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       Copyright

      Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

      1 London Bridge Street

      London, SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      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

       Dedication

      Dedicated to Mr Mackenzie,

      the most splendid specimen of felinity in the world.

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

      Copyright

      Dedication

      Chapter 1: 30 days until Christmas

      Chapter 2: 29 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

       Keep Reading …

       About the Author

       Also by Annie Darling

       About the Publisher

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      ‘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

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