When Sacha got back to her house the grass in the front garden was yellow and brittle, the bricks were pulsing with heat, and there was a paper sign sticky-taped to the front door that said "WELCOME BACK SACHA!!!" She put her key in the lock and even as she did so the door was pulled open from within, and before she knew what was happening Hannah had her enveloped in an embrace. "It's so good to see you again!" Hannah said loudly while Sacha wondered whether or not to put her luggage down.

"It's nice to see you too" she said. "It's only been ten days."

"I've been having the shittest time, it feels like forever."

"Family visit?" Sacha asked.

"With a vengeance" Hannah nodded, finally letting Sacha go. She looked at Sacha gratefully, then hugged her again and kissed her on the cheek. "Here, I got you a Christmas present" she said.

"What?"

"Nothing big."

"Hannah, you don't even celebrate Christmas!"

"But you do."

"Why did you get it?"

"Because you're my housemate."

"Well, shit, I didn't get you anything."

"That's okay, I don't celebrate Christmas." Hannah darted back into the house. Sacha followed her and the heat inside the house was like being smothered in a blanket. "Can't you open a window?" she called out at Hannah.

"They are open!" Hannah called back. "All of them. The weather's been a complete arsehole the last couple of days. Now the house is all warmed up and it's gonna take days to get back to normal."

Sacha went to her room to drop her bags. "I'm gonna make a cup of tea" she called out.

"Funny you should say that" Hannah said, appearing in the doorway. "Happy Christmas." She handed Sacha a parcel wrapped in tissue-paper. "It's tea" she said, before Sacha could open it.

Sacha thought it strange to go to trouble of wrapping the present, only to tell her what it was, and she couldn't help but smile to herself: Hannah must be excited, and it was a little endearing. "Cool" she said. She opened the parcel.

"Oh, shit" she said in amazement as she looked at the tin of a dozen or more types of boutique tea, each individually wrapped. "These must've cost you a fortune!"

"Happy New Year, too" Hannah grinned.