‘Do I get a Christmas kiss?’ he asked, speaking lightly to take the sting out of the refusal he expected.

‘Of course,’ she said.

Moving quickly, she reached up and kissed him on the cheek. He had a brief sensation of her sweetness, the faint tang of the perfume he’d bought her, the warmth of her breath against his face. Then she was gone before he could catch her.

At the end of the day the last cracker had been cracked, the last silly joke read out, the last paper hat reduced to a crumpled wreck. Jimmy opted for an early night. Mitzi, already asleep, was carried to bed, and Bobby went without protest.

‘I’m going up now,’ Corinne said to Alex, who was drying a cup in the kitchen.

‘I’ll stay down for a little,’ he said. ‘There’s a late film I want to see.’

‘Goodnight, then.’

‘Goodnight.’

He kissed her cheek and she put her arms gently around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder. He held her close, swaying back and forth a little in a gentle rhythm.

‘It’s been a lovely day,’ she whispered.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Thank you for everything, Corinne. Thank you for making it possible, and not driving me away.’

‘I could never want to do that,’ she said, raising her head and looking into his face.

It was once more the face she loved, not distorted by anger or masked against her as it had been in the worst days of their failing marriage. For a moment she saw again the vulnerability that had always been there beneath the arrogance, and which had touched her heart.

It touched her now and she turned away quickly.

‘What is it?’ he asked.

‘Nothing.’

He brushed his fingertips across her eyelashes and found them wet.

‘Sometimes I feel like doing that,’ he said. A tremor went through him. ‘I miss you so much.’

‘I miss you too. The love doesn’t just switch off.’

‘Even though you’re trying to make it?’ he asked.