Christmas for One: No Greater Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

really wanted was to be at home, preparing for Lucas’s fourth Christmas, wrapping presents, stocking up on chocolates and watching a bit of telly.
    Milly drew breath. ‘You could go at the beginning of next week and be back in no time. There’s no one else I trust to sort it out, Meg. I’d go myself, but I’ve got all the Christmas press interviews to give and I want to be on hand for the holiday stock deliveries for the new shops. Guy is brilliant here, but he’s not really one of life’s problem-solvers.’
    Meg snorted her laughter at the memory of Guy’s behaviour the previous week. After a particularly stressful couple of days, he’d run out of live yeast before baking had finished for the day and had broken down in tears, weeping and waving his hanky. Meg had sat him down and given him a cup of strong, sugary tea before calling their suppliers and arranging for more to be delivered by courier, pronto.
    ‘I wouldn’t ask, love, if it wasn’t important, but I think things are going a bit tits-up over there and we can’t have one of our sites crashing before they’ve even opened.’
    ‘I know.’ Meg put her hands on her hips, thinking about the logistics of such a trip.
    ‘I could ask Pru if she and Chris would nip over…’ Milly let this hang in the air. Pru and Chris, at seventy and seventy-two, were still living like newlyweds, enjoying the South Devon coast and settling into semi-retirement, he from public life as a politician and she from running Plum Patisserie.
    Since Milly had taken the reins and Meg’s role and responsibilities had increased, it was an unspoken agreement that they would not bother Pru, who was loath to leave her cottage in Salcombe. She was entirely content to potter in the garden or sit on the terrace watching the comings and goings on the estuary. They didn’t want to disturb her new-found domestic bliss, and they also wanted to prove that they could cope without having to call on her to bail them out, tempting though that was.
    ‘No, I’ll go. It’s not fair on Juno to expect her to deal with it alone.’ Meg gave Milly her brightest false smile. ‘Anyway, it’ll only be for couple of days, as you said.’
    ‘That’s my girl.’ Milly clapped her hands together. ‘I’ll give the airline a call.’
    ‘Are you sure I can manage it?’ Meg chewed on her thumbnail.
    ‘What have I told you?’ Milly scolded. ‘You can do anything you set your mind to. Of course you can handle it!’
    Lucas ran into the kitchen. ‘I’m hungee!’
    ‘I know, little one. I’m just heating supper up now.’ Meg bent down and gathered her son into her chest. ‘I love you, Lucas.’
    She stood with him in her arms and squeezed him tight, inhaling the scent of him and already dreading their separation. She remembered what it had been like saying goodbye to her own mum. The thought of leaving him made her miss him already.

3
    The plane touched down at John F. Kennedy Airport, where winter had arrived in force. Meg had been unsure what to pack, torn between the weather forecast, which had predicted minus temperatures, and fantasies about living the high life in Manhattan, which according to Sex and the City meant a large selection of heels and floaty tops. She wished her planning had been a little more considered as she hauled her large suitcase along on its wheels with her hand luggage bumping against her hip. Oh God, I wish I could just jump on a plane and go straight home. I can’t do this! Why did you think you could, Meg ?
    Meg dug deep and straightened her back as she took her place in the taxi queue. Milly’s assurance that all Meg needed was the address of her hotel and a credit card challenged the nerves that bubbled in her stomach. Milly was a smart woman and if she had faith in her abilities then maybe Meg should too.
    ‘Where to?’ the taxi-queue man asked. Meg noted his padded navy bomber jacket, stiff peaked hat and the truncheon-like stick dangling by his side. Having