‘Thanks for the heads up,’ she said. ‘I know it’s all going to come out sooner rather than later, but I appreciate that you won’t be talking about it. That really means a lot, especially given everything I put you through in the past.’

I looked around the decorated yard, and at the few customers still milling about, as we walked back to her car.

‘I can see why I was such an easy target,’ I smiled. ‘Christmas every day is hardly the norm, is it?’

I was surprised to find that knowing her motives for singling me out, had somehow made what she’d done a little more bearable. Not a lot, but a bit. Suddenly, it didn’t all feel quite so personal.

‘No,’ she agreed, ‘it’s not, but that’s not the only reason why I picked on you. I was jealous of you too.’

‘Jealous?’

‘Um,’ she said, looking back at the lodge. ‘Your life looked pretty perfect from where I was standing. Yes, you’d lost your mum, but you had a dad who loved you and the perfect Christmas every year. I would have loved that.’

I thought back to how surprised Maya had been when I said I considered her perfect and realised that my reaction to hearing Chelsea’s words about my own life was similar to Maya’s. Disbelieving. Sometimes it was hardest to see the things that were right in front of you for what they were.

‘Anyway,’ Chelsea said, ‘we’re not kids anymore, are we? We’ve moved on, right?’

‘Absolutely,’ I agreed.

Before long she’d find out exactly how far I was planning to go.

After the success of the trip to Norwich, Liam was a good ten minutes early the next day and raring to go, which was just as well as the gate was barely open before customers started flooding in. Everyone in the vicinity seemed to have Christmas on their minds and as the sky was clear and the sun was shining, it was the perfect weather for shopping outdoors.

With so many families arriving and popping their kids in the carts, I made the most of the opportunity to take some photos of the Wynter’s Trees sleighs in action, asking permission from parents first of course, and with Bandit thankfully on his best behaviour, he was more than happy to pose and be petted.

‘How’s your first day working onsite going?’ I asked Liam, who seemed to be everywhere.

‘It’s brilliant,’ he beamed, his cheeks glowing. ‘But I can’t stop. Ned needs me to help move some trees. I’ll see you later.’

He bounded off, resplendent in a Wynter’s Trees fleece that Ned had sent him home with the evening before. I don’t think I’d ever seen anyone other than Dad wear one with such pride.