Maxine Morrey - The Best Little Christmas Shop

Home for the holidays…

Icing gingerbread men, arranging handmade toys and making up countless Christmas wreaths in her family’s cosy little Christmas shop isn’t usually globe-trotter Lexi’s idea of fun. But it’s all that’s keeping her mind off romance. And, with a broken engagement under her belt, she’s planning to stay well clear of that for the foreseeable future…until gorgeous single dad Cal Martin walks through the door!

Christmas takes on a whole new meaning as Lexi begins to see it through Cal’s adorable five-year-old son’s eyes. But, finding herself getting dangerously close to the mistletoe with Cal, Lexi knows she needs to back off. She’s sworn off love, and little George needs a stability she can’t provide. One day she’ll decide whether to settle down again – just not yet.

But the best little Christmas shop in this sleepy, snow-covered village has another surprise in store…

The Best Little Christmas Shop

Maxine Morrey

ONE PLACE. MANY STORIES

Contents

Cover

Blurb Home for the holidays… Icing gingerbread men, arranging handmade toys and making up countless Christmas wreaths in her family’s cosy little Christmas shop isn’t usually globe-trotter Lexi’s idea of fun. But it’s all that’s keeping her mind off romance. And, with a broken engagement under her belt, she’s planning to stay well clear of that for the foreseeable future…until gorgeous single dad Cal Martin walks through the door! Christmas takes on a whole new meaning as Lexi begins to see it through Cal’s adorable five-year-old son’s eyes. But, finding herself getting dangerously close to the mistletoe with Cal, Lexi knows she needs to back off. She’s sworn off love, and little George needs a stability she can’t provide. One day she’ll decide whether to settle down again – just not yet. But the best little Christmas shop in this sleepy, snow-covered village has another surprise in store…

Title Page The Best Little Christmas Shop Maxine Morrey ONE PLACE. MANY STORIES

Author Bio MAXINE MORREY has wanted to be a writer for as long as she can remember and wrote her first (very short) book for school when she was ten. Coming in first, she won a handful of book tokens – perfect for a bookworm! She has written articles on a variety of subjects, aswell as a book on Brighton for a Local History publisher. However, novels are what she loves writing the most. After self publishing her first novel when a contract fell through, thanks to the recession, she continued to look for opportunities. In August 2015, she won Harper Collins/Carina UK’s ‘Write Christmas’ competition with her romantic comedy, ‘Winter’s Fairytale’. Maxine lives on the south coast of England, and when not wrangling with words loves to read sew and listen to podcasts. As she also likes cake she can also be found either walking or doing something vaguely physical at the gym. Her website is: www.scribblermaxi.co.uk Email: scribblermaxi@outlook.com You can also find her on Twitter @Scribbler_Maxi On Facebook www.facebook.com/MaxineMorreyAuthor On Instagram @Scribbler_Maxi On Pinterest @ScribblerMaxi

Acknowledgements Thank you, as always, to James who continually believes in me, even when I don’t believe in myself, and for happily listening to me rattle on about imaginary people. Your love and support is what keeps me thinking I might actually be able to do this. Also, a big thanks to my editor, Clio Cornish. This book was a bit of a pickle at times, refusing to behave and I am so grateful to her for believing in it and helping bring it to fruition. Her kindness and willingness to listen has been incredibly appreciated. I’m so sorry we missed out on that cake and hope to rectify the situation very soon. I’d also like to thank the friends that have listened to the worries and accepted the cancelling of plans as deadline approached with good grace and understanding. Special thanks goes to Rachel Burton for her listening ear, wise words and brilliant humour. And finally, I want to say a huge thank you to my readers. I still can’t quite believe I get to do this and I know that none of it would be possible without you. For that support, I am eternally grateful. Thank you.

Dedication For José

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Epilogue

Endpages

Copyright

MAXINE MORREY

has wanted to be a writer for as long as she can remember and wrote her first (very short) book for school when she was ten. Coming in first, she won a handful of book tokens – perfect for a bookworm!

She has written articles on a variety of subjects, aswell as a book on Brighton for a Local History publisher. However, novels are what she loves writing the most. After self publishing her first novel when a contract fell through, thanks to the recession, she continued to look for opportunities.

In August 2015, she won Harper Collins/Carina UK’s ‘Write Christmas’ competition with her romantic comedy, ‘Winter’s Fairytale’.

Maxine lives on the south coast of England, and when not wrangling with words loves to read sew and listen to podcasts. As she also likes cake she can also be found either walking or doing something vaguely physical at the gym.

Her website is: www.scribblermaxi.co.uk

Email: scribblermaxi@outlook.com

You can also find her on Twitter @Scribbler_Maxi

On Facebook www.facebook.com/MaxineMorreyAuthor

On Instagram @Scribbler_Maxi

On Pinterest @ScribblerMaxi

Thank you, as always, to James who continually believes in me, even when I don’t believe in myself, and for happily listening to me rattle on about imaginary people. Your love and support is what keeps me thinking I might actually be able to do this.

Also, a big thanks to my editor, Clio Cornish. This book was a bit of a pickle at times, refusing to behave and I am so grateful to her for believing in it and helping bring it to fruition. Her kindness and willingness to listen has been incredibly appreciated. I’m so sorry we missed out on that cake and hope to rectify the situation very soon.

I’d also like to thank the friends that have listened to the worries and accepted the cancelling of plans as deadline approached with good grace and understanding. Special thanks goes to Rachel Burton for her listening ear, wise words and brilliant humour.

And finally, I want to say a huge thank you to my readers. I still can’t quite believe I get to do this and I know that none of it would be possible without you. For that support, I am eternally grateful. Thank you.

For José

Chapter One

I dropped my bag on the floor, flopped face down onto my childhood bed, and let out a groan. This was so not how it was supposed to be. But then I’d learned that there were some things in life that no matter how much you planned or wanted them, just weren’t to be.

Letting out a sigh, I wriggled over onto my back, staring up at the ceiling blankly for a moment before dragging myself up and wandering over to the squishy sofa that sat beneath the window, snagging my furry slipper boots on the way. Plopping down into the softness, I pulled the boots on before turning to look out of the window. Folding my arms across the back of the sofa, I leant my chin on them and peered out into the last vestiges of daylight.