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“Where?”

“There!”

“Dylan!” said Lucy, impatiently. “What exactly am I supposed to be looking at?”

“That patch of water, it’s darker than the rest. I’m absolutely certain I saw a sea monster.”

“A sea monster?”

“Yes, definitely. Look carefully.”

“Dylan, what on earth are you going on about? There’s no such thing as sea monsters.”

“Try telling that to whatever’s over there!”

“Dylan . . .”

“Just stop complaining and concentrate really carefully on that patch of water.”

“Fine.” Lucy humoured Dylan by staring out at the area he’d been pointing at. She wasn’t even sure she was looking at exactly the right spot but she was freezing and wasn’t going to ask him to clarify again.

“See,” he whispered from behind her.

Lucy felt herself leaning forwards a little as she focused on the water. Was that something? Something poking out after a wave had passed?

Suddenly she felt her bobble hat being plucked from her head. She spun around, but Dylan was already racing up the beach shouting, “We must provide this hat as a sacrifice to the sea monster!”

“Don’t you dare!” Lucy screamed, her face breaking into an involuntary grin at the absurdity of the situation. She chased after Dylan, who dangled her hat over the shoreline.

She’d almost reached him when a larger wave broke and water soaked Dylan’s shoes. He let out a high-pitched squeal.

“I think only dogs can hear that,” Lucy said, taking the opportunity to grab her hat out of his hand.

“That water’s freezing!” Dylan said.

“I would say that’s just retribution,” commented Lucy, smugly. “Idiot.”

“I made you laugh though,” Dylan pointed out.

“You did. Thank you.”

The mood was lighter as they turned to retrace their steps and began making their way back to Lucy’s flat.

“This reminds me of how my dad would force everyone out for a walk on Boxing Day,” Lucy said. “The weather was always awful and it was only ever him that wanted to go, but somehow we’d all end up out for hours. We’d come back soaking wet and muddy, but I guess kind of glad we’d gone.”

“That sounds like a fun tradition.”

“Looking back, I guess so!” Lucy laughed.

“Is it one you’ll want to carry on with our little plum?”

“Probably not,” Lucy admitted. “What about you? Is there anything in particular you’ll want to do at Christmas with them?”

“I’m not sure,” Dylan replied. “You know, I never really had any Christmas traditions growing up. I think practically each year I was somewhere different, so I haven’t got anything to carry on.”

“Maybe we could make some of our own traditions?” Lucy found herself suggesting. “For the baby,” she quickly added.

“Yeah, that would be good. Christmas is important for children. I want our kid to have good memories of their childhood.”