Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London, SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
Copyright © Annie Darling 2018
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
Cover illustration © Carrie May
Annie Darling asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008275679
Ebook Edition © November 2018 ISBN: 9780008275686
Version: 2018-10-24
Dedicated to Mr Mackenzie,
the most splendid specimen of felinity in the world.
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1: 30 days until Christmas
Chapter 2: 29 days until Christmas
Chapter 3: 28 days until Christmas
Chapter 4: 27 days until Christmas
Chapter 5: 27 days until Christmas
Chapter 6: 26 days until Christmas
Chapter 7: 25 days until Christmas
Chapter 8: 25 days until Christmas
Chapter 9: 24 days until Christmas
Chapter 10: 23 days until Christmas
Chapter 11: 23 days until Christmas
Chapter 12: 20 days until Christmas
Chapter 13: 19 days until Christmas
Chapter 14: 19 days until Christmas
Chapter 15: 18 days until Christmas
Chapter 16: 18 days until Christmas
Chapter 17: 15 days until Christmas
Chapter 18: 14 days until Christmas
Chapter 19: 14 days until Christmas
Chapter 20: 14 days until Christmas
Chapter 21: 14 days until Christmas
Chapter 22: 13 days until Christmas
Chapter 23: 11 days until Christmas
Chapter 24: 10 days until Christmas
Chapter 25: 9 days until Christmas
Chapter 26: 8 days until Christmas
Chapter 27: 8 days until Christmas
Chapter 28: 7 days until Christmas
Chapter 29: 6 days until Christmas
Chapter 30: 5 days until Christmas
Chapter 31: 3 days until Christmas
Chapter 32: 3 days until Christmas
Chapter 33: 2 days until Christmas
Chapter 34: 1 day until Christmas
Chapter 35: Christmas Day
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Also by Annie Darling
About the Publisher
‘Goodbye! Do come again!’ With a bright smile, Matilda Smith ushered her last customer of the day out of the door of the Happy Ever After tearooms and hurried to lock it behind them. Her mobile phone, in the pocket of her apron, had been buzzing like a furious bee with incoming text messages for the last five minutes.
Mattie pulled out her still vibrating and flashing phone to read her messages; all of them from one person.
EMERGENCY MEETING!!!!!
The urgent capital letters left Mattie unmoved. She’d been on her feet since seven that morning and her feet were about to go on strike, so this so-called emergency meeting could do without her.
‘I thought Beige Anorak would never go,’ Mattie remarked of their most frequent customer. ‘I’ve a good mind to tell him that he can only hog a table of four for a maximum of one hour.’
‘At least he shared the table this time,’ Cuthbert pointed out as he slowly and lovingly wiped down Jezebel the coffee machine. Her old barista, Paloma, had left to go travelling and Mattie had despaired that she’d ever find someone who could handle the very temperamental Jezebel, until she’d met seventy-two-year-old Cuthbert Lewis.
Mattie’s phone vibrated again. Another message from a person who really needed to stop using shouty capslock and, instead, get to the point.
THIS IS NOT A DRILL, THIS IS A GENUINE EMERGENCY!!!!!
‘I bet it’s not a genuine emergency,’ Mattie exclaimed out loud.
‘Trouble at t’mill?’ Cuthbert asked.
‘Just the usual flapping from next door.’
Cuthbert