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Please update me on how your day is! I miss you!

Mel glances over at Finn. “Took your time.” She sees, though, that he is fully dressed, his hair damp—and that he’s holding two mugs of coffee.

He holds one out for her. “Thought you might want some time.” She takes the mug, breathing in the smell of it. He jerks his head at her phone. “Priya?”

She takes a sip of coffee. “Yeah.”

“She having a good Christmas?”

“Yeah,” Mel says slowly. “I think so.”

He sits down on the edge of the bed. “You don’t sound too sure.”

“She just sounds a bit, I don’t know—homesick, maybe?” Although, to be fair, she’d also sounded a bit tipsy—so maybe it was just that?

Finn nods. “Understandable.”

“Yeah.” Mel frowns down at her coffee. “I guess.”

Then comes Susan’s voice, bellowing up the stairs, making Mel jump. “Mel! Finn! Blinis are ready!”

Finn stands and holds out a hand to Mel. She takes it, even as something lodges in her throat at the sound of Susan’s voice—something that makes it difficult to look at Finn as they head downstairs together.

Everyone is already in the kitchen, all dressed in Christmas jumpers with the exception of Hattie, who is in a sparkly top, and Freya, who is wearing a Santa dress. Everyone can help themselves to homemade blinis in the center of the table, with cream cheese and smoked salmon. Dylan is making Buck’s Fizz and handing around glasses. Mel wonders if she’s the only one who notices when Kristen says she’ll have a straight orange juice instead. Freya has the entire contents of her stocking in front of her on the dining table, having been unable to wait for everyone before she opened it, and Susan is leaning against the French doors to the garden, seeming to watch them all, a small smile playing around her lips. She looks happy. She doesn’t look sick—but then, if she’s only just been diagnosed, maybe she wouldn’t? Or maybe it’s a sign that it’s not as bad as Susan thinks.

Mel struggles to keep the smile on her face, and finds it hard to look at Kristen, Susan, or Finn as they all clink glasses with a loud “Merry Christmas.” The result is that she ends up spilling some of her Buck’s Fizz over the rim of the glass, though thankfully no one seems to notice. Oh God, how is she supposed to get through today?

She’s not really concentrating, so when Hattie sidles up to Mel she jumps. She hadn’t even noticed Finn slipping away to inspect the contents of Freya’s stocking. Hattie is wearing glittery eyeshadow and a headband with reindeer ears that must be Freya’s, along with a very determined expression.

“I have something I want to ask you,” Hattie says without preamble.

“Ominous,” says Mel.

Hattie grins. “Will you be a bridesmaid?”

Mel nearly drops her glass as her stomach performs a pleasant little flip. “Oh my God! Hattie!”

“I know, it’s all really real.”

“So, did you and Dylan…” Mel glances at Dylan who is chatting away to Susan by the blinis. “Did you manage to talk?”

“Yeah.” Hattie blows out a long breath. “He says we’re a team.”

Mel raises her eyebrows. “You mean at ice-skating? Because I heard that too…”

Hattie nudges Mel in the ribs. “After that too. He said we’re a team no matter what—and that won’t change whether we do or don’t have kids.” She wrinkles her nose. “I guess we still have a lot to figure out. And we should probably talk a bit more about it.”

“Might be wise,” Mel says dryly, and earns another prod in the ribs.

“Anyway, I think the wedding might still be on.”

“Well, I’m very glad to hear it.” Although Mel can’t help wondering whether anything will change after Susan delivers her news in the new year. Mel is still clinging to the hope that this will be okay, that the doctors will cure Susan, that she’s going to have many more Christmases to come, even if she might think this one is her last. But, one way or another, it’s still going to be a crisis, isn’t it? And families either pull together during crises—or they fall apart. She hopes it’s the former, for all their sakes.

“So?” Hattie prompts. “Will you be a bridesmaid? Kristen is one too, of course, and my friend from school, Anna. You haven’t met her, but you’ll like her.”

“I…” But something sharp sticks in her throat. She’s supposed to break up with Finn tomorrow—that was the plan. Does that agreement still stand? Is he still expecting it? Does he still want that? Does she? She glances over at Finn, who is playing with some kind of mini Lego set with Freya. No, she thinks. She doesn’t want to end things, doesn’t want to face the future without him. She never wanted that. But even if she manages to have a conversation with him, how is she supposed to talk about the future, knowing what she knows?

“You know, Mel,” Hattie says, her tone conversational, “I’d always want to be friends with you. Even if you and Finn hadn’t got back together, I was going to find a way to ask you, and just make Finn deal with it.”