She was certainly sufficiently free to leave the village to go Christmas shopping in Cambridge amongst the stores decorated to their ceilings in glittering Santas, holly, snowflakes and lights, her steps automatically taking up the rhythm of the brass band playing Christmas songs at the arts and crafts market. She expected to enjoy getting a taste of a city again and then feel reluctant to return to Middledip. But she didn’t. Middledip felt like home again. She’d come to relish having country walks on her doorstep and the peace and clean air of the streets compared to gridlocked traffic of West London. Trees, hedges, gardens and cottages were relaxing compared to end-to-end shops and offices. So now, added to ‘should she leave?’ was ‘could she leave?’

From the work perspective, it would be easy. Find a place, pack up and go, just as she’d exchanged Chiswick for Middledip.

Her Everyday Woman painting was almost complete. She’d thought it represented her finding herself and dancing for joy. Now she wasn’t so sure. Maybe it was just a short, curvy woman making a fool of herself because there was nothing to dance about when the admiring man in the shadows might be beyond her reach.

On Christmas Eve, Grady waited for Laurel to arrive at Mistletoe Cottage, which he’d ensured lived up to its name by hanging mistletoe in every room. He’d just about bought the entire contents of a stall in Bettsbrough and tied the bunches with glossy red ribbon. The Christmas tree was threaded with extra twinkle lights and the fridge was full to bursting with festive fare. He was trying not to mind that they’d be separating after exchanging gifts on Christmas morning. He’d spend Christmas Day with Mac while Laurel’s Christmas lay at The Nookery. He knew he could have joined her but couldn’t be that rude to Mac, Niall and Tonya, when they’d never failed to include him in every family event and celebration.

Christmas brought logistical issues for lots of couples. Whose turn is it to go here? How much time should we spend there? The last couple of years, everything had been fine. Pippa had got on OK with Mac and Tonya, and Grady with her mum and dad. It had been easy for Grady and Pippa to divide their time and everyone had seemed happy. He hadn’t had the problem that Pippa couldn’t stand the sight of his brother.

Grady and Laurel not spending Christmas Day together wasn’t symptomatic of their short time back together but of a bigger, thornier issue that occupied his mind. He thought he had a solution, if he could get Laurel to agree … but it meant a sacrifice on his part.