Exactly how long had I been staring into the fire? The room was pretty dark for what I thought was still the afternoon, and a June one at that.

‘Are you all right?’ he frowned. ‘You’re not ill, are you?’

‘I’m fine,’ I shrugged. ‘Just having a bit of a lazy day, that’s all. In this weather I can’t do much else. I’ve been reading.’

‘Bit dark for that,’ he commented. ‘Anyway,’ he carried on, ‘I’ve just come to say that as it’s looking like we won’t be getting reconnected until at least tomorrow morning, I’ve decided to make the most of it.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘A cut-price dinner for everyone who turns up at the pub,’ he smiled. ‘Sophie and Hope are cooking up a storm on some camping stoves and George has promised an evening of spooky tale-telling for afters.’

It sounded like a great way to ride out the miserable weather.

‘It was so good to see everyone supporting the pub before,’ Sam grinned, shoving his hands into his cargo shorts pockets, ‘and I thought this might be a nice way to carry the feeling on. You will come, won’t you? Or were you planning an early night?’

Even though the evening sounded lovely, I wasn’t much in the mood for socializing. I wanted to stay curled up under a blanket, eating biscuits and not reading the book I had alleged to be engrossed in.

‘I’ll be there,’ I quickly answered, determinedly ignoring the black dog who was prowling around the edges of my mood. ‘In fact, I’ll get dressed and come straight round to help you set up.’

‘Excellent,’ he grinned. ‘I was hoping you’d say that.’

Forcefully pulling myself together, I had a quick soak in the tub, then pulled on a pair of jeans and a jumper before shrugging back into the waterproof coat and running next door. It might have only been a few paces, but it was plenty far enough in the driving rain and stiff breeze.

I handed Sam the dripping coat and he set me to work. Thankfully it didn’t take all that long before I started to feel like my true self again.

‘Aren’t you going to light the fire?’ I asked, as he handed me a box of glass jars and tealights to set up along the windowsills.

‘Not until later,’ he explained. ‘I’m expecting quite a crowd and it isn’t particularly cold. If I light it too early, we’ll be roasting before George has even started to scare us witless. It’ll be more about creating ambience than warming us up tonight.’