I looked up to see Henry with two more glasses of wine. He’d changed into the kind of Henry-ish trousers I was used to, along with a cardigan in the same shade of dark brown as his hair. He’d taken out his contacts and now wore a pair of thick, square glasses. If I’d seen that outfit anywhere else, I’d have thought it dreadful. On Henry, it somehow worked.

I typed Adam a brief reply.

Thanks, but I’m fine.

‘Yeah. The Christmas-o-meter is measuring full Armstrong.’ I put my phone in my pocket and scooted up on the sofa so he could sit down. ‘Have you heard from your family?’

‘Not today. They said they’d call tomorrow.’ He took a sip of wine and leant back, taking his glasses off and closing his eyes. ‘It’ll be a five-minute how are you, thanks for the gift tokens and see you some time in the new year. Barely a flicker on the Christmas-o-meter.’

I watched him for a moment. The shadows cast from the bare bulb exaggerated the tired creases on his face. I felt a sudden urge to reach over and smooth them away.

‘Most embarrassing Christmas family incident?’

Henry’s mouth twitched, his eyes still closed. ‘There’s no way I’m going to beat you on that one.’

‘Oh really? What about your dad’s donkey costume?’

The twitch grew to a smile. ‘Well, if we’re commenting on each other’s dads, then how about the Christmas Spectacular when your dad tried doing a rap?’

‘Oh no, that wasn’t the worst.’

Henry opened his eyes, turning to face me, his cheek still resting on the back of the sofa. ‘Now this I have to hear.’

‘You must remember, when I was thirteen and Dad first introduced the hairdressing course. He let this girl, Isla, practise on the whole family. Jed got out of it because he was sneaky enough to give himself a buzz cut the day before. Me, Mum, and Dad ended up with exactly the same hairstyle the week before Christmas. Which also happened to be the worst hairstyle imaginable.’

Henry burst out laughing at the memory. ‘Oh yes! I remember your identical mops. I thought you’d got matching wigs for an act at first.’

‘Believe me, if I’d have got hold of a wig I’d have worn it.’

Henry crinkled his eyes. ‘I didn’t think they were that bad.’

It was my turn to laugh. ‘That’s because your hair was almost as awful!’

His mouth dropped open in pretend shock. ‘Are you dissing my hair?’

‘Well, at least it matched your overall look, I suppose.’

‘And for one sweet Christmas you got to match too.’