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Josie hesitated, feeling the need to check Max was ok.

‘You’re kidding!’ John was saying to him as she rejoined them. ‘One of my old school friends is an architect. Erin Fuller – don’t suppose you’ve ever come across her?’

Max was shaking his head. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re mates with Erin?’

Deciding they were getting along well enough and sufficiently engaged in a game of Kevin Bacon, Josie silently walked over to the table where Laura was sitting, now alone, and collapsed down next to her. Laura frowned. ‘What’s up?’

Josie hesitated, then shook her head, but couldn’t help the scowl towards Cara even though she knew she should be more pissed off at Oliver than at her. Still, she didn’t have to make it so damn obvious, did she? They could at least have waited until after the Christmas break, was that really so much to ask? Laura grimaced sympathetically. ‘Ignore Cara Drama, she’s just trying to get attention because she’s bored and knows she’ll never amount to anything more than a mid-level exec, and therefore knows she needs to lock in a guy before she loses her looks and they figure out that’s all she’s got going for her.’

Josie snorted, then immediately felt harsh for doing it. She grimaced. She hadn’t told Laura yet that she’d been made redundant – maybe she’d never amount to anything either.

Laura pursed her lips, studying Josie’s face, then glanced over her head. ‘The boys are coming over.’ She leaned in a bit closer. ‘Speaking of which . . . Don’t waste any time, do you?’

‘It’s not like that, it’s . . .’ She twisted the stem of the Prosecco glass on the table. ‘I don’t know what it is.’

‘When did you meet?’

‘Three days ago,’ she admitted.

Laura gave Josie an incredulous look. ‘And he just happened to be free on Christmas Eve to come to a party with someone he’s only just met?’

‘He’s stuck in London waiting for a flight,’ Josie said defensively. ‘Stop making it sound bad.’

Laura looked over Josie’s shoulder at Max. ‘He’s pretty dashing.’

Josie raised her eyebrows. ‘Who says “dashing” these days?’

‘Seems nice,’ Laura continued, ignoring Josie.

‘Yes,’ Josie agreed. He was nice, she thought, though she hadn’t figured that out at first, being as how he’d almost tried to hide it from her.

‘And he’s been making John laugh, though I’ll admit that’s not all that difficult.’ Josie knew Laura was building to something so said nothing, waiting for her to get to the point. They both glanced over to John and Max, who had stopped a waitress to get more drinks. John was broader than Max, but somehow Max still seemed to have more presence. It was the way he carried himself, Josie decided, like he’d learned the way to move through a room with purpose, and so that people moved out the way for him, rather than the other way around. Laura lowered her voice. ‘So what’s the damage, then?’

Josie huffed out a breath. ‘Why does there have to be damage?’

‘Is he married?’

Josie laughed. ‘No.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Well, there’s no wedding ring, for one.’

‘Right, because people never take those off.’

‘He’s not married,’ Josie insisted, though she remembered again what her aunt had told her. He’d lied about where he worked – could there be more he was lying about? Without really thinking about it, she lifted a hand to run her fingers over one of the star earrings he’d given her. Laura watched her do it.

‘Nice earrings.’

‘Thanks.’ She decided not to own up to the fact that Max gave them to her, given she could see him and John approaching now. John casually rubbed Laura’s arm as he sat next to her, handing her a new glass of Prosecco just as Max set one down in front of Josie. She smiled up at him, perhaps a touch more enthusiastically than was really necessary, but the smile he gave her back was quick and efficient.

He held up his phone. ‘I just have to call the airline, they’ve left me a message. Be right back.’

Josie nodded, and tried to ignore the I told you so look that Laura was giving her. Before Laura could start up again – the presence of John wouldn’t stop her – Josie asked Laura about how the wedding planning was coming on, which distracted her enough that she launched into a story of how difficult the events manager at the venue – a Scottish castle no less – was being and how she was paranoid about there being a train strike around that weekend, which would mean that no one from London could make it. A waiter came round with canapés, and Josie took an arancini ball, taking little bites as she listened to Laura’s story and trying very hard to stay present, rather than keep scanning the room for either of the two men who were preying on her mind.

Max came back after about ten minutes, sliding into the chair next to her. She caught a subtle whiff of his aftershave – something expensive, she reckoned. ‘What did they say?’ she asked.

He picked up his glass and took a sip. ‘They said they’ve got me on a flight on Boxing Day.’ He shrugged. ‘We’ll see, I guess.’ Josie nodded and smiled, because it seemed like the appropriate reaction, but before she could ask anything more – like how long he was actually going to be away for and if he’d be coming back to London at any point after that – someone tapped the microphone on the stage area, and the chatter in the hall died down briefly as everyone looked at the man on the stage, clearly a technician.