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Kelly, sporting a freshly charity shop-bought Iron Maiden t-shirt that looked like it had been made in the 1980s and left at the bottom of a wardrobe ever since, gave a slow shake of her head. ‘What a total dish,’ she said. ‘Do you think he’s single?’

Charlotte tried to enjoy their planned Saturday afternoon shopping trip, but while she was keen to spend her time in the knick-knack shops picking up little bits and bobs to use in her class, Kelly wanted to browse the avant-garde fashion boutiques in search of the boots and chains she preferred to wear outside of work. Usually they would take it in turns, but with Christmas coming up, there was a little urgency in the air. In the end, they compromised, deciding to break for coffee.

‘Starbucks or Costa?’ Kelly asked.

‘What about something a little less “brandified”?’

‘What, like some grandma corner shop café?’

Charlotte grinned. ‘Yes!’

‘We could walk down to the Oak Leaf in Sycamore Park, but we’d have to brave the snow.’ Kelly peered out of the shop window. ‘Look, it’s coming down again. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much snow in Brentwell. It’s starting to look like Lapland. All we need is a herd of reindeer roaming the streets.’

‘Isn’t it great?’ Charlotte said. ‘Hopefully Father Christmas will do a proper flyby.’

‘You’re not going to sit up half the night waiting for him, are you?’

Charlotte winked. ‘Same as every year. Glass of wine in the back garden. Although … it won’t be the same without Grandma.’

‘Look,’ Kelly said, feigning frustration. ‘If I really, really have to—provided I’m not on call like I was last year to deal with all the booze injuries to idiots having too much Christmas Eve sherry—I’ll force myself to stay up with you.’

‘Really?’

‘I want wine and mince pies.’

Charlotte gave her a glove bump. ‘Deal.’

‘And you need to put some sort of heater out there.’

‘I have a blanket.’

‘All right. It’s a friend date. It’ll be after the Christmas festival so it’ll be a nice way to wind down. I don’t share your optimism that we’ll see the big guy, though.’

‘I’ve seen him once. I’m sure I’ll see him again one day.’

Kelly sighed. ‘Oh, Charlotte.’

‘Look, I know you don’t believe me. No one does. But I saw him. I saw him as plain as I can see you now. All right, he was a little further away, and it was dark, but … it was him.’

‘Are we going to get that coffee or not? If not, there’s an awesome goth fashion boutique that just opened up in Tinker’s Arcade.’

‘Ah … I might let you fly solo for that. I’d probably get barred at the door.’

‘That’s fine. You can watch for cops. Hey, what about the wake place?’

‘The…? Oh.’

They had been wandering up the street in the snow, and now found themselves standing almost outside Aunt Marjorie’s Tearoom. There were a couple of tables set up outside, heaters beneath them, parasols over the top to hold off the steadily falling snow.

‘I don’t know….’

‘If it’s got bad memories for you, that’s fine. I mean, it can’t be worse than being at your house. But I suppose, there was the milk incident—’

Charlotte shrugged. ‘It came off with a little water and a scrub.’

‘You don’t look too excited about it.’

‘It’s not that. It’s just … that man who spilled the milk, Jacob … I kind of saw him the other day.’