‘There,’ said Dolly, when he was out of earshot, ‘you were worrying over nothing.’

I don’t know what she’d been listening to but it obviously wasn’t mine and Beamish’s conversation.

‘Right as rain,’ she beamed. ‘Do you want a pear drop?’

The place had filled up in the time it took us to settle, and the noise level of excited chatter had reached fever pitch by the time the vicar stepped up on to the stage to address the audience, thank them all for coming and remind them that the evening was being laid on as a fundraiser for the church roof and that if it was a success, then the council would consider making it a regular event. His words were met with claps and shouts of approval and then the first film began.

I didn’t pay much attention to Will Ferrell charging around New York saving Christmas so it would have been hard to say if Dolly’s determination to make me fall for all things festive had worked. My mind was fixed firmly on Beamish and the words I would use to explain to him about Jonathan.

Our strange exchange before the film had left me in no doubt that I had to do it and by the time the curtains had closed and the applause had died down I didn’t want to wait a minute longer. It was now or never.

‘Back in a sec,’ I said to Dolly, who was selecting a bar of chocolate from the usherette who had kindly come over to her ahead of the queue which was forming in front of the stage.

The girl was even prettier close to and her kind-hearted gesture would have made her the perfect match for generous Beamish.

‘Where are you off to?’ Dolly frowned, but I didn’t answer.

I wasn’t going to let anything thwart my resolve to share my secret. There was an hour between the films and I would use that time to come clean and ask if we could start our relationship over again.

‘Have you seen Beamish?’ I asked Alison from school, who was waiting in line for the loos.

‘He was heading towards the back room a minute ago,’ she said, pointing over her shoulder, ‘muttering something about the electrics in the kitchen. Are you OK? You look a bit flushed.’

‘I’m fine,’ I nodded. ‘It’s just a bit warm in here, isn’t it?’

I slipped into the room she had suggested and could hear someone moving about. I closed the door behind me.

‘Is that you, Mike?’ Beamish called.

‘No,’ I swallowed, ‘it’s me, Hattie.’

‘Even better.’

I was relieved he thought so.

‘Can you give us a hand?’ he asked, sounding agitated. ‘I literally need another hand to see what’s going on with this fuse-box. It’s so damn dark in here.’