Page 37 of Yule Party on Sunflower Street

Not. At. All.

18

SETH

Inside the vintage place, Seth looked around. There was so much stuff in there from across the decades and he could see why it would be the kind of place someone like Tara would appreciate. Not for him, because it all looked like clutter, but for someone with an eye for detail, it could definitely seem like an Aladdin’s cave.

Music played from portable speakers as he walked the aisles, Christmas songs from way back when that made something flicker inside him. Memories of childhood, perhaps. Of happy times with his family. Feelings of freedom and excitement and anticipation that came with being young and innocent. When did all that change for him? At what point did he decide he was too old for the simple joys of wrapping or opening gifts, of baking mince pies and having a snowball fight? Somewhere along the way, he’d lost the magic of Christmas and now, aged thirty-eight, he was questioning those life choices and all because of a beautiful woman who loved Christmas.

And then he saw her. Sitting on the floor surrounded by boxes, her eyes lit up with joy. He stopped walking just so he could gaze at her for a moment and capture the memory of how lovely she was.

His heart started to thrum like a bird trapped behind his ribcage and he had to fight to suck in a breath. Then it hit him full force… Tara was utterly wonderful and he was falling for her.

She looked up and spotted him and waved him over. He had to concentrate to make his feet move and when he reached her, his legs threatened to give way if he didn’t sit down, so he crouched next to one of the boxes.

‘Look!’ She clapped her hands. ‘Isn’t it wonderful?’

He eyed the boxes filled with vintage baubles, music boxes, jigsaw puzzles and more.

‘Seth?’ she said, breathless with happiness.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘It really is.’

‘Is there room in the van?’ she asked. ‘I can’t choose between some of the items, so I thought I’d just get them all. I think they’ll appeal to our customers and make the window display look even better.’

‘There’s room, Tara. Plenty of room.’

Even if there hadn’t been, he would have made room because he wanted to see Tara smile that way over and over again.

‘Shall we get everything into the van then and go and get some lunch?’ he asked.

‘Yes, please. All this excitement has given me an appetite.’

He helped Tara to load the boxes onto a trolley then they took them to the counter and Tara paid. Seth pushed the trolley out to the van and Tara walked next to him with a hand on the small of his back.

After they’d loaded the boxes into the van, Tara tipped her face up to Seth.

‘Thank you so much.’

‘You don’t need to thank me.’

‘I do. You’re a kind and thoughtful man and I’m grateful for your help. I mean, this is above and beyond your landlord responsibilities.’

‘It’s my pleasure, Tara.’

She held his gaze and he had a sense of tipping forwards, as if the earth had tilted on its axis. He raised a hand as if to steady himself and Tara took it between both of hers.

‘Now let me treat you to lunch to say thank you.’

And as they walked back across the car park, Seth knew that this really had nothing at all to do with him being Tara’s landlord and a whole lot more to do with the fact that he was completely smitten.

He really was in trouble…

19

TARA

They settled on a Mediterranean-style restaurant at Battersea Power Station. While they waited to be seated, Tara looked around at the twinkling fairy lights on the ceiling entwined with faux grape vines and at the large Christmas trees in the corners of the restaurant. Ambient instrumental carols were drifting through the air along with aromas of roasted garlic and tomatoes. Her stomach growled and she was glad it was busy in there so no one could hear it because it sounded like an angry bear.