‘I do,’ he nodded, turning red, ‘but I’ve never messed about with anything. I used to come up the drive, but then the bloke who’s usually here had that gate and cameras put up so I had to sneak in another way.’

‘If you’d asked him,’ I said, ‘he probably would have been happy for you look around, you know.’

‘Doubt it,’ he muttered.

‘How old are you, Liam?’

‘Fifteen,’ he told me. ‘And I can’t wait to leave school and get a job. Not that there’s much doing around here, especially if you come from a family like mine.’

I itched to ask what sort of family that was, but didn’t.

‘In that case,’ I said, making the suggestion, which took me completely by surprise, ‘how do you fancy working here for a bit?’

I knew Ned probably wouldn’t appreciate me taking on another member of staff but Liam clearly loved Wynter’s Trees and I could just tell the lad needed a helping hand. From the little he’d said, I could deduce that he had no faith in any of the adults in his life and needed something to focus on if he was going to stay out of trouble.

‘There are four Saturdays between now and Christmas,’ I calculated, ‘and it’s going to be busy here, what with shifting the trees and having more shoppers on-site. I can’t say exactly what you’ll be doing, but we could do with an extra pair of hands, if you fancy it.’

‘You’re kidding.’

I shook my head.

‘I was going to put a sign up in the barn this week,’ I fibbed, so he didn’t think I was making him a pity offer. ‘But if you take it on, I won’t need to. I might even be able to give you a few extra hours in the holidays.’

Liam’s expression was transformed.

‘How does five pound an hour sound?’

‘That’s more than the minimum wage for a sixteen year old!’

‘I know,’ I said, ‘and that’s because I’ll be expecting you to work extra hard. And once you’ve proved your worth, I might even throw in the occasional Liza Wynter hot chocolate special with your lunch.’

I thought that might be the clincher, but Liam wasn’t so sure.

‘I’ll have to check at home,’ he said, sounding suddenly less excited.

‘That’s all right,’ I said. ‘I’ll talk to your parents if you like.’

‘No,’ he said, draining his mug. ‘Best leave that to me.’

It was starting to drizzle so I drove him back to Wynmouth. He wouldn’t let me take him all the way to his house, so I dropped him off on the green.

‘And don’t worry about transport,’ I told him. ‘I can pick you up and drop you back if your mum and dad can’t run you.’