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“Mmm,” said his wife, who increasingly looked bored.

Recipe: Gingerbread Snowflake

Heat 100g of butter with 100g of muscovado sugar and 3 tablespoons of golden syrup in a pan until melted together.

Mix together ½ teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, 1 tablespoon of ground ginger, 225g of plain flour and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a bowl.

Pour in the butter and syrup mix and stir together until combined. Use your hands to form into a dough.

Add up to a tablespoon of milk, if needed.

Roll the dough out to a thickness of ½ cm and chill in the fridge for an hour.

Then, heat the oven to 170˚C and line a baking sheet with grease proof paper.

Remove the dough from the fridge and cut out snowflake shapes using a cutter.

Spread the shapes out on the baking sheet and bake for 10–12 minutes.

Leave to completely cool on the baking sheet.

For decorative icing, mix 50g of icing sugar with 1–2 tablespoons of water. You can then put this icing into a piping bag and decorate the biscuits once they are cool.

Chapter Thirty

LOTTIE

Lottie was perched on a stool in the kitchen, chatting to Anya as she made preparations for dinner.

“I thought Hamid was in charge this evening,” said Lottie.

“He is,” said Anya. “I’m just helping him get a head start.”

“It’ll be nice to get together with Sunitra and the children this evening,” said Lottie.

“And Hannah?” Anya raised an eyebrow.

“Well, she’s here alone, and given the circumstances…” Lottie trailed off.

“That you have a ginormous crush on her and you snogged her last night, those circumstances?” needled Anya.

Lottie sighed. “I’m not sure what the deal is, to be honest,” she admitted.

“Say more,” said Anya.

“Well,” said Lottie, “I suppose it’s more that I have no idea what her deal is. She was married to a guy until quite recently. And she seemed a bit startled when she realised I was gay. I hadn’t realised she didn’t know.” Lottie fiddled with her earring.

“Startled as in she wanted to jump your bones?” Anya asked.

“It wasn’t clear,” said Lottie.

“Well it seems to be now.” Anya checked a list that was pinned to the gantry above her head.

“Part of me very much hopes so,” said Lottie.

“And the other part?” Prompted Anya.

“The other part knows it’s a ridiculous idea. Do you know how far it is from here to London, where she lives?” Lottie asked.