Page 8 of Make You Mine This Christmas

‘Sally.’

‘Sally.’

‘And who is Sally?’

‘Sally is the person who owns this house and is throwing the party?’ he says slowly, like this is a fact Haf should very clearly know.

‘Oh.’

‘You’ve no idea who I’m talking about.’

‘Not really, no. I’m afraid you’ve caught me out. I’m not only a gatecrasher, but I’m a second-tier gatecrasher. Maybe third. I’ve lost control of the maths.’

‘As in, a less good one?’

‘No, like, I was invited by someone else who was invited by someone who wasactuallyinvited, I think.’

‘Like six degrees of separation but for party invitations?’

‘Something like that. Anyway yes, I’m afraid I do not know Sally, but she is my new favourite person for providing all these treats.’

Luckily, he smiles. ‘Well, she’s a postdoc in the psychology department. Sleep science, in case that narrows it down.’

‘Not even remotely.’

He laughs heartily.

‘Oh God, is she your Mrs?’

‘My... Mrs? No, she not. Sally’s just a friend. But also, I don’t think I’d ever call her that, even if she was.’

‘Oh, he’s a feminist, girlies!’ Haf laughs, and he joins in. His laughter is warm and deep, coming right from the centre of his chest.

‘To answer your question, I was up here for work, and Sally invited me, as she knew I was in town. I’m supposedly here to catch up, but I’ve not seen her in about half an hour.’

‘It’s kind of wild in there, isn’t it?’ Haf says as a roaring cheer sounds from the kitchen. She raises her can to them and drinks half of it in one go. ‘Are you down in London normally?’

‘How did you guess?’ he asks, leaning back in the garden chair.

‘You’ve got a London vibe about you, haven’t you?.’

‘Perhaps,’ he laughs. ‘Yes, I live in London. And yourself? Are you working at the university too?’

‘God no, though I do live here, yeah,’ Haf says, nibbling on a crispy gnocchi bite. ‘I work for a charity in town. Wildlife conservation stuff, but I do all the comms, aka all the writing about the interesting stuff other people do.’

‘As in save the badgers and all that?’

‘Yeah, we’ve done a few badgers. Moths, ground-nesting birds, the occasional small mammal. Recently it’s been a lot about fisheries and bees. It’s truly all happening.’

‘Sounds interesting.’

‘I mean... yeah. Maybe.’ That’s definitely how she thought it would be. ‘It’s worthy, but I wish it were a bit more hands-on. I want to actuallydosomething. What about you? Can you beat the conversational highs of fisheries management?’

As she turns back, she catches him grimace.

‘That bad, huh?’

‘I’m afraid it’s considerably worse.’