They sat for a while with pre-dinner drinks in the sitting room, making small talk about what was happening in the village, with Eddie, Maya and Liv taking it in turns to give an update on how things were with them. It was too early for her mother to pull out her seat at the piano – Barbara would need a lot more sherry in her before she’d be rattling out the Christmas carols. Liv wondered what she’d be like if she ever truly let herself go.

‘I think I smell turkey?’ her father said jovially after half an hour.

‘I’ll just check on it.’ Liv looked across at Eddie meaningfully. He’d already had two glasses of brandy and her mother was about to pour another for him. Thanks to Yvonne’s heavy hand with the brandy bottle, he wasn’t in much of a condition to take a broad non-verbal hint. ‘Will you give me a hand, Eddie?’

‘Sure,’ he said, taking his glass with him.

‘Hey,’ Liv said once they were alone in the kitchen. ‘I got you this…’ She pulled out the slim envelope she’d been waiting to hand to him; honestly, she wasn’t sure how she hadn’t already blabbed about it to him a hundred times over. Pete had helped her get two VIP box tickets to a premier game with his favourite team. It was near what promised to be the high point of the team’s decade, if they continued to play as well as they’d been playing. Or at least that was what Pete had said and she believed him; Liv had next to no interest in soccer.

‘What is it?’ For the first time since he arrived, Eddie left down his glass; he looked at the envelope a little dubiously.

‘It’s a summons? What do you think it is? It’s your Christmas gift from me.’ She leant in to give him a kiss, but he was so intent on opening it, she just about skimmed past those enviable cheekbones. His hair smelled of minty shampoo and she imagined him, jumping into the shower before he left – he smelled and looked good. Better than he had done for the last few weeks, when all he seemed to do was go to work and stay there far too long each day. He’d looked tired, he’d been irritable, but he told her often enough that was just the price of trying to keep his bespoke jewellery-making business afloat. The last few months were his busiest season. Hopefully, this January, they’d be able to put some money aside – they’d need it if they were going to have any decent-size wedding.