The adults tried to converse above their heads but it was stilted. Flora and Dad were complimentary about the menu while Stef kept looking around commenting how small everything was compared to the cavernous Juno Lounge with its mezzanine at one end and giant light fixtures dangling from the beams high above.

‘Tell us how you’re getting on,’ she demanded of Isaac, turning her gaze onto him. ‘We’ve hardly seen you these last few months. You’re temporary here, aren’t you? Will you be working all over Christmas? Or do you shut Christmas Day? Surely no one needs to be at the pub on Christmas Day – they should all be home with their families.’ Her tone suggested that Isaac should be with his family too.

Isaac had avoided his parents during the crisis at the Juno and in its immediate aftermath from a wish not to worry them, so he went straight to the question of Christmas. ‘Whether my job lasts as long as Christmas Day isn’t quite decided because the owner’s in Switzerland and hasn’t been cleared to come back to work. I think I’m likely to stay on into January.’ Isaac became aware that Lily, passing out menus at the next table, had stopped to glance at him. ‘The pub does open on Christmas Day and lunch is in the diary,’ he went on. Lily’s eyes widened before she returned her attention to her other customers.

Stef’s eyes reddened. ‘I’d just hoped that with Hayley out of the picture we’d have a proper Christmas with you this year.’

Isaac chose not to pick up on her slightly barbed comment about Hayley, understanding that his mum must be fed up with the way things were going in her life. Fifteen years ago, before Ray had become ill, they’d had good jobs and a roomy farmhouse to live in. They’d both worked on the farm, Ray working tirelessly in the fields and Stef providing meals for the farm workers and looking after the chickens and their few cows. Now Stef and Ray lived in a small house on an estate on the edge of a city. There was never enough money. No nice things. Stef, though she tried valiantly to hide it from Ray, chafed. She didn’t mean to take it out on everyone around her but picking fault was free entertainment.

‘Sorry, Mum,’ he said, meaning it. ‘I’ll do my best but there has to be a licensee near enough to call on. It’s the law.’

Before Stef could reply, Lily turned to their table. ‘Are we ready to order?’

‘Burger, chips and a b’nana,’ Jasmine requested promptly.

Lily grinned as she wrote it down. ‘Shall we save the banana for your dessert? Just have burger and chips for now?’