He squeezed her thigh under the table. ‘You look nice,’ he replied, ignoring her. ‘I’ve never seen you in a dress.’

‘Seriously?’ Adam shook his head as he removed his hand and started cutting into a Yorkshire pudding. Jessica realised that they saw each other almost exclusively after work when she still had her suit on. When they went out, she usually wore jeans – not just for him but because she always did.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Rowlands opposite her speaking far too loudly. ‘What the hell is that?’ He was pointing with his fork towards something on his plate. Everyone turned to look and Chloe stuck her fingers in and picked it up. For a few moments, Jessica thought she had done something wrong, before realising the other woman was holding a single pea. ‘It was hidden under the turkey,’ Rowlands protested.

‘Sorry,’ Caroline said. ‘I tried to make sure there weren’t any on yours. Jess said you didn’t want any.’

‘Ugh, it touched other things,’ Rowlands added, a disgusted look on his face.

‘It’s just a pea,’ Chloe said, putting it in her mouth. ‘It won’t hurt you.’

‘How old are you?’ Jessica asked mockingly. Rowlands nervously poked the rest of his food with the fork, checking underneath for any other hidden vegetables.

Jessica was pleased everyone seemed to enjoy the meal. Afterwards, Hugo insisted on doing the washing-up, while Adam and Dave helped out, even though the latter was reluctant. As the three women moved the table out of the way and started to rearrange the furniture, Caroline stopped to hug her friend. ‘That was really good, well done.’

‘Cheers.’

‘I’m sorry for being a burden these past few weeks.’

‘It’s all right, don’t worry, you’re not. I’ve just got lots going on.’

As Jessica and Caroline carried the folded-down table into the corner, Chloe spoke. ‘Can I ask you something?’

‘Me?’ Jessica asked.

The woman was standing in the centre of the room curling a strand of hair around her finger and letting it go again. ‘Yeah. It’s just . . . we’ve met a couple of times now and I know you’re mates with Dave but you’re always so, erm, friendly . . . I was just wondering if you’ve ever, erm . . . you know? Sorry . . .’

Chloe was clearly nervous about asking but it seemed to be something she’d had on her mind for a while. Jessica looked at Caroline then back at Chloe before bursting out laughing. It took her a little while before she could compose herself enough to answer. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh but, oh God . . .’ Jessica went across and hugged the other woman. ‘Have you got a brother?’ she asked as she released her.

‘One older, one younger.’

‘How do you feel about the younger one?’

‘I don’t know . . . he’s just my brother.’

‘Exactly. I don’t have any brothers or sisters but Dave’s just there for me to annoy. Believe me, nothing like that has ever happened between us.’

Chloe seemed relieved. ‘Oh right, it’s just that you’re always fighting. I thought it was like at school where the boys only torment the girls they secretly fancy.’

Jessica didn’t know the best way to respond, eventually opting for: ‘Believe me when I say this in the nicest possible way, he’s all yours.’

Chloe broke into a smile. ‘Sorry . . . I just wanted to ask . . .’

When the men had finished cleaning up, the six of them sat around the living room chatting about their own memories of Christmases gone by. Jessica was sitting on Adam’s lap with an arm around his neck, happy with any conversation that didn’t involve work. Hugo was amusing them with a series of card tricks and had finally taken off the top hat.

‘Hugo,’ Jessica shouted, as the wine she’d had with the meal began to take hold. ‘How long have you known Dave?’

Hugo was sitting cross-legged on the floor, shuffling a deck of cards one-handed by spinning and tossing them into the air. ‘I dunno, since uni. Maybe nine or ten years?’

‘Do you have any dirt?’

Hugo wasn’t looking at her but was instead in his own world, playing with the cards. She had seen him in this mood frequently, where he would be fully engaged in a conversation but to anyone not immediately involved, it would seem as if he was oblivious to what was going on around him.

‘What do you mean?’ he asked.

‘Steady,’ Rowlands warned as Chloe, who was sitting next to him on the sofa, giggled.

‘Yeah, come on, dish the dirt,’ Chloe said with a hiccup.

‘Shall I tell them about the business cards, Dave?’ Hugo said, putting the cards down and picking up his top hat again.

The response was instant. ‘No.’

‘Oh, go on,’ Jessica said. ‘You’ve got to now.’ Chloe joined in with the encouragement while Dave was equally adamant.

‘Don’t you dare,’ he warned.

‘Let’s put it to a vote,’ Jessica said. ‘All in favour of hearing about the business cards, put your hands up.’ She and Chloe thrust their arms in the air instantly while she opened her eyes widely and stared at Adam. ‘If you don’t put one of your hands up, you’ll be needing it to perform other duties this weekend that I certainly won’t be involved with.’ Adam made his apologies, smiling, then half-raised his arm. Caroline was beginning to fall asleep as she rested her head on the corner of the sofa. ‘Caz?’ Jessica said to no response.

‘Three-all,’ Dave declared with a smug tone. ‘That’s not a majority.’

‘Come on, Hugo, get that hand up,’ Jessica urged.

It seemed as if he hadn’t heard her as he spun the hat on one finger before, finally, he stopped and lifted his arm into the air, turning to Rowlands with a grin. ‘Sorry, mate.’

Jessica slurred a cheer and knew she’d had too much to drink.

‘When we were back at uni,’ Hugo continued, ‘we had this careers conference thing where some guy came in to talk to us about the future. It was all about how best we could present ourselves to employers and so on.’

‘Stop—’ Rowlands interrupted before Chloe dug him in the ribs.

Hugo didn’t stop. ‘Afterwards Dave went down to the train station. There was this booth there where you could put your details in and it would print off business cards for you. When he was done, Dave brought this pack of about five hundred back and showed us all. It had his name at the top with his phone number and one word at the bottom.’ He paused for dramatic effect before revealing the moniker Rowlands had given himself. ‘It just said one thing. David Rowlands: Trendsetter.’

As Hugo said the word, there was an explosion of laughter from both Jessica and Chloe. Jessica was already feeling tipsy and the laughing wasn’t helping the room from stopping spinning. ‘Trendsetter?’ she exclaimed loudly. ‘What were you thinking?’

Rowlands looked indignantly at her. ‘I don’t know, it was just a word that stuck in my head. I thought employers would be impressed.’

‘Yeah, I’m sure the local supermarket manager would have been crying out for a “trendsetter” to stack shelves for him. What happened to the cards?’

‘I don’t know. I think I binned them all.’

Chloe was still laughing but at least making an effort to stifle it, which was more than Jessica had done.

‘All right, all right,’ Dave added, glaring at his girlfriend. ‘Calm down, it’s not that funny.’ He turned to Hugo. ‘What about you, anyway? You only took up magic to get a girlfriend.’

Hugo shrugged, continuing to play with his hat. Jessica was appreciating his humour more and more by the second. ‘What about the speed dating?’ Hugo asked.

‘Oh, sod right off,’ Rowlands said. ‘Don’t tell them that.’

Chloe composed herself enough to cross the room and sit next to Hugo. ‘Go on, you can tell us.’

Dave leant back on the sofa, crossing his arms. ‘Did you plan all this?’ he asked Jessica accusingly.

‘If I’d thought of this, do you think I would have waited so long?’ Jessica replied. ‘I’d have had Hugo round ages ago dishing the dirt.’