Everybody else, including Meg, clinked their glasses, cheerfully wishing each other a happy Christmas and a merry divorce. Evie took in the scene as if from above. She saw her parents sip their wine, then laugh and playfully nudge one another with their shoulders. Meg smiled a confused but gleeful smile as she looked to her parents for reassurance. And Hugo drank from his glass, looking pleased with himself for the way he’d handled the situation. Evie didn’t remember it playing out this way last time. While the timing must have been similar, her parents definitely weren’t so full of optimism and joy.

‘What’s different this time?’ she said suddenly.

The room fell silent, her parents’ outstretched glasses hanging aloft in the air between them. Joni Mitchell was playing on the sound system, but Evie barely heard her.

‘What do you mean?’ Anna asked, placing her glass back on the table.

‘Why do you two seem so happy?’

‘Evie, darling, I’m happy because I finally feel free. I can finally be me again.’ Anna gave her oldest daughter a small, certain smile.

Free. The word almost materialised and floated before Evie’s eyes. Could Evie say the same of herself? She wasn’t quite sure; all she knew was that she had to get out of there. She needed time to process what had just happened. She stood up again, but this time she kissed her family goodbye and made her way to the front door with Hugo in tow.

The door closed with a thunk behind them, and Hugo released Evie’s hand to hail a cab.

‘Ready to go home?’ Hugo asked when one pulled up alongside them.

And for the second time in this decade, Evie found herself thinking, Home? But I don’t know where that is anymore.

With a deep, resigned sigh, Evie crossed the footpath and stepped past Hugo into the back of the cab. When Hugo sidled up next to her, she looked at him and thought of his toast a few minutes earlier. Maybe it is possible to feel alone when you’re not alone.

As the driver swerved past parks and bustling roads, Hugo leaned his head on Evie’s shoulder, drifting into a seemingly worriless sleep. Evie shrugged slightly and unclasped her ‘tired’ hot pink bag. She fished around in it, sifting past the old movie ticket stubs, excessive clutches of bobby pins, and mints that had broken free from their cases, and then placed her wallet, lip balm and keys into the various pockets and folds of her new Louis Vuitton bag. All Evie could think was, I’m never going to find anything in this! As they veered around a sharp corner, Evie’s phone buzzed. She tugged it out from one of the many stiff new pockets and tapped into her messages.