Both girls dissolved into laughter and even Cat was biting her lip, trying to be a smidge more mature, but it wasn’t easy, especially when the girls were so giggly and happy.
And just when they’d all calmed down, they passed a bakery with the most charming display of iced biscuits in fanciful shapes—stars and trees, snowmen, bells, angels and gingerbread men.
“Oh, I want a snowman!”Olivia pressed her mittened hand to a bakery window.
Jillian leaned in beside her.“I want a snowman too.But we need to get something for Dad.”
“We can do that,” Cat said.
After leaving the bakery, they moved through the streets, stopping to admire knitted scarves, beeswax candles, jars of chutney stacked like jewels.At the Christmas market stalls set up near the river, the girls lingered over hand-painted ornaments, stroking the tiny animals carved from wood.
“Can we choose one each for the tree?”Olivia asked.
Cat nodded.“Of course.”
Jillian picked a small red fox, Olivia a glossy robin.Cat paid for them and tucked the boxed ornaments into her tote.Just as they left the stall, Cat’s phone buzzed in her pocket.She pulled it out.Rhys.
“Hi,” she answered, her breath puffing in the cold.
“Where are you?”he asked.“The cottage is awfully quiet without the three of you.”
“We’re in Bakewell doing a bit of shopping.”
“Again?”
“We’ve become quite the expert shoppers.You’ll be impressed.”
“That I’d like to see.Can I join you?”
“Absolutely.”
“Where are you?”
Cat glanced around, looking for street signs and then told him where they were.
“Stay put,” he said.“I’m on my way.”
Before she could respond, the call ended.
Olivia’s eyes widened.“Daddy’s coming?”
“Apparently so.”
Jillian rolled her eyes, but the corners of her mouth curved with pleasure, and she and Olivia decided that the wait time was the ideal time for some iced biscuits.
A few minutes later, Rhys appeared through the crowd, coat collar turned up, the winter sun gilding his dark hair.The girls ran to him, Olivia wrapping her arms around his waist before he even slowed.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” he said, reaching Cat with a faint, apologetic smile.“I wasn’t making progress and thought I’d come home early, but when I did, no one was there.”
“You’re not interrupting,” Cat said, though there was a flutter in her chest she couldn’t explain.“We’re glad you’re here.”
“Daddy, I need some money.We’ve been shopping but I’m using all of Cat’s money, and I don’t know if she has enough for all the presents I want to buy.”
He tugged on her long ponytail.“Presents for who?”
“Well, presents for everyone.”
Rhys shot Cat an amused glance.
