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I stood up, brushing bits of paper from my hands, looking around the tables. It wasn’t perfect. Nothing matched. Nothing was neat. But every kid had something in front of them. Something they’d made. Something that was theirs.

Jamie appeared beside me again. ‘You all right, Mrs Hope?’

I nodded. ‘Yeah. They’re good kids,’ I said. ‘Just normal, like I was.’

‘They are,’ he replied. ‘Although I doubt you were ever normal.’

I shoved his arm playfully, then turned my attention back to the group of children. I felt myself hesitate, then I added, quieter, ‘They don’t even know what they’re having for Christmas dinner, Jamie. Everyone should know that.’

He followed my gaze across the tables.

‘Aye,’ he said simply. Then placed his hand on my shoulder, rubbing it gently.

‘Right,’ I said, clapping my hands again, a bit brighter this time. ‘Let’s get these decorations back to your mums and dads, eh? You can hang them up in your room, get them ready for Santa coming, yeah?’

That got them moving. Chairs scraping. Little feet running about. Laughter filled the hall; paper stars were held up like trophies. I watched on, feeling content. At least they’d had fun.

*

A while later, Jamie was chatting to the older men of the group, and I was still clearing up the mess from the decorations when Lucy and her kids came over to me. ‘The kids loved that tonight!’ She beamed. ‘I was worried you’d gone home early – you weren’t here yesterday.’

I forced a smile. ‘Yeah, I went to the Christmas markets in Edinburgh with Jamie. Just needed out of the house for a bit,’ I said, glancing over my shoulder. He was laughing with a group of old men, dishing out seconds.

‘Ohh, nice.’ Lucy’s eyes lit up. ‘So that’s a thing now, is it? You and Jamie?’

I snorted. ‘God, no. He’s just there for me, just now. Rupert and I are . . . going through it a bit.’

‘A bit,’ she repeated, giving me a look. My stomach dipped.

‘I saw it, Harri,’ she said, softer now. ‘The other night after I left . . . I went online. Reactivated my Insta and had a serious stalk. I saw everything.’

I swallowed. Hard.

Heat crept up my neck, that awful, familiar kind – the kind that makes you feel like everyone’s looking at you, even when they’re not. I knew Rupert had cheated. I knew that it was his choice. While I worked every day, all day, to make sure he had everything, that we wanted for nothing. But there was still this horrible, pathetic voice in the back of my head, wondering what I’d done to push him there. Like somehow I’d driven him into someone else’s bed.

My eyes stung. I looked away before Lucy could clock how much I was hurting.

‘People are looking for you, you know,’ she said, pulling me back. ‘Proper looking. He said he’s going to the police, Harri, that he’s going to put out some kind of appeal.’

Everything in me went cold.

‘What?’

She rubbed my arm. ‘Just . . . be careful, all right? Take a bit of time if you need it. Have a cry, eat shite food, ignore your phone – it’s all valid. But don’t go throwing your whole life away over a stupid mistake. Trust me on this . . . that life you had is much better than this one.’ She paused, looking around. ‘I watched his video from today. He obviously really misses you.’

I let out a hollow laugh. ‘Misses me, does he? Funny way of showing it. Last I checked, he was in a hotel room with his mistress.’

Lucy winced. ‘I know.’ Before I could say anything else, her two kids came barrelling over and wrapped themselves around her legs.

‘Hey, you two!’ She laughed. ‘What do you say to Harri for helping you tonight?’

‘Thanks, Harri!’ they chimed in together.

That did make me smile – properly, for a second – even if my chest still felt tight from everything Lucy had just dropped on me.

‘You’re very welcome, guys,’ I said, ruffling wee Skye’s hat. Lucy grabbed her jacket. ‘Right, come on, troops.’ She turned to go, then I remembered.

‘Wait!’ I rushed after her. ‘I got you two something at the market yesterday – thought you could hang them up somewhere since you’re going all out with decorations.’ I dug into my pocket and pulled out the baubles, handing them over.