‘I’ll pass the message along.’

‘What a twat,’ said Penny, as Charlie re-entered the cellar.

‘I’ve never wanted to colour your opinion,’ they said. ‘But yeah.’

‘Tell you what,’ grinned Penny, pulling out another bottle of the Tignanello. ‘Make sure he gets an invite to the staff Christmas party, so I can give him a bit of attention, but also have a get-out clause. If I have to relive our summer interaction again I’ll die. Actually cease to exist on this mortal coil through sheer boredom of interacting. And Penelope? Urgh. Nobody has called me that since my mother.’

The mention of her mother made her heart beat in double time. Tug, tug, tug – never would she be able to refer to her mother without feeling the loss all over again. Grief was like that. There was no end point.

‘Priyesh at a party,’ marvelled Charlie. ‘I can’t picture it.’

‘He really is that bad, isn’t he? Even that first time I met him I thought so. I can’t believe we haven’t talked about this!’

‘He’s just … buttoned up. He’s all business and doesn’t really laugh a lot and there’s a distance he keeps you at. You can ask him how his weekend was or whatever and he always just says, “Fine, thank you,” and never returns the question or gives you any details. I’ve known him maybe seven years now and I couldn’t even tell you anything beyond his name. And he doesn’t seem interested in anything other than my name. I just find it a bit odd.’

‘How old do you reckon he is?’

‘Forty-five, maybe fifty?’

‘Yeah, I think so too. The thing is, he’s actually quite fit. But boring. But also … fit! Do you think he’s married?’

‘Oh, that’s something I do know about, actually. Not from him. I think he was married a while ago – before I started working here full time – and she left him. He has this huge estate and lives there alone and sells wine. Let the record show that I’ve never seen the estate, and all of this is pure rumour. But yeah, jilted appaz.’

‘I would say something cutting about small minds gossiping, but here I am, getting the gossip myself.’

‘I’ll make sure he gets an invite to the party, anyway,’ Charlie said. ‘I can’t believe it’s nearly Christmas already.’

‘And we’ve hit our financial target for the year already too,’ Penny said. ‘Which means only one sitting on Christmas Day. I can’t wait to close right through to the second week of the new year. I need a proper break.’

‘Yeah, all this change has been a lot,’ Charlie agreed.

‘Hasn’t it just?’ said Penny, flopping down on a beer barrel to take a breath. ‘I’m so thankful you’re here, though. Have I told you that lately?’