‘Oh, I don’t think I can take any credit for that, she’sbrilliant all on her own.’ Alex paused, biting her lip. ‘I’m sorry she said those things about Liam, I know that must be hard to hear.’
‘That he was mean? I saw that with my own eyes. I’m sad that she saw it though.’
‘Yeah, me too,’ Alex sighed. ‘I never knew she saw me crying. I’ve never said anything negative about Liam to her as I always hoped she remembered the good times not the bad. Thank you for saying what you did.’
‘It’s true, he was a good man, when he didn’t drink. He was my best friend growing up and I miss that. I’d like to see those videos too, to remind me of the man he really was. Because right now I’m angry that his own daughter grew up thinking he was mean, he should never have put her through that.’
‘I know and part of me now regrets staying as long as I did.’
Quinn shook his head. ‘You stayed to help him and that took a lot of courage, and it was a lot more than what his family did for him.’
She chewed her lip while she thought about how to address the elephant in the room but Quinn got there first.
‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I won’t be packing my bags and moving in any time soon. Also, I’m not quite sure how we would keep the magic of Christmas alive if you and Zara moved into Santa’s house with me.’
‘No, that’s true. Although I’m sure she would love being one of the elves and being in on the secret when she’s a little older.’
‘Well, you are both welcome to move in with me at any time, whenever you’re ready,’ he told her. ‘I reckon we can make the Santa thing work, even if it means we all move back in with Immy at the start of December.’
She looked at him. ‘You’re so blasé about this.’
‘About Santa? I’m sure we can come up with some workaround if she’s living there.’
‘About us.’
‘Oh. I wouldn’t say blasé.’
‘The way you talk, you’re so confident about our future as if you know we’ll be living together, married, happily ever after one day.’
‘I have no doubts about that,’ he said. ‘We love each other, we’ll get there. And I think you know that too. You told Zara that I would be moving in with you at some point, you didn’t say might, or maybe or deny all knowledge of it. You know we were meant to be together. And it doesn’t matter if it takes a few years for you to be comfortable with that.’
‘What if I never get there?’ she asked. ‘What if I’m never ready to move in with you or get married or have babies?’
His face softened. ‘I would love to have children with you. One day.’
Alex’s heart leapt at the thought. She wanted that life with him more than anything. She smiled. ‘I want that too.’
He grinned. ‘Then we’ll get there. When you’re ready. Now let’s go and look at the decorations and thehouse before Zara picks out which bedroom she’s going to have.’
‘I have a plan,’ Alex said, walking into Quinn’s studio later that morning, just as he was getting ready to head out for the day. She knew he had to drive up to Exeter today to collect some metal for his monsters. He made the journey at least once a month and he’d be gone for most of the day.
‘What kind of plan?’
‘I’ve collated where all the baubles were found, based on all the comments on my Facebook post, and you might be surprised to know that, while a lot were placed near the relevant person’s house, the majority of them were found in Christmas Gardens.’
Quinn raised an eyebrow. ‘Really? The majority? I feel like a lot were found in the high street, the beach and other busy communal areas too.’
‘Thirty-four percent were found on Christmas Gardens.’
‘How is that the majority?’
‘Well, twenty-six percent were found in individual locations, left outside or near someone’s house. Twenty-seven percent were found near or around the main high street and thirteen percent were found near or on the beach.’
‘That doesn’t feel like an overwhelming majority then.’
Alex narrowed her eyes at him. ‘It’s enough that Christmas Gardens is now a place of interest.’
‘It doesn’t mean that St Nick lives near it. Just that he’s picked a busy place to leave the baubles, somewhere he knows the baubles will be found very easily.’
