‘Thankfully, I haven’t heard from the police either,’ Nick said with relief. ‘I told myself that if I hadn’t heard from them by Wednesday, I’d go round and apologise but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I kept putting it off with work and everything.’

‘He should be apologising to you. We all saw him start it. Just hang in there, okay? I’m sure everything will be all right.’ She really hoped Mr Cole’s conscience would make him drop the charges, or at the very least his embarrassment at being caught cheating would force him to. Did he even have a conscience?

‘I’ve never seen him so excited about Christmas,’ Nick said, drawing a line under the conversation. She couldn’t blame him not wanting to talk about it. ‘I mean, he’s always loved putting the tree up and decorating it, but this is next-level excitement. I love that your family has made a whole day of it. It makes the whole thing an experience.’

‘Apparently my sister and I used to moan that putting the tree up was over too quickly—’

‘Moan? You and your sister?’ He shook his head. ‘I can’t believe that.’

‘I think they made it up too.’ She adjusted her scarf as a gust of wind blew it over her shoulder. ‘Anyway, Mum and Dad decided to drag it out further by starting the breakfast thing. And now we have so many decorations for inside the house and out that it really does take a whole day to put everything up.’

A moment’s sadness gripped her that she’d be decorating her tree alone this year. Her family had said they’d come round and help, but she’d told them she preferred to do it solo. Part of her wanted to reclaim the event for herself and another wanted to hide in case she got upset. Yet, standing here with Nick, her world felt fuller than it had in a long time and even if she did end up doing it alone, she’d enjoy it too. If Evan couldn’t appreciate her and her mad family, he didn’t deserve to be a part of it.

‘Can we get this one, Dad?’

‘It’s about eight foot tall, mate.’ Nick laughed. ‘We won’t get it in the house. We’ll have to bend it sideways.’

‘Oh.’ Freddie’s head slumped down.

‘What about this one?’ asked Bella, moving to a particularly fragrant tree that was only six foot in height so with a little off the end it should fit perfectly in their cottage. ‘Look, it’s got lovely bushy branches and none of the needles are coming off.’

‘Can we, Dad? Can we get that one?’

Nick smiled. ‘Sure thing, son. We’ll need a base for it too.’

‘I know where they are.’