‘I’m afraid so, sweetheart,’ said Zach.
‘Can I name him?’ asked Jessie, her jaw tight. Joe shrugged, but Zach was shaking his head. ‘I’m calling you Dave,’ she told the scruffy little dog, who looked up into her eyes like he’d found the love of his life.
‘Dave?’ questioned Lottie, handing round more mulled wines.
‘It’s the name of her favourite minion,’ explained Emily. ‘It’s a cartoon character,’ she said to Uncle Bernard, who was looking puzzled. Lottie smiled inwardly. It said a lot about Emily that she knew this about Jessie. Although Zach had been keeping Emily to himself, it seemed they must have been spending quite a bit of time together, as Lottie had already noted that Jessie seemed very comfortable in Emily’s company.
Lottie poured grape juice for Jessie and another on the quiet for Emily, just in case, and they all stood around the Christmas tree chatting and drinking. The Christmas cards flashed into Lottie’s mind and she went to get them. She steeled herself and entered Nana’s room on her own, keeping her mind on her task. As she picked up the cards, she noticed that Zach had left the bottom drawer open on the dressing table. She went to close it as she passed and something inside caught her eye. She bent down and picked up the car ornament Zach had been looking for earlier. How had he missed that? Popping it in her pocket, Lottie switched off the light and left.
Zach was coming out of the blue room and put a finger to his lips. ‘I’ve put Jessie back to bed.’
‘Without Dave?’ said Lottie with a smile.
Zach looked momentarily confused and then recovered.‘Joe managed to convince her that the dog would be better staying with him tonight and he’ll bring him back in the morning.’
‘Christmas Day?’ Lottie couldn’t hide the alarm in her voice.
Zach shrugged. ‘Clearly he has nothing better planned.’
Great, thought Lottie.You don’t see someone for nine years and then they’re everywhere.
They walked downstairs together. ‘Here you go,’ said Lottie, handing the car ornament to Zach.
‘What do I want … oh yeah, great. Thanks,’ he said, putting it in his trouser pocket. It wasn’t the joyful response of someone who had been searching high and low for something. Lottie’s suspicions of what Zach had been up to in the drawing room earlier increased.
‘I thought it was probably time to hand these out,’ she said, waving the cards.
As they approached the drawing room, they met Joe in the hallway. He was leaving with the dog under his arm. ‘Me and Dave are off now,’ he said.
‘You don’t have to go,’ said Zach, looking at Lottie to back him up.
Joe looked conciliatory. ‘I think we’ve caused enough chaos for one night.’
‘Did you want to stay for lunch tomorrow?’ asked Zach.
Joe looked at Lottie. ‘I guess that’s up to the chef.’
She could hardly rescind Zach’s invitation. When she thought about it she’d rather know in advance if she had another one to feed, and she’d feel better knowing one way or the other if Joe was going to be there all day or not. ‘It makes sense to eat here if you’ve got to walk back up with Dave,’ she said.
She could see he was thinking about it. ‘Thanks. I’d love to.’
‘Great,’ said Zach, slapping him manfully on the arm. ‘See you tomorrow.’ He headed for the drawing room.
‘Night, Dave,’ said Lottie, still amused by Jessie’s name choice. She gave the dog some fuss.
Joe brushed his fingers through his hair and looked awkward. ‘Look, you know we—’
‘Not the time, Joe,’ said Lottie. ‘Night.’ And without a backwards look, she followed her brother.
Lottie handed the cards to Zach, who gave her a long-suffering look as he saw the buck pass in his direction. She busied herself refilling people’s glasses. The mulled wine had gone down a treat and there appeared to be no immediate ill effects from it having briefly been a mouse Jacuzzi.
‘Can I have your attention for a minute?’ announced Zach. Everyone stopped talking and looked at him. ‘Lottie and I found some Christmas cards that Nana wrote before she … left us. It looks like she knew she didn’t have long left and she’s explained that in the cards.’ He handed them around.
‘She added a few words of wisdom to mine and Zach’s and we’re kind of assuming she’s done the same in all of yours.’ Lottie scanned the faces. They didn’t seem quite so keen to rip them open now.
‘You can open them in private, if you want to,’ said Zach, giving Lottie a look.
Lottie sat down on the arm of the sofa next to her mother and hoped very much that she was planning to open hers now. Lottie sipped her mulled wine, eyeing her family over the rim of her mug. She noticed that UncleDaniel and Aunt Nicola had separate cards, which intrigued her. Rhys took his, stuffed it in his back pocket and carried on scrolling through his phone. Emily was watching too as, like Scott, she didn’t have one to open.
