‘You know, if someone heard you talking about your firstborn daughter – the daughter who doesn’t even want to spend Christmas Day with you – in the dismissive way you just did, they might think you’re a long way off father of the year. They might even sympathize with her decision.’

Nick’s grin reversed into an expression of slack-jawed hurt. I almost felt sorry for him.

‘Don’t try and blame me for all this shit,’ he spat. ‘Your brilliant solution’s not working out so well, is it? Turns out you can’t pay someone else to do what you’re too selfish to do yourself.’

‘What, clear up your disgusting mess?’

‘No. Be a mother to your own child,’ he said, his voice pure venom.

Now it was my hurt that was agony. It made me lash out in a way that was dangerous.

‘You have no idea the mess I’ve cleared up for you,’ I said. ‘No idea the damage you’ve done to all of us. I’ve spared you because you’re too weak and pathetic to survive the truth.’

Nick was red in the face now, mouth gold-fishing as he searched for the right comeback to an insult he didn’t entirely understand. I was skirting too close to the edge of the precipice. I’d come too far to lose everything for the petty satisfaction of getting the last word. I knew, with a lurching dread, that it would be more than the last word. It could spell the end of everything.

I turned on my heel before the skirmish could turn into all-out war.

‘Just get in the shower and start making today feel like Christmas,’ I hissed. ‘Your family need you more than ever. Maybe for once, you could try not failing us.’

RACHEL

I sat up, my breath a foggy cloud that furled outwards into the freezing bedroom. It took me a second to remember where I was, but the biting chill soon reminded me. So, too, did the sight of Hannah, who leapt from her own bed and crossed the room, flinging her arms around my shoulders.

‘Happy Christmas, lazy bones!’ she said. The relentless intimacy was a bit unnerving, almost as if I’d adopted a rescue dog who’d expected to live out his days in a damp kennel. ‘I waited to go down to breakfast so I’d be here when you woke up.’

‘Right, thanks,’ I said, forcing my body not to turn rigor-mortis stiff.

‘I know how weird it must be for you, not being with your family, so…’ She looked down at me with blazing eyes. ‘They sound like total fuckers, Toxic Mummy’s Daughter. You’ve done the right thing coming here.’