Rest of life: up the creek.

And then her thoughts shifted back to the man on the stairs. His face forever imprinted on her memory. The strong jaw, high cheekbones, the sensuous curve of his lower lip…

‘Can I help?’

She jumped, looked up to discover that everyone else had moved off and she was being regarded by a young elf.

‘Oh…um…one adult to the North Pole, please,’ she said, closing her phone and reaching for her purse, wondering belatedly how much it would cost. She didn’t have that much cash. With a fistful of credit and charge cards, she hadn’t needed it. ‘A single will do,’ she said. ‘I’m in no hurry. I can walk back.’

He grinned appreciatively but said, ‘Sorry. This flight has closed.’

‘Oh.’ It hadn’t occurred to her that there wouldn’t be any room. ‘How long until the next one?’

‘Forty minutes, but you have to have a pre-booked ticket to see Santa,’ he explained.

‘You have to book in advance?’ Forty minutes! She couldn’t wait that long. ‘Where’s the magic in that?’ she demanded.

‘There’s not much magical about dozens of disappointed kids screaming their heads off,’ he pointed out.

‘True…’ She had enough experience with screaming children not to argue. ‘Look, I don’t actually want to have a one-to-one with the man himself. I just need to get to the North Pole,’ she pressed as the doors to the ice cave began to close. ‘It’s really urgent…’

It occurred to her that she must sound totally crazy. That, shoeless and apparently raving, she was going to be escorted from the premises.

It didn’t happen. Apparently, someone who could cite ‘elf’ as his day job took crazy in his stride because, instead of summoning Security, he said, ‘Oh, right. I was told to look out for you.’ What…? Nooooo!