Page 72

‘True enough.’ He reached over to brush loose strands of her hair from her face. ‘But I don’t want you getting hurt again. And anyway, the only falling you should be doing is for me. So you’d best be keeping your feet firmly on the ground, unless it’s because I’m sweeping you off them!’

Liv pursed her lips, trying not to laugh. ‘Sweeping me off my feet, huh? Is that what you’re planning?’

‘It sounded better in my head. But I still say it’s a good idea.’

‘You do, huh?’

‘Yup. Don’t you agree?’ His eyes sparkled, almost the same colour as the summer sky above them.

‘Maybe.’

‘Maybe yes?’

‘Maybe yes.’

* * *

Callum wrapped his hand tightly around Liv’s and squeezed. He knew that, fortunately, it wasn’t actually possible for a person’s heart to burst from joy or pride — but the phrase had never meant more to him as he watched her with Sarah.

‘My hair is too hot, Livvy.’

Callum bit back a sigh of exasperation. He’d argued with Sarah that morning, telling her she should let him put her hair up — but she’d wanted it to stay down so she “could look like a princess”.

‘Oh dear, we’ll have to see what we can do about that.’ Liv let go of his hand to rummage in her large bag. ‘So long as it’s all right with your dad.’

‘It’s not his hair. It’s mine.’

He shrugged at Liv when she caught his eye. Even if he had minded, it was very clear his opinion didn’t count for much.

‘Can you make it look like yours?’ Sarah pointed to the complicated looking braid that twisted Liv’s hair up like a halo, with just a few soft strands escaping to caress her neck. He was convinced it would have taken ages, and wasn’t possible to recreate in a crowd of people eagerly awaiting the start of the parade in a few minutes. Which meant there was a high possibility of a small foot being stamped and Sarah becoming very, very grumpy. It was what often happened when he couldn’t deliver one of the complex hairstyles that Sarah’s friends often sported. Or worse, like one of the princesses from her favourite films.

‘Hmmm. It would take quite a bit of time to do that.’ Liv pulled out a folding brush, and flicked it open. ‘But I’d love to braid it another day, when we have more time. We can probably even add some sparkly bits too. Maybe, just for now, we could just tie it up prettily and enjoy the parade. What do you think?’

‘OK,’ Sarah agreed before spinning around.

Callum watched in mild amazement as, in less time than it would have taken him to convince his daughter to sit still, Liv deftly brushed her hair and pulled it into a neat, bouncy ponytail.

‘Thanks, Livvy.’ Sarah span round, and hugged Liv round the neck and placed a quick kiss on her cheek.

‘You’re welcome, Sarey-fairy. And don’t forget, I’ll braid it like mine another time.’

‘With sparkly bits. For both of us?’

‘Of course.’ Liv’s easy laugh made Callum’s stomach twist in a delicious way. And when she picked Sarah up, all the breath rushed from his lungs as if he’d been punched. The noise and crowd around him seemed to disappear as all of his attention focussed on Liv, who stood with his daughter balanced comfortably on her hip, laughing with the little girl as they pointed out different parts of the Christmas decorations and celebrations.

They looked so happy and utterly perfect together that any doubts he had melted away as quickly as real snow would in the summer heat. When they turned to look at him, joy sparkling in their eyes, the realisation hit him that this was exactly what he wanted: Liv as a permanent feature in his and Sarah’s life. The thought that should have terrified him — that would have a few weeks ago — was far less scary than the idea of her leaving. There was nothing else he could do, he would just have to do everything possible to convince her to stay. Forever. And if that meant getting over his fears again, it was something he’d just have to figure out. But any thoughts he might have had on that matter were drowned out by the fanfare from the local silver band, loudly announcing the start of the parade.

‘Dad, Dad! Look, it’s starting!’ Sarah squealed and started to wriggle excitedly. ‘Oooh, is Uncle Nick being an elf?’

‘I think Nick would be a little bit tall to be an elf.’ He peered at the male elf who was leading one of the reindeer and burst out laughing. ‘You’re right. It is Nick. I can’t believe he didn’t tell me he was dressing up this year. Oh, I need to get some pictures of this!’

‘And you wonder why he didn’t tell you.’ Liv laughed.

‘What are friends for if not to take the . . . mick.’

They ooooh’ed and awww’ed together, cheering along with the crowd as the local dance school — dressed as snowflakes — twirled and pirouetted through the street, closely followed by Santa’s sleigh, which was followed by a team of elves cheerfully jangling buckets and fishing nets already full of donations along with the bells stitched to their costumes.

Behind them came the first of the beautifully decorated floats. This one was dressed as an icy throne room — complete with the village’s elected Snow Queen bedecked in finery, and the Christmas Princess waving healthily and happily from her right-hand side.