‘It’s not funny, Jason.’

‘No? You don’t think so? I think it’s hysterical.’

‘Let’s not row.’

‘I’m not rowing. I’m – I’m just…’ He looked at the blank boards again, focusing on them as if it was some kind of optical illusion, and all he had to do was look at them for long enough, the right way, and the images of the dogs would magically appear. ‘Tell me you can see the labradoodles and the spaniel. Tell me you can, please tell me you can.’

‘Darling, calm down.’

‘I. AM. FUCKING. CALM.’ His voice rose with every word.

They stared at each other in silence, then Jason sat down and buried his face in his hands.

‘How could he have done this? Let me down like this?’ he asked.

‘Maybe he didn’t, what if he put the pictures in, and something happened?’

‘Like, the ghosts wiped them, Em?’ he said, sarcastically.

‘You have a better idea?’

‘Yes, he screwed up. His brain was in holiday mode, he was thinking of kayaks, langoustines and a drop of malt, he just screwed up, big time. Leaving me up to my neck in the brown stuff. Two important clients, both expecting me to deliver big Christmas presents for their wives, who are never going to commission another work from me again. Nor will any of their friends. Nor their friends’ friends. This is an unbelievable disaster.’

She shook her head. ‘No, it’s not a disaster. I’ve had stuff go wrong in catering before. You just have to deal with it.’

‘Fine? How do I deal with this?’

‘You take a deep breath, go back up to your studio with the two blank boards and you paint the labradoodles on one and sketch the King Charles on the other. So, OK, they’re framed, work around it. Get over it. You can do it.’

He stared down at the boards, shaking his head. ‘I did such a good job.’

‘So, replicate it. You still have a few days – even Christmas Eve, at a pinch,’ she said. Then she visibly brightened. ‘And here’s the silver lining!’

‘There’s a silver lining?’

‘You do the pictures again and deliver them. Then, when David returns you have two pictures waiting for you in his studio, and you can use them in your exhibition – it will be two pictures less you have to do!’

He downed the rest of his glass. ‘Yup, that’s a possibility. Screw David, I’ll bloody do it.’

‘Of course you will!’ She went over to the fridge, pulled out the bottle and topped him up. ‘Relax tonight, we’ve both had enough stress for one day. I’ll make a nice dinner and we can watch something on telly. You can start over in the morning.’

He raised his glass, feeling massively relieved. ‘I’ll drink to that.’

They clinked glasses.

‘I couldn’t believe what I saw,’ she said. ‘That woman behind us, she was so real. She was like a hologram. So real I felt I could reach out and touch her.’ Emily shivered.