Free Never Can Say Goodbye by Christina Jones Page A

priced,
     oh, and start making the entire premises look festive, and do two huge Christmassy window displays, and—’
    ‘Enough.’ Dexter laughed. ‘Stop right there. I’m exhausted just thinking about it.’
    ‘Me, too,’ Frankie sighed. ‘I’m just hoping the adrenaline kick will keep me going for the rest of the week, and everyone
     has promised to help when they can.’
    ‘Count me in then.’
    Frankie looked at him in surprise. ‘Are you sure? Won’t you be busy with setting up the flower stall?’
    ‘Not too busy to help you out. After all, I’m only just across the cobbles; I can nip backwards and forwards when I’m needed.
     No sweat.’
    Frankie paused. Maybe she had got him wrong … Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all. ‘OK then, thanks, but you may well liveto regret that offer. And I certainly wasn’t expecting you to come back tonight. Not after the round trip to drop Maisie off
     in Hassocks and then on to Winterbrook with the charity shop stuff.’
    ‘I thought I’d see if you still needed a hand with clearing, and help you lock up.’
    ‘Thanks, but there’s no need. I’m quite organised now.’
    ‘So I see, but I thought we were all going to have a celebratory drink in the Toad in the Hole.’
    ‘Sorry, but everyone decamped to Fiddlesticks about half an hour ago. Country pub. Lax on closing times. I’m too exhausted
     to join them, but I can give you directions if you like.’
    Dexter shook his head. ‘No, you’re OK. I’ll give it a miss. I’ve had more than enough excitement for one night. That was some
     floor show … Maisie’s barking, isn’t she?’
    Frankie laughed. ‘In a nice mad way, yes. Although I do think she sincerely believes she has some sort of spiritual gift.
     Anyway, thanks so much for taking her home. It was very kind of you. Was she OK?’
    Dexter grinned. ‘She was recovering nicely by the time me and Brian got her back to her flat. She seemed to accept that she’d
     made a bit of a fool of herself and that her pronouncements weren’t exactly welcome, and certainly didn’t say anything about
     making a return visit.’
    ‘Thank goodness for that. The last thing I need is some nice-but-batty medium telling everyone that my new shop is haunted
     before I even get started. Hopefully, any rumours started tonight will just die a death. Right – I’m not going to even think
     about it, or the shop, any more tonight. I just need a long hot soak in the bath.’
    Dexter’s eyes sparkled. ‘Sounds like a plan to me – as long as you get the tap end.’
    ‘Alone,’ Frankie chuckled.
    ‘Spoilsport. But what about the drink in the Toad? Are you too tired for that, too? If we dash across now we should be in
     time for last orders. And honestly, I could do with a pint.’
    Frankie hesitated. A relaxing, chill-out drink with Dexter, after the evening’s hard work, was a pretty enticing prospect.
     And just one drink – because she was driving and so was he – wouldn’t hurt at all, would it? It wasn’t like a date or anything,
     was it? And it would be an opportunity to get to know him a bit more, wouldn’t it?
    And, all right, she admitted to herself, it would be just fabulous to be out with someone as gorgeous as Dexter, even if it
     was just as sort of work colleagues. Although Dexter was clearly
exactly
the sort of man she shouldn’t be going out for a drink with, but …
    ‘OK.’ She grabbed her coat and the shop keys before she could talk herself out of it. ‘Lovely. Let’s do it.’
    After making sure everything was switched off and the shop was securely locked, they hurtled across the cobbles, almost blown
     off their feet by the ferocious wind.
    Dexter looked around the interior of the Toad with some surprise. ‘This isn’t what I expected. From the outside, I thought
     it would be all beams and horse brasses and wall-to-wall rustics.’
    ‘It should be,’ Frankie agreed, as they picked their way through the minimalist pale bar