‘Thank you, and for this,’ she gestured to the knitted decorations.
Diya and Lizzie smiled and walked out.
Immy cringed a little at what they must think of her, and her relationship, but she didn’t really care. She and Xanderwerehappy, and that was all that mattered.
Around five, a short while after Etta had been collected by her grandparents, when Immy and Max were closing up the chocolate shop, Xander came over.
He kissed her, wrapping his arms around her. ‘Want to come over and see the finished shop?’
‘Oh yes, of course. We’re done here,’ Immy said.
‘Go on, I’ll lock up,’ Max said.
‘Thanks for your help today, I really needed it,’ Immy said.
‘No problem.’
Xander took her hand and led her across the street. ‘I thought we could have a bit of a date night tonight. I know you’re probably knackered from working all day and I’m pretty tired too, but we don’t have to go out. We can get a takeout, watch a movie, stuff our faces with tasteless popcorn.’
‘Well that sounds perfect.’
She could see a strange glow coming from the shop and frowned in confusion as she got closer. There were lights inside the shop. She quickened her pace and stepped inside.
There were lights everywhere, little Easter egg fairy lights hanging from the shelves and walls. Large standalone Easter eggs, bunny and chick lanterns lined the floors and shelves, and candles stood in storm lanterns around the room. It looked beautiful.
‘The lights are battery operated so we’ll obviously have to change the batteries but they should last the length of the hunt, the candles are battery operated too, so no risk of a fire,’ Xander said.
‘I can’t believe you did this for me, it’s wonderful,’ Immy said.
‘I know you wanted to run the hunt from the shop, well now you can. We can’t do anything about the coffee machine, but you can at least sell sweets and do the hunt.’
‘Thank you, this is everything, thank you so much.’ She wrapped her arms around his neck. ‘I love you.’
He tensed in her arms and she froze at his reaction. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to take it back because it was the truth but it had only been a week since they’d decided to be together.
He cleared his throat. ‘Was that one of those silly off-the-cuff comments, like when you accidentally asked me to marry you when I was massaging you?’
She swallowed. ‘No, I love you, I think I always have. It’s OK if you don’t feel the same, it’s still very early days yet for us, but I do love you.’
He stared at her for a moment then kissed her with an urgency she’d never felt from him before.
He pulled back and looked her in the eyes. ‘Say it again.’
‘I love you. I am completely and utterly in love with you.’
He made a noise that sounded almost as if he was in pain.
‘What’s wrong?’ She stroked across his chest. ‘Have I said the wrong thing?’
He shook his head, his breathing heavy. ‘I just… No one has ever said that to me before. I know my brothers love me, but we’ve never been any good at expressing our feelings. And my parents made it clear they didn’t love us and of course Brook didn’t love me. And now there’s you, this wonderful, brilliant, kind woman, and you love me. I wasn’t expecting it and I don’t feel like I deserve it.’
‘You do, you’re an incredible man and you’re very easy to love.’
He stared at her in awe. ‘I…’ He paused, clearly struggling to say the words.
She pressed a finger to his lips. ‘Don’t say it. I don’t want you to say it just because I’ve said it. And I don’t want you to say it if you’re not ready. We have all the time in the world to get this right. We don’t need to rush into this.’
He kissed her finger, then kissed her wrist.
