Ivy Lane: Winter: Read Online Free PDF

ever,’ said Mike and then chuckled at his wife’s mock outrage. ‘What do you want us to do with these cakes? I’ll warn you, Mia wants to win the unusual flavour competition, so you might want a glass of water handy for judging.’
    ‘They are edible, though,’ Mia added, although the glint in her eye did make me wonder.
    I peered at her cakes and tried to commit them to memory. I could be in for some fun this afternoon. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only judge: Toni, our school cook, was coming to help me out. She might not have Mary Berry’s audience-pulling power, but round here her treacle sponge was legendary.
    I sent them off to deliver their cakes to the correct tables and sighed happily. We still had another half an hour to go until the judging would commence and already I was sure we had raised enough to put on a spectacular Christmas party next month. And once the cakes had been judged, they would be sold off to make even more money. Every single plot holder had delivered a cake for the refreshment table and entered at least one for the competition.
    The door opened again and a little boy poked his head in. He had wavy blond hair, huge blue eyes and the longest eyelashes I had ever seen. He stepped inside and smiled at me shyly, holding out a battered tin in front of him.
    I caught my bottom lip between my teeth. He was so absolutely adorable that I thought my heart might melt.
    ‘Hello.’ I smiled, fighting the urge to scoop him up in a huge cuddle. I peered around the open door to see if he was being followed by an adult. ‘Are you with anyone else?’
    He nodded solemnly. ‘My dad. But he’s a really slow runner.’
    ‘I see,’ I said, amused, looking forward to the moment when his ‘slow’ dad appeared. I wondered how far away the poor man was.
    ‘Is there a prize for boys’ cakes, miss?’ he said, resting the tin on my desk.
    ‘Er, let me see,’ I said, hastily scribbling a new sign under the table. I was breaking all my carefully constructed rules in one fell swoop, but who cares, he had me besotted from the first second I saw him. ‘Ah, yes, here it is.’ I looked back up, holding the new sign, to see his father standing behind him. The likeness was unmistakable now that I saw them both together.
    ‘Charlie!’ I gasped.

Chapter 4
    Charlie was the last person I’d expected to see today. He hadn’t returned my phone call and his last words to me were pretty final. But putting our situation to one side for a moment, he was spending time with his son, and for that, I was truly delighted for him, for them both.
    Charlie rubbed a hand over his cropped hair. ‘Hi, Tilly, this is Ollie. Ollie decided to run across the car park without me, didn’t you?’ He was a bit out of breath and had a panicky look in his eye.
    ‘Sorry, Dad.’ Ollie grinned, not looking especially penitent.
    ‘Why don’t you go and give your cake and this sign to that man over there, while your dad gets himself a cup of tea?’ I pointed Peter out to Ollie and he scampered off to deliver his masterpiece.
    I felt at a distinct disadvantage sitting down with Charlie towering over me, so I stood up.
    There was an awkward silence and we both cleared our throats.
    ‘Ollie’s a lovely boy,’ I said eventually.
    Charlie nodded. ‘He is. I thought about what you said in the summer about having Ollie in my life. About what a privilege it is. You were right, as usual.’ He rolled his eyes teasingly. ‘Getting access is still tricky, my ex doesn’t make anything easy for me, but I’m making the effort to see him as much as I can.’
    ‘I’m very proud of you,’ I said, turning to hug him.
He doesn’t want to be friends any more, remember?
I dropped my arms instantly. ‘Whoops, sorry.’
    Now my face was less English Rose and more Blazing Inferno.
    ‘Don’t apologize,’ Charlie muttered, wrapping his arms round me. He rested his chin on the top of my head. ‘That’s
my
job. I seem to be a proper idiot where