‘I know, I know. I’m just fascinated because I didn’t know.’

There was a pause in conversation for half a minute or so while we sipped our tea. Henry broke the silence.

‘Speaking of new information, I’m guessing this was your childhood bedroom?’

‘Well done, Sherlock.’

He nodded graciously in mock-acknowledgment of the compliment. ‘While I could see Jed reading Malory Towers, I’m not sure he’d be interested in The Secret World of Weather. And I can see why you would like to be tucked up in the attic.’

‘I can’t deny there was a bonus to being as far as possible from the rest of the house.’

‘Is that your suitcase all packed?’ He nodded to where it sat, zipped up and ready to go. ‘I know what Cora said was upsetting, but I honestly don’t think she meant…’

‘I have a job interview. I can’t go, though, so I might as well unpack again.’ I blew out a shaky sigh, trying to keep my emotions in check.

‘Why not?’

I closed my eyes. ‘It’s a two-day residential interview. In Scotland. I only just found out that I’d been invited thanks to a problem with my work emails. Besides which…’ my voice was getting higher and faster as I tried to finish speaking before bursting into tears ‘… I have nothing to wear, because I’m here and not at home and I packed in a rush to get here so I didn’t miss one second of Mum’s stupid itinerary.’

Henry handed me a tissue, waiting for me to take a shuddery breath, wipe my eyes and blow my nose before he spoke. ‘What’s the job?’

‘National weather reporter for BWM Today’ I gave a watery smile. ‘Baxter Bigwood got someone to call me because he was so impressed with my application.’

‘Wow.’ Henry nodded. ‘It sounds like you need to be at this interview.’

‘Yeah. Maybe if I ask him nicely, Baxter will send a helicopter to pick me up. We could stop off via a John Lewis on the way.’

‘Or I could drive you.’

My head jerked up so sharply that I nearly spilled the remains of my tea. ‘It’s two days. In Scotland.’

‘I love Scotland.’

‘The roads are impassable. We’d probably get stuck in a snowdrift.’

He shook his head. ‘Once we got out of the forest, the main roads’ll be clear. Ish.’

‘Is that a scientific term?’

Henry said nothing, waiting for me to accept his offer. I gave another long sigh. ‘You must really want to avoid more Armstrong Christmas.’

‘Not at all.’

I raised one eyebrow.

‘Okay, I accept it can be… a lot. But I’m very grateful to be here rather than on my own somewhere. However—’