We Met in December
Prepare to fall head over heels. The perfect book for fans of Josie Silver, Richard Curtis, and anyone who ever fell in love with the wrong person… ‘Gorgeously festive and romantic’ Rosie Walsh, bestselling author of The Man Who Didn’t Call What if you couldn’t get away from the one who got away? This December, unlucky-in-love Jess is following her dream and moving to Notting Hill. On the first night in her new house-share she meets Alex, the guy in the room next door. They don’t kiss under the mistletoe, but there’s still a spark that leaves Jess imagining how they might spend the year together – never mind the house rule against dating… But when Jess returns from her Christmas holiday, she finds Alex has started seeing Emma, who lives on the floor above them. Now Jess faces a year of bumping into the man of her dreams – and, apparently, the woman of his. Jess is determined to move on and spend the year falling in love with London, not Alex – but what if her heart has other ideas? Everyone is falling for We Met in December… ‘Bridget Jones meets Love Actually – the PERFECT Christmas story and I loved, loved, loved it’ Cathy Bramley ‘Like putting on your favourite Christmas jumper: cosy, heartwarming and gorgeously romantic’ Holly Martin ‘Effortlessly capturing the magic of Christmas, this brilliantly characterised and light-hearted read is the perfect choice to add a little romance into those dark winter days’Woman’s Weekly ‘A perfect festive hug of a book. It’s packed with brilliant characters, beautiful settings, warm humour and a love story guaranteed to steal your heart. I absolutely adored this clever, wonderful story. Get ready to meet your new favourite author!’ Miranda Dickinson ‘Just what everyone needs right now – a gorgeously warm and uplifting story full of romance’ Alex Brown
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WE MET IN DECEMBER
Rosie Curtis
Published by AVON
A division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019
Copyright © Rosie Curtis 2019
Emojis © Shutterstock.com
Rosie Curtis asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books
Source ISBN: 9780008353551
Ebook Edition © 2019 ISBN: 9780008353544
Version: 2019-08-23
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue: Jess
Chapter One: Jess
Chapter Two: Jess
Chapter Three: Jess
Chapter Four: Alex
Chapter Five: Jess
Chapter Six: Jess
Chapter Seven: Alex
Chapter Eight: Jess
Chapter Nine: Jess
Chapter Ten: Alex
Chapter Eleven: Jess
Chapter Twelve: Jess
Chapter Thirteen: Alex
Chapter Fourteen: Jess
Chapter Fifteen: Jess
Chapter Sixteen: Alex
Chapter Seventeen: Alex
Chapter Eighteen: Jess
Chapter Nineteen: Alex
Chapter Twenty: Jess
Chapter Twenty-One: Jess
Chapter Twenty-Two: Alex
Chapter Twenty-Three: Jess
Chapter Twenty-Four: Jess
Chapter Twenty-Five: Jess
Chapter Twenty-Six: Jess
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Alex
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Jess
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Alex
Chapter Thirty: Jess
Chapter Thirty-One: Jess
Chapter Thirty-Two: Alex
Chapter Thirty-Three: Jess
Chapter Thirty-Four: Jess
Chapter Thirty-Five: Jess
Chapter Thirty-Six: Jess
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Alex
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Jess
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Alex
Chapter Forty: Jess
Chapter Forty-One: Alex
Chapter Forty-Two: Alex
Epilogue: Jess
Acknowledgements
About the Author
About the Publisher
Christmas and London are a match made in heaven. There’s a man on the street corner selling hot chestnuts by the bag, filling the air with the smell of cinnamon and vanilla. The ornate wooden windows of Liberty are glittering with lights and decorations. I stop to look at a huge tree swathed in ribbons and hung with a million dancing fairy lights and—
‘Watch out!’
A woman crashes into me, giving me a furious look and weaving past, muttering loudly about bloody tourists.
I am not a tourist, I think. I am – or will be, in just a couple of hours – an official Londoner. I step out of the way of the thronging crowds, pasting myself against a carved wooden window frame, and watch as a sea of people scurry past.
I add ‘stop dead on the pavement’to my mental list of Things London People Never Do. I know that already, really, but it’s easy to forget when everything is so sparkly and festive. I pause for a moment and take a photo to share on my Instagram stories, because it’s just so ridiculously perfect and my life has been so beige and boring for months – it’s lovely to have something interesting to put on there. And then I take another of the street scene, because it’s just so … London-y and Christmassy and perfect.
I look at the flowers in the doorway of Liberty, thinking that it would be a nice idea to take Becky some as a thank you (again) for offering me a room in a house that would otherwise be completely out of my reach. There doesn’t seem to be a price anywhere though, which I think is weird, then I hear my Nanna Beth’s voice saying, If you have to ask, you can’t afford it. But they’re only flowers, surely. How expensive can a bunch of flowers be?
‘Can I help you?’ The girl behind the faux-Victorian wooden flower stall looks at me. She’s tiny and has huge brown eyes that match the expensive-looking Liberty of London apron she’s wearing.
‘I was wondering how much these are?’ I lift up a ready-prepared bouquet – deep red roses mingled with silver-grey foliage and white lilies streaked with lime green, still not quite open. They’re wrapped in thick, luxurious waxed paper and sealed with a gold Liberty sticker. They’ll make the perfect thank you present for Becky.
