‘OK, good. I think Max is working tonight, he’ll make sure the kitchen is careful with your food.’
‘Alberto’s always do. They take very good care of me. Let’s just hope Oliver is better than Dave. It can’t get any worse, can it?’
Quinn looked doubtful and then seemed to force a smile on his face. ‘I’m sure it will be fine. So is Oliver the reason you came in here smiling like a Cheshire cat?’
‘Oh no, I don’t know anything about him to smile about a date with him. I did get another message from Pip, though – I’m seeing him tomorrow night and he seems really nice – but no, I’m excited because I got a message from St Nick.’
His eyes widened in surprise. ‘That’s … amazing. I saw your post on Facebook, I did wonder if anyone would respond.’
‘No response from the public yet but I wasn’texpecting St Nick to reply. He’s set me a challenge and I’m so excited about it. He even called me Barnaby, here look.’ She fished her phone out of her bag and passed it over for him to read.
He took a few moments, his eyes scanning over the words. ‘This is really cool.’
‘I know. I mean, the clue is pretty useless. The fact that he said he doesn’t paint isn’t much to go on, he could be a policeman, fisherman, accountant. But this challenge is right up my street. I’m even more desperate to find him now.’
‘Why do you want to find him?’ Quinn asked.
‘To solve the mystery for one,’ Alex replied. ‘But I really want to thank him, not just for Zara, but for everyone who has received a bauble. And I was chatting to Luke and Flick and we really think that a talent like that should be celebrated and that those people who haven’t received one should have the opportunity of buying one.’
‘It’s very different thing though, selling them rather than giving them as gifts. He already says he doesn’t want to do that.’
‘Yeah, I get that,’ said Alex. ‘But as he has offered to do a custom bauble if I guess who he is, I’m desperate to figure it out.’
‘What would you get done if you could?’
‘It wouldn’t be for me, it’d be for Immy. Just as a little thank you for everything she’s done for me over the years. I’d get one with Jacob on it. Most people have never even heard of a Skye terrier before so you neversee it on decorations or any other dog paraphernalia. She would be over the moon to finally get something with a Skye terrier on it.’
‘And what would you get done for you?’ Quinn asked.
‘Good question. Probably a whale that doesn’t look like an aubergine emoji.’
Quinn laughed.
‘What would you want on your bauble? If you could choose?’ Alex asked.
‘I’ve never thought about that.’
‘There must be one thing you’d want more than anything,’ she prompted.
‘Oh, there’s definitely one thing I want more than anything. But I’m not sure how to encapsulate that on a bauble.’
‘What is it?’
He shook his head. ‘It’s hard to put into words and stupidly I’ve wanted to say those words out loud for several years and now it’s probably too late.’
‘It’s never too late to go after your dreams.’
‘Well, maybe I’ll share those dreams with you on Christmas Eve, providing you’re not engaged to some amazing hot guy by then.’
Alex laughed. ‘I don’t think that will ever happen, especially if Dave is representative of the calibre of single men out there. But what has that got to do with your dreams?’
Quinn smiled. ‘I guess you’ll have to work that out as well.’
She frowned. ‘Are you worried that me being with someone else will affect what we have? Is that why you were sad when you thought I was happy because of my date? I told Violet you don’t need to worry about that. You two will always be a part of our lives.’
He chewed his lip as he clearly thought how to reply. ‘If you find the man of your dreams, and marry him, I will be happy that you’re happy but this…’ he pointed between the two of them, ‘will change. How could it not? No man is going to be happy with us hugging, me coming round your house every day, us going on holiday or days out together. Maybe they’ll be OK with me taking Zara out for the day but not this.’
Alex hated to admit he was probably right and she felt sick at the thought. She simply couldn’t imagine not having Quinn in her life.
