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“Not yet,” she says lightly. “Finn’s waiting for it to be ready to show me.” That sounds real, right? Even if, when he used to flip houses, he’d invite her around when they were in full construction mode, and they’d pull sleeping bags up next to each other, surrounded by rubble and chaos, and whisper into the night about nothing and everything. It had been exciting, as if they were doing something they weren’t supposed to be—and it had felt as if he was bringing her into his world.

“Besides,” she adds, “this is his area, isn’t it? I’m sure he can make the decisions on his own.” She keeps her voice light, adds a smile to top it off. But, from the look Finn gives her, she knows he heard the barb. Because he made the decision to end their relationship all by himself, didn’t he?

“Not all the decisions,” Finn says evenly. “Some decisions are mutual.”

“Of course.” She smiles at him over the rim of her wineglass, hoping her eyes add the rest: you prick.

“And what’s next?” Mark presses. “Mel’s got her place in London, right? So are you thinking of settling back there or—”

“Leave them be, Mark,” Susan says firmly. “It’s up to them where they end up living.” Where they end up living. Said like there is not a doubt in her mind that they will end up living somewhere together, in it for the long haul. Alongside the other emotions that brings up, she feels the tiniest bit of guilt, that she knows how this week will end whereas Susan does not. But she pushes it away. This is Finn’s fault, not hers.

“Right.” Mark holds his hands up. “Sorry. Just interested, that’s all.”

Mel turns to Finn’s sister, figuring a change of subject is in order. “How’s Dylan, Hattie?”

“He’s great.” Hattie smiles warmly. “He’s shooting down in Cornwell at the moment, of all places, for some fisherman movie, which sounds dull, but apparently he’s loving it, says the cast are all really nice.”

She doesn’t want to ask. Doesn’t want to remind them all. But she might as well get the question out of the way. “Have you set a date for the wedding yet?”

She tells herself it’s her imagination, the way the tension around the table thickens, the way Kristen glances at her then quickly away again, like she doesn’t want to look directly at a car crash.

Hattie, however, rises above it. “We’re thinking June. I know it’s a cliché, but marrying the hot actor after bumping into him in a bookshop is a cliché anyway, so I might as well lean into it.”

Finn shoots her a look. “You didn’t meet him in a bookshop.”

She flaps a hand at him. “Details, details. I chatted to Mum and we reckon June is the least risky in terms of weather, don’t we, Mum?”

Susan’s gaze flickers up to Hattie then down to her plate again. “Yes, love. I’m sure June will be lovely.”

There is another round of quiet, the scraping of cutlery against china. Then Susan pushes her knife and fork together, takes a sip of her water—and somehow turns the action into a command for attention.

“Now that you’re all here,” she announces, “I’ve got a surprise for everyone.”

“That sounds…ominous,” Hattie says suspiciously, and Mel can’t help the smile.

“You know how much I love Christmas, but this year I thought we could go one step further, really make the most of it. So I’ve taken the liberty of making us a little…well, a little agenda.”

“An agenda?” Mark’s voice is incredulous.

Hattie grimaces. “This is giving me flashbacks of having to sit in horrible office meetings, taking minutes.”

Finn slides his gaze over to his sister. “All of, what, the two months you worked in an office?”

She gives a dramatic shudder. “Still enough to make me break out in hives whenever I think about it.”

Susan huffs, a touch of impatience leaking in. “A list, then. A Christmas list.”

“A list of what?” Kristen asks.

Susan beams around the table. “Activities. I’ve planned a different Christmassy thing for us to do each day.”

“Activities,” Mark repeats slowly. “Like for Freya?”

“No, for all of us. Freya included, of course.”

Everyone at the table stares at Susan. Mel wants to ask what activities, exactly, she has in mind and whether it will involve her spending more or less time with Finn—but doesn’t feel like she can be the one to pipe up.

Then Kristen smiles. “I think it sounds brilliant. It’s a lovely idea, isn’t it, Mark?”