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‘A natural tactic, one that a guy like him probably deserves. Alternatively, you could just tell him that you’re no longer interested.’

‘You mean, like dump him?’

‘You had two dates. Sure, they involved Paris, a helicopter, a Rolls Royce, and a sleigh, pretty much an entire relationship’s worth of special treatment, but that’s beside the point. You were hardly an item. Just cut him off. Ideally before he sees you with Jacob.’

‘You think that would be a problem?’

Kelly sighed. ‘Oh, Charlotte. If you were putting problems into categories, with the explosion of the sun as a Category A, letting James find out you’re dating the stepbrother he thinks tried to ruin his career would probably be up there in a B or C.’

‘Nearly as bad as the sun exploding?’

‘Just about. An A minus if you’re really being pedantic about it. You need to deal with it, Charlotte.’

Despite Kelly’s warnings, it wasn’t easy to just deal with the problem of James. She finally plucked up the courage to reply to one of his messages, giving what she hoped was an understandable excuse.

I’m so sorry. Work has been really busy. I have to prepare my class for the Christmas festival, and we only have two weeks left.

His reply was curt. Oh, the festival. I really can’t wait.

He added a laughing emoji at the end. Charlotte, who had never really got into the whole messaging world like a lot of people her age had, wasn’t sure how to read it. It almost came across as sinister. She wanted to show it to Jacob on Wednesday night, but she was afraid at how he might react to knowing she still had contact with his stepbrother. Instead, she decided to just forget about it.

On Wednesday, she met Jacob at the children’s home, where they spent the evening helping the children make costumes to wear to the Christmas festival. She took Harry along, much to the children’s delight. There had been a couple of days of clear skies during which a lot of the snow had melted, but there was still enough for them to go outside and help the children make a snowman, Harry running in circles around it, chasing every flurry of snow.

They went home before the children sat down for dinner, and Jacob suggested they go over to his aunt’s tearoom. It was closed for the evening, of course, but Jacob had a key, and his aunt had set out several new dishes she had asked him to test. There were pies, salads, sweet potato chips and a lemon cream meringue topped with cinnamon.

Jacob produced a small bottle of wine from a fridge. ‘This isn’t on the menu,’ he said with a smile, but since we’re closed….’

He turned on one light, then lit a candle and put it in the middle of the table closest to the window. The flickering light, and the single ceiling light, not to mention the snowy street outside and the Christmas lights … it was so romantic Charlotte could have screamed. Jacob put on some light piano jazz music, then produced some dog food for Harry, and put it in a bowl beside the table.

Then they sat down to eat. The food, prepared by Jacob’s aunt and reheated in a combination oven, was unlike anything Charlotte had ever tasted. Grandma had been a good cook, but her food had been hearty and traditional, lots of potatoes, carrots, stewing beef and pastry, her seasonings rarely straying far from salt, pepper, butter and occasionally a little ale. Aunt Marjorie’s cuisine had the taste of a trained chef, all subtle flavours and contrasts of textures. At times as she ate, it seemed both of them forgot to talk, focused solely on the food. Harry, desperate for a piece of the action, waited patiently at Jacob’s feet, his own bowl licked clean.

I’m not sure how I’m going to get through the front door,’ Charlotte said, as she finished off the dessert. ‘It’s a good job it’s a long walk home.’

Jacob looked up at her. His brow had beaded with sweat, and while the most likely culprit was eating too much, he had a look in his eyes that suggested he wanted to ask her something important.

‘Do you want … do you … want … to dance?’

Charlotte almost imploded. She closed her eyes, waiting for a moment until she could say something smooth and casual without sounding either too keen or like a moron.

‘Sure,’ she said, even then standing up a little too quickly. She could imagine what Kelly would say were her friend a fly on the wall.

For goodness’s sake stop acting so keen. At least make him try a little harder.

Jacob held out a hand. His fingers were trembling. She took his hand, letting him lead her into the middle of the room. She didn’t know the song, only that it was light and breezy, piano jazz, a little saxophone in the background. He held her hands, gently twisting her around. It was clear he had no idea what he was doing from the way his feet kept shuffling, but that was okay; neither did she. They made a gradual circle around the centre of the room, more than once bumping against the other tables.

‘Charlotte….’

He lowered his hands gently to her waist. Hers pressed against the back of his neck. She stared into his eyes—

The sudden roar of a car engine broke the spell. She glanced towards the window. Outside, a big Mercedes had pulled up, the engine revving. Jacob’s hands held her tighter, protectively, but she felt him tense as he followed her gaze.

The car sat there for a few seconds, the engine revving as though it were about to begin a race, loud enough to block out the music.

Neither of them needed to say it because they knew who owned the car, but when it suddenly lurched off with a roar of acceleration, the same word tumbled from both of their open mouths: ‘James.’