Belinda Missen

One Week ’Til Christmas


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       About the Author

      BELINDA MISSEN is a reader, author, and sometimes blogger. When she’s not busy writing or reading, she can be found travelling the Great Ocean Road and beyond looking for inspiration. She lives with her husband, cats, and collection of books in regional Victoria, Australia.

       Readers Love Belinda Missen

      ‘An awesome read’

      ‘I fell in love with Belinda’s writing’

      ‘There is an air of lightness and love over the whole novel’

      ‘Wonderful heart-warming romance’

      ‘This is a perfect fun, flirty beach read’

      ‘Belinda has a warm, witty style of writing that makes characters and emotions leap off the page’

      ‘A lovely summer read’

       Also by Belinda Missen

       Lessons in Love

       An Impossible Thing Called Love

       A Recipe for Disaster

      One Week ’Til Christmas

      BELINDA MISSEN

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      HQ

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

      First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2019

      Copyright © Belinda Missen 2019

      Belinda Missen asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      A catalogue record for 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, downloaded, 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-book Edition © November 2019 ISBN: 9780008296933

      Version: 2019-10-01

      Table of Contents

       Cover

      About the Author

      Readers Love Belinda Missen

      Also by Belinda Missen

       Title Page

       Copyright

       Dedication

       Chapter 5

       Chapter 6

       Chapter 7

       Chapter 8

       Chapter 9

       Chapter 10

       Chapter 11

       Chapter 12

       Chapter 13

       Chapter 14

      Chapter 15

      Chapter 16

      Chapter 17

      Chapter 18

      Chapter 19

      Chapter 20

      Chapter 21

      Epilogue

      Acknowledgements

       Extract

       Dear Reader …

       Keep Reading …

      About the Publisher

       For the SBG

       Chapter 1

       10 Days ’til Christmas

      The bell above my head chimed as I stepped inside from the cold. My hair stopped whipping around my face and I loosened the belt of my coat. The reassuring clack, clack, clack of my suitcase followed me over the tiles like a trusty steed.

      ‘Here she is!’ Alfred looked up from behind his glossy red coffee maker, tapped the portafilter on the bench and dangled a takeaway cup in the air. ‘Good to see you again.’

      ‘I’m just like Halley’s Comet,’ I teased. ‘Only I show up more often and I’m not as bright.’

      ‘I won’t hear a word of it.’ He laughed. ‘How long are you here for this time?’

      ‘An entire eight days.’ I dug my purse out of my backpack. ‘Well, seven and a half now, I suppose. I’ve just dropped the hire car at Heathrow.’

      ‘Hire car? You mean you’ve been here long enough to have a road trip, and this is the first I’m hearing of it?’ He feigned disgust. ‘You awful woman.’

      ‘I probably shouldn’t tell you about Belfast, then?’ I smirked.

      Alfred clucked his tongue.

      I guess the first thing you should know about me is that I love to travel. There’s nothing more thrilling than the thrust of an aeroplane the moment the wheels leave the tarmac. It says, ‘Here you are, welcome to your next adventure. Enjoy your stay, make sure your tray table is upright, and tip your wait staff accordingly.’

      In my decade as a travel writer, I’ve been to places I never thought possible. I’ve been smeared in coloured powders during the festival of Holi in India, bumbled my way through hymns inside St Mark’s Basilica, and watched the Northern Lights on a night so cold it felt like I’d found the dark side of the moon and decided to dance the jig in a polka-dot bikini.

      But above all that, I’ve made friends in every corner, crevice, and back alley of the globe. Like a sailor (allegedly) has a girl in every port, so too do I have a bed in every city. It might be a couch, sofa bed, or bunk in a shared room, but