Isaac began to move slowly across the front of them with his phone on video and more phones appeared amongst the clientele. Carola made the ‘sing up!’ signal to what had now become their audience and several joined in, swaying as they sang. Melanie from the shop held hands with her boyfriend, sharing a table with Cleo and Justin, Cleo’s sister Liza and her blond husband, Dominic, Gabe, and another half-dozen people who Lily knew by sight.

Lily felt the lift in her chest that came with blending her voice with the voices of others. She was boiling hot though and, without pausing in singing about snow not stoppin’, pulled off her hat and unwound her scarf, dropping both on the bar. Slowly, she pulled the overshirt over her head and then, after smoothing her hair and flipping it back over her shoulders, unpopped a button on her coat on the first beat of each bar, sliding her arms out of the sleeves just in time to follow the slowing tempo indicated by Carola’s conducting hand and to deliciously draw out the final snooooow.

The makeshift audience burst into applause and, laughing, Lily glanced over at Isaac.

His phone was still in his hand but his gaze was unwaveringly fixed on her.

She swallowed as she heard an echo of Zinnia referring to him as ‘His Hotness’. For several moments everyone else seemed to fade from the room.

Then she became aware that the applause had ended and the others began to take off their overshirts and outdoor things too, heaping them on bar stools as Carola announced ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’ and sounded an F on her phone app before counting them in.

Lily joined in automatically, bringing her mind back to the well-known words, keeping Carola in her peripheral view for cues, letting her throat relax and the melody soar.

Before long the Middletones had performed all of their short programme, which meant Carola and Lily had got the second run-through they’d wanted. The entire bar joined in with ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ and the Middletones broke formation to join those seated at tables and adding their voices to the general chat.

Isaac returned to his post behind the bar beside Lorna as customers queued to be served. Lorna, probably the quietest of the bar staff, smiled at Lily. ‘That was lovely.’

‘Thanks.’ They chatted about the approach of Christmas and Lily watched drinks being poured. When the rush was over Isaac disappeared, probably to perform one of the dozens of jobs that fell to him – assessing the diary, making any adjustments to the staff rota, checking temperatures in the beer cellar. Lily carried her wine across the room to grab a place on a bench seat next to Carola, close to the fireplace she’d decorated with greenery.