Page 84 of A Chef's Kiss for Christmas

“True.” Feeling mischievous, he directed his next words at Josh. “I’ll get a sledge out for you.”

“Warren!” Selena hissed. “It’s nothing to do with you. Keep out of it.”

He tilted his head as he looked at her gleefully. “Don’t you have some work to do?”

She opened her mouth to argue, but her phone rang, and she only looked torn for a moment before answering it and striding from the room.

Josh looked at Warren. “Will you come sledging with me?”

“Tamara will go with you,” his mum answered for him. “Warren would like to spend some time with Anna, I’m sure.”

“Anna can come too,” Josh said.

“They want to spend time just the two of them,” his grandmother explained.

“Why?”

“Because that’s what new couples do. But you’ll have fun with Tamara.”

Josh frowned. “Do you want to come sledging?” he asked Anna.

“I’d love to,” she said, blowing on hercoffee.

“Suit yourselves,” his mum said, heading out of the room. She turned back at the doorway. “Help yourselves to breakfast. We’ll all do our own thing for lunch, but Rachel will be around if you want her to make you something. We’ll have dinner at seven again.”

“Great,” Warren said. “See you later.”

Warren seemed completely at ease as he made them toast for breakfast – and while he told Tamara to take the morning off, and got Josh into his snowsuit and boots. Anna watched him closely as the three of them set off walking through the back garden with the two wooden sledges, but there was no sign that he was in any way bothered that his family made no effort to spend time with him.

He was nothing but calm and cheerful when he showed Josh the best hill for sledging, and while they spent the next hour racing each other down the hill and marching back up it.

“It’s your turn to race me,” Josh said to Anna as he dragged his sledge back up the hill beside Warren and immediately sat down to go again.

Anna stamped her feet to ward off the cold. “At the risk of sounding pathetic, I don’t think I can go again. I’m not sure I’d make it back up the hill.”

“Totally pathetic,” Warren said, exchanging a conspiratorial look with Josh. “Girls just aren’t as good as boys, are they?”

“Hey!” Anna scooped up a ball of snow and threw it at the back of his head.

“They can’t take the teasing either,” Warren added, removing his hat to shake off the snow.

“Are you going to race me again, Uncle Warren?”

Anna caught the grimace which said he was just as tired as she was from trekking up the hill. “Why don’t you go alonethis time?” he suggested. “I want to watch and see how fast you go.”

“I’m very fast!” Josh said, then immediately shuffled the sledge forward until it gathered momentum and sped off down the hill.

“Oh, you just want to watch, do you?” Anna said mockingly. “Nothing to do with you being too knackered to drag yourself back up that hill again?”

“Please don’t make me look weak in front of my nephew.” He straddled the sledge and took a seat. “I’m completely done in. I don’t understand how he’s still going.”

His gaze drifted down the hill, and he waved at Josh, who’d come to a slow stop where the hill tapered off.

“Do you think we’ll be able to coax him into leaving soon?” Anna moved around to perch on the front of the sledge. “I think I need to go and get warm. My toes are numb.”

“Mine too,” Warren said, stamping his feet. “I can’t imagine he’ll be happy about it, but I reckon with a bit of bribery, we could convince him it’s time to leave.”

“He’s definitely looking a little tired.” Anna waved at Josh, who had stopped partway up the hill.