Page 127 of Make You Mine This Christmas

‘Not now, Kit.’

‘I know it’s not what you both wanted, but maybe you both should listen to him when he says it’s not what he wants. It’shislife.’

‘Kit, I don’t want to hear it right now.’

‘Well, you should. God knows this family needs to get better at being truthful with each other.’

Everyone seems to have lost their appetite, so Kit and Haf help Esther gather up the things from the table. Kit takes a platter in each hand and disappears to the kitchen.

‘I’m sorry, Esther,’ Haf says, hoping this apology covers a multitude of sins.

‘See if you can talk some sense into him, will you? That is, provided it wasn’t you who pushed him to this decision,’ she snaps.

As much as she doesn’t want to take it to heart, it hurts. She wants to stand up for him like Kit did, but anything she says is going to make this whole situation worse.

She gathers the plates still half-covered in food into her arms and follows Kit into the kitchen, where she stands filling the dishwasher.

‘I can’t believe he said it,’ Haf whispers, scraping her plate into the food-waste caddy.

Stella and Luna sit on the kitchen rug, patiently awaiting any lunch scraps.Someone deserves to be happy in this house, she thinks, taking a bacon-wrapped mini sausage and throwing half to each dog. They gleefully snaffle it down and wag their tails in the hope of more.

‘Me neither,’ Kit replies, keeping her voice low. ‘I’m glad he did, though.’

Their earlier conversation somehow feels less important now, and it feels like a weight of tension lifts between them. A temporary truce, perhaps. Kit encouraging Christopher warms Haf’s heart a little. It’s still bruised, but things feel relaxed again, at least for now.

‘Christ, I’m glad they never asked me if I wanted to go work for them. I’d be driving back to London in a flash.’ Kit laughs quietly.

‘Should I go check on him?’

Kit shakes her head. ‘Give him a bit of time. When he was a kid, he always needed some time alone just to, like, work through stuff in his head before he can talk about it. He knows you’re proud of him.’

As she finishes her sentence, the voices in the dining room rise to a crescendo.

‘Sounds like everyone needs to calm down.’

‘Are you going in?’

‘No,’ scoffs Kit. ‘I tried, but I think I’m just making it worse. He has to stand up to them. ‘Come on, let’s go watch some Christmas movies and hope they can drown that out. And you should keep out the way for now.’

‘Why?’

‘You don’t think that line was all Esther will say to you, given the chance? They offered him the job because they think you two are about to settle down and pop out two point four kids.’

‘Eurgh.’

‘Precisely.’

None of the other Calloways join them, and so Kit and Haf sink into the couch, turning on a familiar Christmas film. Only Stella and Luna join them in the living room, curled up betweenthem. Haf slightly regrets giving them those sausages when both of them start intermittently farting.

‘How is it so spicy?’ she whines, covering her mouth with her hand.

Even though the movie is one of her favourites, she can’t hold her attention. Her mind keeps wandering to Christopher, wherever he is, to Kit at the other end of the couch and back, in an endless cycle of worry.

‘Speaking of my brother,’ says Kit, breaking her train of thought.

‘I didn’t say anything?’ says Haf.

‘You were thinking very loudly. Areyougoing to make a decision?’