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“Yeah, that’s right.” He glanced away. “We’re meeting at the Tavern.”

The scene of the crime. Maya narrowed her eyes. Fine. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t been there multiple times since that night, she just hadn’t been there at the same time as Sam. But it was water under the bridge, ancient history, all forgotten. “Done. I’ll meet you at eight.”

“Great.” Sam scraped his chair back. “See you later. I’ll make sure I’m not late to meet you at the car tonight.” He walked off.

Like he’s doing me a bloody favor just by not being late. Maya let out a “humph” and lifted her coffee. Though she supposed he was busy, organizing charity events and the like. But that thought just made her feel guilty for being annoyed with him.

“You’ve not eaten much, sweetheart,” Yvonne said.

Maya pushed her food around the plate. “Sorry. I had a big lunch.” She pondered the salad she’d eaten earlier, with the intention that’d she’d be gorging herself on her mum’s steak pie later on. But now her appetite had vanished due to her nerves about meeting Sam. Bloody Sam and his steak-pie-sabotaging ways.

Omar clicked off the TV. “I spoke to Hana earlier. She told me that you were working at the ski center.” He gave Maya a pointed look.

Maya’s pulse spiked, her breath catching in her throat. She had asked her sister not to say anything. But Hana clearly couldn’t resist getting one over on her by snitching to their dad. Her sister didn’t even need to curry favor in his eyes, because she was already shiny and perfect.

“This had better not hamper your search for a real job,” Omar said, eyeing her.

Her gut squeezed painfully. The way that he said real job stung. He’d made it clear in his lectures over the years that ski instructing was not a proper career in his eyes. Maya had persuaded him to let her do the instructing course at age seventeen, and then, once there was a vacancy, get a part-time job at the resort under Ben. But Omar had been firm that it wasn’t something he’d consider backing beyond that, and he expected her to go to university and qualify for a vocational, professional career. His only approved subjects were medicine, law, or finance related.

Only once, she’d cautiously floated the idea to her dad of delaying university and working a gap year at the resort. It had not gone down well, and was a mistake she never repeated. After that she’d never been able to voice to anybody else how much she loved instructing and that her innermost desire was to stay on at the resort and not go to uni at all. A lifetime of having her wishes stomped on by her father had taught her to keep quiet.

So she’d made the decision to abandon it as a choice, in order to pursue accountancy. The career she’d only chosen to please her father. Though she hadn’t been able to bring herself to relinquish instructing altogether, which was why she’d worked at Glencoe on the side.

Yvonne leaned on the table, bringing herself closer to Omar. “I told her to do it. As a favor to Ben, and Sam. They needed someone at short notice, and it’s only temporary until something comes up elsewhere.” She gave him a hard stare. “It’s not as if loads of people are hiring anyway. Not just before Christmas. She can search properly in the New Year.”

Omar was silent for a moment. “A favor to Sam?”

Maya swallowed, her mouth dry. Shit. “It’s for Ben, really.”

Her dad was studying her. “I don’t want us to experience the same issues that Sam caused in the past.”

She shook her head quickly, avoiding her mum’s quizzical gaze.

“I want you to be settled, Maya,” Omar continued. “Just look at your sister.”

Ugh, here we go.

“Hana is a partner in the firm, the youngest they’ve ever had,” Omar continued. “She and Rosie are engaged to be married and have a beautiful house together.”

Maya didn’t know why he had to say the same things over and over. She knew all of that stuff about Hana; she was her sister for goodness’ sake. And having it shoved down her throat at regular intervals wasn’t something she needed—now or ever.

“You need more ambition,” Omar said, not showing any signs of stopping soon. “Working for such a small company was a mistake, no wonder they went under. You always have this misguided sense of altruism. Like you have to help the underdog.” He shook his head. “Backing the underdog gets you nowhere in life. A big firm is where it’s at. Like Hana’s.”

Maya plastered a smile onto her face, trying to control her heart rate. “Don’t panic, they’ll perfect the human-cloning process any day now, and then you’ll be able to get a carbon copy of Hana to replace me with.” She stood to clear her plate, her hands trembling. “I’ll live in the attic like Mr. Rochester’s wife. All I’ll need is a bit of Mum’s steak pie now and again, and I’ll be set.” She scraped her plate into the bin and put it in the dishwasher, heading for the kitchen door.

“Sweetheart,” Yvonne called after her.

Maya continued walking. “I’ve got to go and meet . . . someone for an interview. I won’t be long.”

She pulled on her jacket and boots at the front door. Too right I won’t be long. This evening is shitty enough without Sam making it even more of a shit fest.

Closing the door behind her, she set off. Sam had insisted on meeting her at the crossroads to walk to the Tavern together, something about not wanting her to walk alone in the dark. At what point did he become concerned with my welfare? She seemed to recall him expressing some reservation regarding her driving in the icy conditions when they’d been at Kirsty’s as well, but she pushed that thought aside.

Glancing at the houses lining the street, she opted to distract herself with all of the amazing lights. She loved them, and the more over the top the better. That’s what Christmas was all about. Why on earth did that big house on the corner win the competition every year? It was beautiful, but so boring. It didn’t capture the fun of Christmas. Especially the childhood aspect of it. Give her inflatable Santas and lights from every color of the rainbow any day.

Rounding the corner, she spotted Sam waiting for her at the crossroads, and her tiny bubble of Christmas joy burst into green, Grinch-like confetti.

She closed the gap between them and gave him a nod as he fell into step beside her.