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He holds up his hand.

‘I’m happy to help out, spend some time with Will. The accommodation will be more than payment, thank you.’

‘Yes!!’ Will gives a little fist pump. ‘The Christmas tree farm is reopening. For one last Christmas!’ He adopts a rock-star stance and swings his arm around as if playing electric guitar, making us all laugh.

‘If I can manage it,’ I say. ‘But with Horse here to help out, it’s certainly looking more likely.’

Luke looks at me, Horse, Lara and then back to me.

‘Well, seeing as my pups are here, I think I owe you some rent, so I’d be more than happy to help out too. Find my way around the farm. And if the puppies are going to be here, I’ll need to be around to keep an eye on them until they’re ready to leave.’

Lara smiles.

‘And I love being here and have my eye on one of the pups, so I’d be happy to help out in my spare time,’ she says. ‘I still need to go to work, of course, but my free time is my free time. I’d be here to help you as a friend, Gwen. Not with my social worker hat on.’

‘Yes!’ Will shouts again. He runs around in a little happy circle with Tegan following him.

My eyes fill with happy tears. ‘Thank you all. Really, this means so much.’ Maybe this will be fun after all.

‘Now come on, we’ve got a curry to cook!’ shouts Will, leading us all into the kitchen so that Nadiya can patiently teach him – and the rest of us – about the heart of her home cooking.

Chapter 24

‘Right,’ I say, looking for a pen and paper and sitting down at the kitchen table, letting the smells wrap around me like a great big hug. Will is carefully stirring the curry that Nadiya has shown him how to make. Despite my encouragement that she should stay for dinner, Nadiya wanted to get home before it got too dark and late. And now it is dark outside – very dark. And cold, too.

‘This looks serious,’ says Horse, who has just arrived back in the kitchen from dropping Nadiya home.

I tap my pen on the blank sheet of paper.

‘Well, there’s going to be a lot to do; it’ll help if I make a few lists. Paddy used to start by mapping out which areas to focus on first. It’s great you’re clearing the brambles, that’ll make a huge difference. And I want to think about what else we can do to bring people here when Christmas Tree World is just down the road.’

‘Okay!’ says Horse. ‘Well, as you say, the main thing is, you’ve got trees. The paths will start to look better once I get stuck in. What about some music – a band? Or a choir?’

‘I can’t afford to pay anyone,’ I say, worried.

Luke and Lara are on the sofa with Dinky sitting in between them. She’s loving a short break from her babies, who are all feeding well and starting to take on their own personalities. There’s the big one – greedy, always first to feed, snores when he sleeps. Then the inquisitive one, always busy and happy to say hello when anyone approaches. The small, timid one; the very pretty one; and the one that has one ear up and one ear down.

‘And just so you know, I’m off duty now. I’m here as official puppy helper.’ Lara looks so relaxed, stroking Dinky’s head.

Horse slides off his leather jacket and sits at the table with me.

‘We’ve got about six weeks until Christmas Eve.’

‘So that’s about two weeks to get set up here and open on the first of December, and then just over three weeks to sell as many trees as we can,’ says Luke practically. His phone pings, as it has pretty much constantly. I’m guessing it’s Scarlett.

‘Maybe we need a theme,’ I say. ‘Something like Christmas Tree World would do. Be more like them. What about a Wham! Christmas? Or a Victorian Christmas, like Dickens and Scrooge?’ I look around at the blank faces.

‘Or a Disney Christmas?’ says Lara. ‘A Frozen Christmas?’

I bang my feet, which still haven’t warmed up from being out on the yard. ‘You can say that again.’

‘A Wild West Christmas!’ says Luke. ‘Loved dressing as a cowboy when I was a kid.’ Lara laughs, a pretty laugh.

‘A most memorable Christmas!’ says Will, and we all look at him.

‘You’re quite right, Will. The most memorable Christmas,’ I say.

‘Something money can’t buy,’ says Horse.