‘I think it already does,’ I said, looking up at her.

Her comment had made me feel a little defensive.

‘Perhaps,’ she said, cocking her head as she bent to get a better look, ‘but a few cushions on that sofa and some houseplants dotted about the place might make it feel a bit cosier, or should I say hygge? That’s one of the buzzwords for comfortable interiors now, isn’t it?’

I wasn’t sure hygge was a thing in Abu Dhabi and I wasn’t sure how Jonathan would feel about the introduction of a spider plant or a cactus, but the cushions wouldn’t go amiss.

‘Perhaps you could even have a cat of your own,’ Dolly added for good measure.

I closed the screen down.

‘Because I’m such a big fan,’ I laughed, ‘No, I don’t really think a cat, or a pet of any sort, will work for us out there and as lovely as the apartment is, we’ll be spending more time out of it than in.’

‘I hope you aren’t planning on working all hours again, Hattie.’

‘No,’ I said, ‘Not work necessarily. I just mean we’ll be living a very different lifestyle to the one that you have here in Wynbridge.’

She didn’t get the chance to start listing the virtues of a welcoming hearth or remind me that home should be where the heart is.

‘Here you are,’ said Beamish, ‘Come on, you two. We need to going or we’ll never get parked.’

‘It’s not even four yet,’ I reminded him. ‘Surely it’s still too early to see the lights.’

‘But we’re shopping first,’ he reminded me, ‘and it’s a dull old day. By the time we’ve got what we want in town the light tour will be getting busy.’

‘He’s right,’ said Dolly, accepting his offer of help as she pulled on her coat, ‘and I don’t want to be too late to bed, not with the fair looming. It’ll be bedlam in here tomorrow afternoon, it always is.’

Beamish had been right to chivvy us along because we weren’t the only early arrivals in town and he was also right about the lights. The murky sky meant it was almost dark by the time we had stowed my bouquet safely in the truck and reached the market. The whole place was looking, sounding and smelling very festive and even I, who had so adamantly maintained that I wasn’t all that bothered about Christmas, felt a brief flicker of excitement as I listened to the carollers in front of the huge tree and thrust my hand into the bag of hot roasted chestnuts Beamish had treated himself to.