Page 77 of Winter Magic on Railway Lane

‘Still no sign of a job?’ asked Katy.

Libby shook her head. ‘No but…’

As her voice trailed off, her three friends looked at her expectantly.

‘But…?’ prompted Flora.

‘Well, Dad and I were talking and he thinks that I should try to make a business out of the chocolate-making full-time,’ she said. ‘But that’s crazy, isn’t it?’

‘Of course not!’ Harriet told her. ‘And your dad would never suggest something if he didn’t think it would work. He’s far too sensible for that.’

‘I guess,’ replied Libby. ‘But how would I even go about starting from scratch?’

‘Website,’ said Katy, nodding thoughtfully. ‘Getting the word out will definitely help. But the feedback from the hotel for your boxes of chocolates has already got loads of people interestedand asking for more details. Anyway, this all works out perfectly for my master plan!’

Libby, Flora and Harriet tried and failed to stifle their groans.

‘Here she goes again,’ murmured Flora.

Katy’s business ideas had caused all of them extra work over the past year, but they had to concede that they normally turned out for the best.

‘How about a stall at the station when the Christmas train is up and running?’ said Katy, with a large smile. ‘The footfall from all those passengers will really up your chance of paying customers. Then the word of mouth spreads.’

Libby nodded. ‘That sounds like a great idea,’ she said. ‘But it’ll have to wait until the Christmas train is ready. That has to take priority. For Eddie’s sake.’

They all agreed.

She certainly couldn’t wait to start up her chocolate making once more. But that would mean probably using Ethan’s kitchen again.

He was still her other half, she thought. The part of her that went missing whenever he went away. It would happen again in the new year, of course. But the fact that they were growing closer once more gave her hope that maybe they might just be friends at last.

Despite her wanting to be so much more.

46

It was nearing the end of November and Libby had spent nearly every minute of every day working on the preparations for the Christmas train.

Despite the hard work, it almost felt like a holiday after all the long hours working on the airlines and then the rush of the huge order for the boxes of chocolates. The hotel had paid her the large sum owed and so any financial pressure had eased temporarily, giving her time to breathe and even plan how she would move her chocolate business forward in the future.

She had enjoyed spending more time with her friends as they all helped set up the decorated scenes along the railway track, along with decorating the station as well. It was almost ready, although some people’s help was more of a hindrance.

‘This is going to make it all perfect,’ declared Dodgy Del, who had returned with a worryingly large snow machine.

‘Del,’ warned Flora, putting her hands on her hips. ‘We’ve literally just finished decorating this enormous tree,’ she reminded him, gesturing at the huge Christmas tree they had placed halfway down the platform. ‘Don’t you dare go near it!’

‘Yeah, but it’s Christmas,’ said Del, flicking a few switches and connecting up a hosepipe to a nearby outside tap. ‘You’ve gotta have snow at Christmas.’

Libby groaned and went to stand in front of the huge pile of fake wrapped presents that they were about to place under the tree. ‘I spent hours wrapping these,’ she began. ‘If you so much as ruin one box…’

But her words were drowned out by the enormous hum of the snow machine as it sprang into life.

Libby and Flora automatically huddled together in preparation for the oncoming snowstorm. But, to their relief, it never came. Instead, the large funnel at the top of the machine merely spat out a few snowflakes and lumps of what appeared to be grey snow which disappeared as soon as they reached the ground.

They watched on for a few more minutes until, thankfully, Ethan and Ryan marched out of Platform 1 and turned the machine off.

‘That’s quite enough of that,’ said Ryan, glaring at his cousin. ‘I can’t hear myself think in my kitchen.’

Del looked down at the now damp ground in front of him. ‘Can’t think why it hasn’t worked,’ he said, with a frown. ‘My mate said it would make the whole place look like Santa’s grotto.’