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“About time,” Dad says. “I’ve always said you work too hard.”

“I’m going to start looking soon,” I add. “After that freelancer pulled out the night before the big wedding, I don’t want to be caught out again, so I’d prefer to get someone started well before Paris. That way I’ll know they’re up to the job.”

Dad reaches down to pat Penny, who’s in her usual spot under his chair. “And we’ll look after you while Briony is away in Paris, of course,” he tells her.

Innes looks round the table. “Right. Is that everyone done? Good. That means it’s time for presents.”

We leave the plates where they are and head through to the living room.

“You’ll want to check your bank balance, Innes,” Dad says. “Your mum and I did a wee transfer earlier.” He swings the tablet round from the side of Innes’s chair and into his eyeline.

Innes tells it to open his banking app. His eyebrows shoot up. “Whoa. That’s a lot of money.”

“We thought you could put it towards this podcast of yours,” Mum says.

I pick up the first of our presents and take it over to Innes, then start on the wrapping paper. Ryan rubs the back of his neck, looking a bit sheepish.

“Ah. We maybe had a similar idea to your mum and dad,” he says. “I know nothing about this stuff, so I asked somebody. They reckoned this was a decent place to start.”

I pull away the last of the paper. Inside is a microphone, along with a boom arm.

Innes recognises it instantly. “That’s the one all the big podcasters use. Doesn’t it cost, like, four hundred pounds? Even more with the boom arm.”

My eyes go round. “It cost that much? Ryan! You never said!”

He shrugs. No explanation, no fuss.

“This is brilliant,” Innes says. “Thank you. Seriously. And now I can spend Mum and Dad’s money on all the other podcast stuff.”

I give Ryan a look as I start on the second present. That was too much.

“This one’s just a wee extra thing,” he says quickly, to me as much as to Innes. “For fun.”

I tear the paper off. It’s an NMFC video game.

“No way!” Innes says. “Are you in it?”

“Aye,” Ryan says casually, like it’s no big deal.

I turn to stare at him. “You’re in a video game? People can, like, play as you? Why have you never mentioned this to me?”

“Didnae think you’d be fussed about it. Besides, you get to hang out wi’ the real thing. Surely that’s better?”

“I’m definitely playing that later,” Innes says. “But first, family card games.”

Innes tells his tablet to open the app we use, and Dad positions the sip-and-puff mouthpiece in front of his mouth. The rest of us get our phones out, and I help Ryan to download the app from the store. I’m so used to virtual card games that I can’t remember the last time I played with actual cards.

As everyone gets settled, Innes turns his head to Ryan. “Fair warning. Card games in the Sinclair house get very competitive. Think you can handle it?”

Ryan grins. “Aye, I’ll manage.”

I think it may be the first time all evening he’s looked completely at ease.

Of course it is. He loves a bit of competition.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

BRIONY