In just over two weeks they’d be on their way! Lily felt a ball of excitement spin in her stomach as she happily conjured up visions of Christmas markets and processions and snow. Hopefully snow. She looked at the weather app on her phone. Schützenberg was about a thousand metres above sea level but there was no snow yet. In her imagination Swiss winters always meant glorious landscapes of thick, glistening snow looking so much like scenes from advent calendars that the shutters on chalets would pop open to reveal chocolates inside.

She became so buried in her project that she barely left enough time to shower and had to pause in drying her hair to let Zinnia in when she knocked at the French doors. Wearing a big smile and carrying an overnight bag, Zinnia gave Lily a bear hug. ‘This is great! I’m so glad you agreed to come. Do you want me to finish your hair?’

As Zinnia was obviously determined to embrace their sisterly love, Lily relaxed and let her wield the hairdryer, lifting her voice over its drone to update her on the Switzerland plans. Then they put on their make-up, making golf-ball eyes into the mirror while applying eyeliner and mascara. They rarely went clubbing together and it took Lily back to when they were teens living at home with Roma and Patsie. She enjoyed the fuzzy feeling it gave her.

Zinnia unzipped her bag and shook out a fuchsia pink glittery asymmetrical sheath dress, boasting one sleeve and a mid-thigh hemline. ‘Ta dah!’

‘Wow. You meant it when you said “glammed up”.’ Lily caught the sleeve and let the sinuous, slightly scratchy material slither through her fingers.

‘So what have you got?’ demanded Zinnia, throwing open Lily’s wardrobe without ceremony. ‘How about this? This would look amazing.’

Seeing that Zinnia was brandishing a short, sequinned topaz-blue number, Lily clutched her heart and laughed. ‘I haven’t worn it since Bar Barcelona party nights. It’s short.’

‘Perfect for tonight.’ Zinnia laid the shimmering garment on the bed. ‘It’s a par-tay.’

As there was nothing else in her wardrobe anywhere near as glam as Zinnia’s slinky pink outfit, Lily thought she may as well give the blue dress a try and let Zinnia zip her into it. It clung to every curve under the heavy, shining sequins. She slipped her feet into black shoes. ‘Erm,’ she said doubtfully, gazing in the mirror at what seemed to be the entire length of her legs on show. She had to admit, though, that the dress was flattering. ‘It feels really, really short.’