Grady jammed his chilly fingers in his pockets. ‘You’re right; it was like a thriller where innocent people are targeted for no reason. We got out of the car and three of them went for Mac and two for me.’

‘Must have been a bloody squash with five of them in their old Fiesta,’ Mac commented dourly, shivering.

Grady went on. ‘It was easy for them to squash me against the side of the car. I could barely move, let alone fight back.’ It had been a horrible experience, being made helpless even if only for a couple of minutes. ‘They searched my pockets and took my phone. I thought we were being robbed but they ignored my wallet … and now you say the phone’s been left here?’

‘Yes, sorry. I’m not thinking straight.’ Hastily, Tonya pulled his phone from her pocket and handed it over.

With a word of thanks he brought the screen to life. The handset seemed undamaged but he’d change the passcode later. ‘I was shouting to Mac and he was yelling and swearing and the blokes were laughing. Then they gave me a shove and sent me into the hedge.’ He rubbed a scratch on his neck. ‘By the time I’d picked myself out of the hawthorn their car was disappearing up the road, and Mac was tied to his car door handle, minus trousers and boots.’

A frown appeared above Tonya’s amber-coloured eyes and she tweaked Mac’s red felt pants. ‘You make a cute Santa but why on earth would they take your trousers?’

Mac sighed. ‘I think they were former students because they called me “Mr Cassidy”. I guess it was a practical joke. I’ll have to decide whether to report it.’ He sent Grady a frown. ‘I’ll get changed. Will you take me back to the car in your truck?’

‘Sure.’ To give Mac time to warm up, and Tonya a chance to get over her anxiety about their little adventure, he ran downstairs to grab two minutes by the fire. ‘Hey, Niall,’ he said, dropping comfortably onto the end of the sofa nearest the crackling grate.

‘What’s up?’ asked Niall, barely taking his eyes off The Mandalorian. His hair wasn’t the Cassidy black but fair, like Tonya’s when she hadn’t dyed it one of the colours of the rainbow.

As Grady and Niall’s relationship included lots of teasing and play-fighting, rather than answer Grady grabbed the remote and switched off the TV.

‘Hey!’ complained Niall, laughing, twisting round to pit his gangly strength against Grady’s more solid bulk. ‘Don’t be a knob.’

From upstairs, Grady could still hear Tonya questioning and Mac responding. Mac loved Tonya too much to get impatient with her. ‘Don’t say “knob”, you knob,’ he teased, shoving the remote behind his back. ‘Just seen Daisy in her aunt’s car.’ He omitted the circumstances.