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“That sounds lovely,” said Hannah. It warmed her heart to see Lottie looking so happy. She took another mouthful of wine. It was slipping down easily this evening.

“I mean, only if that’s what you want as well?” Lottie questioned Hannah.

Freya, Tom and Zack came in to gather platefuls of food, so Hannah and Lottie did the same. Soon, the two of them were alone in the kitchen, sitting by the fire, their plates piled high with turkey, potatoes and pickles.

“That’s enough about me. What about you?” said Lottie.

“Well, I’ve been talking to Mark, and I realised that I need a break from work. More than just a holiday.” Hannah shifted her chair slightly. “I love my work, but lately it’s just felt too hard, like it’s taking too much from me personally. So I’m going to have a sabbatical. Six months.”

“That sounds like a really good idea,” said Lottie. “What will you do?”

“Take some time for me, I guess,” said Hannah. She bit her lip and looked up at Lottie. “I sort of wondered if I could spend a little bit of it here? With you?”

“Yes,” said Lottie almost before Hannah had finished speaking. “Yes!”

“I’ll obviously stay at the hotel, you don’t need me cramping your style here,” Hannah continued.

“You will not,” Lottie insisted, “you will stay here with me!” Then she looked back at Hannah. “Well, if that’s what you’d like to do.”

Hannah grinned. “I’d love to.” She placed her plate of leftovers on a small table and leaned over to gently kiss Lottie.

“And so,” continued Lottie, “we can see where this goes?”

Hannah nodded happily. “We can see where this goes.”

“Happy Christmas,” said Lottie, her eyes bright and her cheeks red.

“Happy, happy, happy Christmas,” agreed Hannah.

Chapter Forty-Nine

SIX MONTHS LATER – LOTTIE

Lottie kissed Hannah on the platform at Fort William. She was catching the sleeper train back to London.

“So, I’ll see you in a couple of weeks in Dorset,” said Hannah.

“Yep, we can check out that newly refurbished hotel together. I can’t wait,” said Lottie.

“We’ve got time for a cuppa before I go,” Hannah pointed out, gesturing to the small cafe.

They picked a table and soon they had themselves some steaming tea and a pair of Tunnock’s Teacakes.

“I can’t believe you’d never had these before you came here,” said Lottie, for perhaps the fifth time in the last six months.

Hannah rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, I know. But they have changed my life. They’re potentially going to change my waistline, too, mind you.”

Lottie winked. “Nothing could spoil the way you look, my love.”

Hannah beamed at Lottie in the way she had started to do as they’d slowly grown to know each other properly over the preceding months.

Lottie reflected on the time they’d shared together. Lottie had travelled around the country on a few visits in her new job. Hannah had been to London to see Mark and sort some things out for work, but in truth, it had been one of the happiest six months of Lottie’s life.

Hannah had changed. She seemed more relaxed, more herself. She could still do a very good impression of a frosty ice queen, but only if it was genuinely required, a contingency which was reserved for those rare occasions when she joined Lottie on a mystery shopper mission to a hotel and the customer service turned out to be genuinely bad.

“How are you feeling about going back to work?” asked Lottie.

“Honestly?” Hannah took a deep breath. “Nervous. But also a bit excited. It’s going to be different this time. Now I’ve got the book deal, my plan is to do fewer hours at the studio and focus on the writing.”