Darren thought Christmas in July was one of the smartest ideas his mum had ever come up with. And he was impressed that she was finally ready to break tradition. None of them were going to want to celebrate next Christmas. Too many bad memories; it would likely take a long time for those feelings to fade. So, shifting celebrations to the winter was the perfect way for their family to still have Christmas together. Besides, this December Pete and Mimi were taking their family to England so the twins could finally meet their other grandparents.

Darren and Sage hadn’t talked about what they might do at Christmas time yet. They were taking things one day at a time. She wasn’t the type to plan ahead, but that was fine with Darren. It made for a nice change of pace after his relationship with Charlotte, which had always been about planning for the future. He hadn’t seen Charlotte in several months now, but he’d heard that Steph was pregnant and he was happy for them.

Pete and the kids were already in the restaurant when he and Sage arrived.

‘Where’s Mimi?’ he asked as they pulled out their chairs and sat down.

‘She’s picking up Andrea, she’s still not allowed to . . .’

Darren nodded. Andrea’s licence had been suspended for twelve months when she’d finally been well enough to go to court and face her charges. She’d also been hit with a large fine, but had been granted leniency due to the fact there were no drugs or alcohol involved, no prior record, and that the reason she’d been distracted was because she was attempting to stop a minor from mistakenly taking drugs. Due to all of this, she’d been served a suspended sentence, which meant no jail time. They were all relieved; none of them had wanted to see her behind bars for Tony’s death.

‘So,’ said Pete, ‘have you got it for me?’

Darren pulled a USB stick out of his pocket and passed it across. ‘Remember, it’s only the first draft,’ he said.

‘First draft is still a hell of a lot better than no draft. Well done.’

‘Yeah, well, we’ll see. I still don’t know if the publisher’s going to give me another chance. They might not even want to read it.’

‘They’ll read it. Trust me, Elizabeth is a gun when it comes to dealing with publishers. She’ll talk ’em round. Besides, they’ll want the opportunity to make back all the money they lost on you.’

‘Jeez, thanks, mate.’

‘No worries. Still can’t believe you decided to make your main character a bloody dog.’