Lottie couldn’t hide her surprise. ‘You don’t put up a tree? But you manage the Christmas tree plantation. You can’t not have one yourself.’
‘I can and I do. Not have one, I mean. I’ve had my fill of the green stuff by the big day, anyway and … I got over the excitement of Christmas a while ago,’ he said briskly, then finally managed a twitch of the lips. ‘Anyway, Trevor would only try and eat the decorations. Now, shall we go and look at the type of trees you might want for the house? We have several varieties ready this year, or …’ he added thoughtfully, ‘you could even have a different one in each room?’
‘Hmm. Good idea. Maybe I can hint to Shayla that some varieties of tree would look better with a different theme? Blind her with science?’
‘It’s worth a try.’
Lottie was still unable to believe Jay didn’t bother with a tree, but she took the hint that he didn’t want to discuss it further.
Jay led the way into the plantation area where the trees were grown. ‘You can have a Nordmann fir or a Norway spruce,’ he said. ‘Here’s a Norway,’ he said, leading her to a classic triangular-shaped tree like the ones seen in thousands of homes every year.
He picked up a branch with its long cones hanging down.
Lottie inhaled the rich, sweet scent. ‘I love the smell,’ she said, realising she’d passed countless trees before but allowed them to become part of the background. ‘How long do they take to grow?’
‘Around twelve years for a Nordmann and eight for the spruce … which means these trees were planted when I was still at school.’
‘No way!’ Lottie laughed.
‘Hmm. I am pretty weather-beaten.’ He rubbed his chin, which she thought had just the right amount of stubble. ‘Note to self. Use more sunscreen and moisturiser.’
She was taken aback by the glimmer of humour that appeared to have burst through. ‘No, you look great. I mean …’ she said, backpedalling furiously even though she sensed he was winding her up. ‘I didn’t mean to be so um – personal.’
‘Oh, so you’d thought I was much older than that?’
She was almost convinced he was teasing her, but erred on the side of caution, in case. She smiled. ‘Actually, I thought you were around my age,’ she said, which was true.
‘I’m thirty-five, which I’m sure is older that you,’ he said.
‘Not much. I’m thirty-four,’ she said, wondering if she’d really offended him.
‘I was only joking when I said I was weather-beaten, although to be fair –’ he ran his hand over his curls, which unlike her own, were allowed to grow untamed ‘– I am a bit of a scruff. Good job I’m not in a customer-facing job like yours.’
Lottie was amused. ‘I’d have called you rugged rather than scruffy,’ she said warily.
Jay raised a rather bushy eyebrow. ‘Rugged? You mean like Scafell Pike or Helvellyn? Spiky and dangerous if tackled in the wrong conditions?’
She felt as if she’d made another faux pas. ‘Stop it. I’m not digging a deeper hole for myself.’ Or revealing any more glimpses into the fact that she found him attractive.
In fact, it struck her that he was the first man she’d looked twice at since Connor had left. Chatting to him now, she felt they’d already crossed a line from the friendliness of colleagues into something a little less professional.
‘You’re fine as you are. Now, shall we look at some more trees?’ she said worried that she’d let on she fancied him even a little bit. She pushed up her jacket sleeve to check her watch. ‘Because the morning’s rushing by.’
‘Let’s get busy, then,’ said Jay. ‘I’ll mark this tree and we’ll move on.’
The next twenty minutes was taken up entirely by talk of tree varieties. By the end of it, Lottie had selected five specimens, with guidance from Jay. He might not enjoy Christmas, but he obviously had a deep passion for nature and the great outdoors.
He identified the chosen trees with tape as they walked through the Christmas plantation with its regimented rows of firs, to the more established ‘natural’ woodland, which was also part of the Firholme estate. Here, there were a great variety of species, including oaks and silver birch, most of which were completely stripped of foliage. Some of the beeches clung to withered copper leaves but by and large the wood was a latticework of spiky branches against the blue sky.
‘My niece, Myra, asked me if the trees were “skellingtons” at Halloween,’ Lottie said, when they stopped at the edge of the forest.
He stared up at the tree. ‘Skeletons. That’s a good description. Some people find it sad to see bare branches but actually I like them. You know the leaves will be back soon and it’s all part of the process. It’s essential that the leaf litter provides a habitat and food for lots of insects and fungi.’
‘All part of the circle of life?’ Lottie said archly.
Jay smiled. ‘Like in the Lion King, yeah.’
‘The twins loved that film. Especially the belching warthogs.’
‘That’s my favourite part too.’
‘Really?’
Jay smiled, and Lottie’s opinion of him rose a little higher. Perhaps his initial gruffness was merely because he was so new to Firholme and needed to find his feet. ‘Not really. I’m more of a thriller fan myself. I’m not sure I can remember the last time I went to see an animated film. Must have been when Ben and I were at school.’
‘Ben?’ Lottie picked up on the name, wondering if Jay was referring to a partner.
‘My brother.’ Jay’s smile evaporated instantly. ‘But I should shut up. I must be keeping you from your work.’
‘This is part of my work,’ Lottie said, detecting a sharp change in the atmosphere between them.
‘Even so, I’ll walk you back through the woods. With the storm we had last week, there are a lot of fallen trees and branches. That’s one of our main
