Christmas Weddings
Winter wedding bells are ringing at the Cupcake Café!It’s winter in Berecombe and Millie’s café is up for sale. Her final task as its owner is to host her friends’ Christmas wedding on the beach, only she’s feeling anything but festive! Putting her ex, Jed, firmly out of her mind is proving impossible now he’s back working for her biggest rival.What on earth is Jed up to? Telling her he still loves her is all very well, but if her café goes out of business, no-one will buy it. Christmas might be the season of good will towards men – but can Millie trust this particular man with her heart again?
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Christmas Weddings
Millie Vanillaâs Cupcake Café, Book Three
GEORGIA HILL
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First published in Great Britain by HarperImpulse 2017
Copyright © Georgia Hill 2017
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Ebook Edition © September 2017 ISBN: 9780008211080
Version 2017-09-28
To the people and town of Lyme Regis, Dorset. Thank you for the fabulous holidays.
Table of Contents
It was weird coming back. Weird and cold.
Berecombe looked at once comfortingly familiar and slightly distorted, as if seen through a special-effects lens. Alf the Taxi dropped Millie off on the promenade outside the café, helped her with her rucksack and drove off with a cheery wave.
Feeling desolate, she looked around her. The sea was churning a dull grey in Lyme Bay and the sky was threateningly low and of a similar hue. In fact, Millie decided, everywhere was grey. The town had lost its bright bunting and bedding plants and was shuttered up for the winter. It was home, but it all looked smaller, inward-looking. After the vibrant noise and colour of Thailand, Berecombe, in the first week of November, was depressing.
She shivered violently. She was freezing and bone-weary. Heaving her rucksack onto her back, she made her way to the flat. All she wanted to do was to crawl under a duvet.
âThe wanderer returns!â Tessa threw her arms around her friend and ushered her inside. âCome inside, pet, itâs brass monkeys out there.â
As usual, the Tizzard family home was in a state of chaos. Several very male-smelling pairs of trainers littered the hall and Millie had to navigate around an airer over which hung a pile of school uniform. She followed Tessa into the kitchen, which was an oasis of calm in comparison and smelled comfortingly of freshly made bread.
âCup of tea and then you can tell me all about it. Oh bab, itâs so good to have you back.â
Before Millie could answer there was a frantic scrabbling at the kitchen door. âThink thereâs someone a bit desperate to see you,â Tessa said, as she grinned and opened it. A barking woolly blur hurled itself onto Millieâs lap.
âTrevor!â Millie surrendered to his ecstatic welcome. âOh, how much have I missed you.â
While dog and mistress became reacquainted, Tessa made tea and, once everything had calmed down, perched herself on a stool. She shoved a mug across. âFirst English cup of tea since youâve been back?â
Millie nodded and reached over Trevorâs head to pick it up. After the first sip, she sighed in ecstasy. âHeaven!â
âDigestive biccies there. Just donât let Trev get hold of them. Heâs a devil for them. Worse than the kids.â
Millie dunked half and crammed it into her mouth, ravenous. She gave Trevor a sneaky fragment while Tessaâs back was turned. âI still donât understand why you ended up taking him,â she said, with a full mouth. âBack in the summer Jed said he was happy to look after him until I got back. So, he and his brother are living at The Lord of the Manor now? Whatâs the deal with that?â
âAlex has bought it. Taking a sabbatical or something from hedge-fund managing, or whatever he does in the city.â Tessa made a face.
