She needed to say something. Maya was waiting for her to say something; anything. ‘Thank you, for telling me. I mean it – you’re right, at least this gives me the chance to choose where I’m going to spend my time this Christmas and it’s definitely not going to be sitting in Flannelly’s pub nursing an orange juice and listening to the same stories I heard last year.’ She put her arm around Maya. It wasn’t fair; her sister had carried this worry about with her for the last two weeks. Liv decided she would share the load, whatever that meant in supporting her family going forward. She was only sorry now that she’d invited the Quirkes to the farmhouse the previous day. What a waste of a perfectly good Christmas Day now that this news reminded her how precious each one was for them as a family.

*

It seemed to Liv that everything about Ballycove was just a little more Christmassy this year. Of course, it was the snow. It was such a treat to have it still on the ground as they walked back through the village on the way home. The square was beautifully decorated, with golden lights hanging on the bare branches of every tree and the huge fir tree at the centre decked out in its seasonal finest. As they walked the narrow country road to the farm, Liv heard the hunt horn being sounded somewhere across the fields, so they fastened the dogs’ leads on their collars; the last thing the local hunt needed was three working sheepdogs joining their beagles.

It was probably her favourite day of the year – St Stephen’s Day, or Boxing Day. It was the one day when, if she wasn’t at work, there was absolutely no pressure. She and Maya normally went for a very long walk and then, when they returned to the farmhouse, it was leftovers from the previous day for dinner, which her dad always said were nicer on the second day and Liv quietly agreed with him. Then, they’d settle down in the sitting room, her dad snoring before the TV, her mother knitting or channel-hopping and Maya and Liv snuggled up with a book each for the night.

She rang Pete as soon as they got back to the farmhouse and he was his usual chipper self.