that she was capable of travelling on her own. And she’d show Mick he wasn’t the only one who was brave enough to take on life’s adventures. Yes, Cornwall wasn’t quite New Zealand, but it was still travelling.

Pulling the door open, she braced herself as she stepped outside into the cold. The wind whipped at her hair, blowing it into her face. As the door swung slowly shut behind her, trapping any escaping heat, she made her way towards the taxi rank and sighed as the last taxi pulled away, a long line of other commuters waiting patiently on the path. Hopefully the taxis wouldn’t take long to return. She peered around the person in front of her. About nine or ten people were waiting and apart from two women chatting away together, the rest of them looked as though they were lone travellers like herself. Yep, she was in for a wait.

Standing her suitcase on the pavement, she plunged her hands into her pockets and looked around. A large Christmas tree stood outside the front of the station, its colourful lights sparkling in the fading evening light. Blinking she watched as a family paused in front of it, shopping bags hanging from their toddler’s pushchair, the parents hugging takeaway cups in their hands and another young child clinging onto the pushchair with one hand, whilst holding a stuffed dog in the other. She smiled sadly; they were the picture of Christmas happiness.

She sighed. If she was honest with herself, it wasn’t even the travelling by herself that scared her. No, it was the promise she’d made to Joe, Lara, and Susie. The promise that she’d made to herself. After three years of doing everything and anything she could to avoid anything remotely to do with Christmas, she knew she had to change. She knew that her parents would want her to celebrate Christmas again, to enjoy the festivities for what they were. But in order to do so, she knew she had to create new memories to replace the painful ones.

She caught her breath, the cold air filling her lungs and blinked back the tears stinging the back of her eyes. No, she wouldn’t let them fall. Arriving here was the first step in honouring her parents’ love of Christmas again. And coming here, hundreds of miles away from her family home, she hoped things might just be a little easier. Here she could create happy memories without those painful ones lurking behind every cupboard door or engrained in every decoration. Yes, she’d done the right thing. She knew she had.

She wrapped her fingers around something in her pocket. Something cold. Something metal. What was it? A key. She could feel the jagged edges now. Her house key was in her suitcase. She’d slipped it inside one of the side pockets when she’d boarded the train, not wanting to leave it in her pocket in case she lost it.

Holly let out a little scream as realisation dawned on her. It was the key to work. The key to the craft shop she worked at. Oh great. That would be her fired now then. Ever since she’d opened up late three months ago after her friend Joe’s birthday party, Mrs Hatton, her boss, had been itching to find an excuse to fire her. And Holly had now given her one. She’d taken the key to Cornwall instead of slipping it through Mrs Hatton’s front door yesterday evening after locking up.

She could almost hear Mrs Hatton’s disapproving voice, telling her that she’d now lose a day’s income because she couldn’t open up. Holly fiddled with the two gold rings hanging on a silver chain around her neck. It wasn’t as though much money would be lost. Or any, for that matter. Unless Mrs Potter, Mrs Hatton’s neighbour and possibly her only returning customer, was due to come and pick up some cotton thread she’d ordered tomorrow.

Yep, she was definitely going to be fired. Not that she much enjoyed working at Mrs Hatton’s craft shop, but it was a job and a job she had a lot of free time in, too. A lot of time to read. To do her favourite thing and escape into another world, to leave her own for a little respite.

Pulling her hood up against the wind, she focused on the road in front of her, watching and hoping the next car turning into the station car park would be a taxi.

‘Excuse me.’

Turning, she watched as a couple walked towards her. She hoped they weren’t going to ask for directions as she didn’t have a clue where she was going let alone trying to help anyone else. Besides, the other day she’d directed a passer-by to the supermarket, telling them to go in the completely wrong direction. And that had been in her hometown. This couple wouldn’t stand a chance if they were asking her for directions here. ‘Hi.’

The woman pointed briefly behind her. ‘We were loading our car when we heard you scream, so we thought we’d come over to check if you needed any help?’

‘Oh, sorry.’ Holly grimaced. ‘Everything’s okay. I just found the key to my workplace in my pocket.’

‘I see.’ The woman nodded, confusion flooding across her face.

Holly fiddled with her necklace again. ‘It probably wasn’t scream-worthy, it’s just I was supposed to post it through my boss’ letterbox after closing up yesterday and now, well, I’ll have to post it back and she’ll miss at least a day or two’s business.’

‘Aw, these things happen. I’m sure she’s got a spare.’ The woman smiled.

‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But no. The spare was lost last year, not by me, I might add, not that time anyway.’ Holly shifted on her feet, the cold numbing her toes. ‘So, yep, I’ll likely be out of a job now.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.’

‘Don’t be. I probably should have left years ago.’ Holly smiled, a quick flash of a smile before looking towards the road snaking around the corner. ‘Do you know how often taxis come this way by any chance, please?’

‘I’m not sure. It does get busy around this time of the year, though.’ The man glanced towards the road.

‘Oh, okay. No worries.’ Holly checked her watch. ‘I’m volunteering at a bakery near here but I don’t have a set time I’ve got to be there anyway so I might grab a coffee and wait until the queue dies down.’

The woman raised her eyebrows and smiled. ‘Which bakery are you volunteering at?’

‘Umm, The Penworth Bay Bakery.’ Holly frowned. Was that right? It didn’t sound it. ‘No, sorry, it might be called something else, but I’m pretty certain it’s in a place called Penworth Bay.’

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