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“I don’t mind, I’m easy. Oh, look, huge baby stuff shop,” said Dylan, pointing across the road. “Shall we go and check it out? Pick out a few things?”

“Isn’t it bad luck to buy baby things so early?” Lucy said.

“Maybe,” said Dylan. “But I think we need to get something to celebrate our baby’s first Christmas.”

“It’s not their first Christmas,” Lucy pointed out.

“It’s their first Christmas existing in this vast universe,” said Dylan. “That was quite poetic, actually.”

“Not really,” Lucy retorted. “OK, we can buy the baby one — just one — small thing for Christmas. Which you may choose, as it was your idea.”

“That is surprisingly fair of you,” Dylan said. “I agree to your terms.”

“What are you going to get?”

“I will know when I see it,” he declared.

They stepped inside the shop and both stood open-mouthed looking around them. “There is absolutely no way that a baby can need this much stuff,” Dylan said. “You’ve seen how small babies are, yeah?”

“Agreed,” said Lucy. “How will I fit everything inside my flat if we buy everything they recommend?”

They walked around, gasping as they pointed out some of the prices and some of the more random products for sale.

“They must have more than a hundred different prams here,” Lucy commented.

“Two hundred on their website,” Dylan said, pointing to a large sign offering the website option if you couldn’t find what you were looking for in store.

“This one’s over a thousand pounds!”

“What?” Dylan took hold of the product information leaflet. “It says it’s been proven the safest in Europe for the third year running.”

“It’s over a thousand pounds! I’d rather just carry the baby around than pay that!” said Lucy. “Let’s move to a cheaper part of the shop.”

They went upstairs to the clothes section but decided they should probably wait a couple of weeks until they found out the sex of the baby at the twenty-week scan before buying anything there. Next, they came to the soft toys and had clearly hit the jackpot as far as Dylan was concerned. He seemed to enter some sort of trance where he was picking up one after the other and talking to them. It was all Lucy could do to stop herself from laughing.

Finally, Dylan chose a teddy bear. The most traditional teddy bear she’d ever seen. It looked like it was out of a children’s book. “You’re absolutely sure?” she checked.

“Yes. This is the one,” Dylan confirmed.

“Cool.”

“OK, now on to actual, proper present buying,” Lucy said with a laugh. “Christmas Day is only a week away, you know!”

“Fine!” Dylan fake huffed.

“We can start with getting some art supplies for Poppy. That girl gets through paper and paints like no one’s business.”

They wandered around the town centre, going in any shops they fancied and stopping to warm up in coffee shops. Dylan insisted upon carrying all the bags, of course. They chatted and laughed; it was by far the most fun Lucy had ever had shopping.

It was busy with plenty of people in a hurry, not looking where they were going, and Lucy frequently felt Dylan’s hand on the small of her back guiding her and generally looking after her.

“Shall we head back to the car?” he asked, his arms weighed down with full shopping bags.

“Yes, I’m done with shopping,” Lucy said. “Though we’ve been so relaxed, I bet we’ve missed some presents we needed to get.”

“We’ll sort it out. I’ve never been Christmas shopping with someone before,” Dylan admitted. “I usually just order from Amazon or give money or gift cards. I had a really good time.”

“Me too.” she admitted. “Thank goodness we didn’t come at the weekend when it would have been even busier. Ooh, shall we make the gingerbread house when we get home?” Lucy offered a final olive branch to check they were definitely OK.