‘By Santa’s house?’
‘It was right outside,’ Immy said. ‘And no, it hasn’t been decorated yet.’
‘Maybe they really are from Santa Claus,’ Zara said, in wonder. ‘It’s beautiful.’
‘Of course it had to be yours with the roller skates painted on it.’
Zara took the lid off and touched the painted skates lovingly. ‘But you found it, you should keep it.’
‘No, St Nick clearly says keep, re-hide or give to someone else. It’s yours. Definitely.’
‘Thank you so much.’ Zara hugged her aunt.
Immy smiled. ‘Now if you find one with my beloved Skye terrier on it, then you can repay the favour. I’ve never seen anything with a Skye terrier on so I will be over the moon to get a bauble if you ever find one.’
That gave Alex an idea. Maybe if, through her investigations for the local paper, she was able to unmask St Nick, she could offer to pay him to do a Skye terrier bauble for Immy as a thank you for everything she had done for her. She suddenly had a new incentive to find out who he was.
‘I will, but no one could capture Jacob’s cuteness.’ Zara bent down to stroke Jacob’s head.
‘I don’t know, this St Nick is a pretty talented man,’ Alex said.
‘Or woman,’ Zara said. ‘It could be St Nicola.’
‘It could,’ Alex agreed, although in her mind she was pretty convinced it was a man, only because she didn’t think a woman would give herself a masculine pseudonym. But maybe she was wrong.
Quinn leaned over Alex’s shoulder to look at the bauble, his hand holding her back so casually he probably wasn’t even aware he was doing it, but every cell in her body responded to his touch.
‘I bet it’s a woman,’ he said. ‘It’s too… whimsical to be a man. A man would just paint a pair of skates. A woman would add purple laces and stars and pretty holly leaves and berries. And a woman pays attention to little details, like knowing purple is your favourite colour. Men are rubbish at stuff like that.’
‘You think St Nick painted this just for me?’ Zara said, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
‘There’s only one roller skating queen in this town, St Nick must have known this would make its way to you.’
Zara’s smile spread across her face.
Alex checked her watch. ‘Well, I hate to break this up, but Zara, you have to get to school.’
She watched Quinn and Zara down their juice in one big gulp.
‘I’ll come with you, I have to pick up the metal before nine,’ Quinn said, moving to the sink and quicklywashing up his and Zara’s glasses. ‘Mr Bellamy gets very upset if we turn up after nine.’
‘Seems like a funny way to run a shop,’ Zara said.
Alex suppressed a smirk. Her daughter was so bloody smart.
‘I agree,’ Quinn said. ‘But I’m too scared to tell Mr Bellamy that.’
Zara started walking towards the back door with Quinn.
‘Hey, what about my kiss?’ Alex said.
Quinn immediately turned round and placed a kiss on her cheek, which caused Zara to burst into giggles and Alex’s heart to race.
She cleared her throat and when she spoke she tried desperately not to sound like that simple kiss had affected her. ‘I meant from my daughter.’
‘Oops,’ Quinn laughed, winking at Zara.
Zara, still laughing, wrapped her arms around Alex and leaned up to give her a kiss. Except she didn’t have to lean up as far as she used to, she was growing so tall, just like her dad.
