Page 35 of A Winter Wish

“Waffles?” The boy looked at her less suspiciously now.

“And chocolate,” Lexie said with a wink. “Belgium is famous for its chocolate, and they go wild at Christmas.” He offered her a small smile at that, then glanced up at his mum hopefully.

“That sounds good, doesn’t it, Isaac?” Without waiting for an answer, she turned back to Lexie. “What are the next steps, if we want to go for it?”

Lexie took them through the booking process, added a few more details on the trip, then backed away, leaving them to ponder. No one liked to be pushed—and she was pretty sure they’d go for it without any further intervention on her part. After a few weeks in the office, this was the part she felt she could do. She’d done a lot of customer-facing work over the years, and though she’d not sold holidays before, it was a similar skill set—and something she actually enjoyed doing. She liked trying to figure people out, liked the easy conversation—and she was finding she liked trying to work out what they were after in a holiday—which place they might like to get to know through a local celebration—and matching it up as best she could.

Lexie glanced around the office. Harry was talking to an older couple at what Lexie thought of as his desk, though they were supposed to be communal, nodding along to a story they were telling him. Apparently Christmas ties were not the only festive-themed items in his wardrobe—he was wearing a blue tie with yellow chicks on it as a nod to Easter today.

Most of R&L’s business was actually done online, Lexie had learned, but they kept the shop open for anyone who wanted more personal interaction before deciding which holiday to book. As a result, there was a lot of remote working—she hadn’t even seen Mike since moving back, and Ange told her he hardly ever came in to the office. Harry was in most days, manning the floor, and Ange was in a lot, but she wasn’t strict about hours. So far, Lexie had been coming in every day. Ange had given her a company laptop, but she had no idea what to do at home, sitting on Fran’s sofa and frowning at the screen, trying to figure out whether she was supposed to be coming up with some grand idea to make loads of money. At least in the office she could talk to people and feel useful.

What would Theo do, now he was back? Would he mostly work upstairs from the flat, or would he be down here, in the office?

She watched as the little family headed to the nearest desk—the one where Lexie often sat—and picked up one of the business cards. The boy made to grab a handful of the chocolate eggs, wrapped in colorful tinfoil, from the bowl there, but the woman stopped him and handed him just one; then Isaac snuck him a second while the woman pretended not to see.

“We’ll book online,” the woman said with a smile as she headed past Lexie and back out onto the street. “I’d better get Belgian on my Duolingo!”

“You’re good at this you know.”

Lexie spun to see Ange standing behind her. Her lips were painted her usual bright red, and she was wearing dangly carrot earrings—presumably because of Easter. Lexie put a hand to her heart. “Jesus, you don’t half know how to sneak up on people. And good at what, exactly?”

“Putting customers at ease. Figuring out what they want and offering them the chance to take it. Not everyone can do it.” She gave Lexie a wry smile “You made it sound like you wanted to go there.”

Lexie smiled too. “That’s the problem—I do want to. Every time I’m talking about somewhere, I want to go there.”

“You can’t be good in a travel business if you don’t want to travel yourself.”

“I saw Theo come in,” Lexie said, in a would-be casual voice.

“Yes, he got back last night, said he wanted to jump straight back into work. Speaking of which, we’ve got our company meeting in ten. Can you go and remind Theo to come up to the flat? He’s in my office.” It wasn’t technically hers, but no one ever corrected Ange on this.

Lexie hesitated. She wondered if she could tell Ange to go and get Theo herself, or if that was a step too far on the immaturity scale. Ange seemed to read her mind. “You’re going to have to face up to him,” she said, in a very no-nonsense tone. “And he shouldn’t be scaring you off, so don’t let him. No matter what he says, you did the right thing coming back—and I know he knows that.”

After that, she could hardly refuse, could she? She turned away, then looked over her shoulder when Ange called her back. “Lexie? Just a heads-up—he’s never in the best of moods after he comes back from Ireland. Something to bear in mind.”

“Fantastic,” Lexie muttered as she headed to the back room. Though at least it answered the question of where he’d been. As usual, there were coats hung up in a haphazard sort of way, along with general clutter, including a box of new brochures that hadn’t been unpacked yet. There was a small window high up on the wall, showing the bright blue sky outside. And there was Theo, sitting at Ange’s computer, frowning at the screen. She had no idea why he had chosen to come down here and work—the flat was much nicer.

She cleared her throat and he looked up. His hair had grown a little longer since she’d last seen him, and he had more stubble too, like he hadn’t bothered to shave for a few days. She wished it didn’t look attractive. She wished he didn’t look attractive. “So, you stayed,” he said.

“Yes. I stayed.” He nodded slowly, and she resisted the urge to push her hair back self-consciously. “Ange says to remind you we’ve got a company meeting in ten, upstairs in the…in your flat.”

He turned his attention back to the computer screen. “It’s not mine.” Well, a change from when he’d posited the opposite, in the solicitor’s meeting that started all this. It was true, though—he only rented it from the company. Which meant he risked losing it, if the new owners wanted it for themselves. She didn’t want to feel guilty about that, but the thought had crept in despite herself.

“So, the meeting?” she prompted.

He frowned at her, clearly distracted. “What? Oh right. Yeah. I’ll come up. Thanks.” It wasn’t exactly gushing, but it was civil, at least.

“OK. Well, I’ll head up now. Make everyone a coffee beforehand or something.”

He stood abruptly. “I’ll come with you. I could do with a coffee.” He strode toward her but didn’t seem to be quite looking at her. He slipped a hand into the back pocket of his jeans—she’d never seen him wear anything more formal—and pulled out a key, tapping it against his other palm without seeming to notice what he was doing. She was thinking about what Ange had said, wondering what was in Ireland that had made him come back so tense and distracted.

Given she couldn’t exactly refuse to walk up with him, she followed him up the stairs. He said nothing as they climbed, though she caught him spinning the key between his fingers.

“So. Ireland.” He glanced back questioningly, clearly still not quite in the room, and she shrugged a little. “Ange told me.”

“Course she did,” he said on a sigh.

“She said you’d be in a terrible mood and likely to bite my head off.” Which was hyperbole, but if anyone could handle Theo, it was Ange, so she wasn’t too worried. “And I said, ‘Surely not, Theo is always only sunshine and rainbows.’ ”