10
The Lighthouse Keeper
The one saving grace about drinking in a nearly empty pub was that there were few people for her mother to embarrass her in front of. Valerie, delightfully going through the backline of sherries and ports, insisted on putting all the Christmas songs on the ancient jukebox standing in one corner, even though they had nothing post-1990. The dog, clearly familiar with some of the tunes, let out a series of short barks on each beat of Shakin’ Stevens’ Merry Christmas Everyone then whined right through Wham’s Last Christmas as though George Michael had been a personal friend.
The landlord, a jovial balding man with cherry red cheeks who had introduced himself as Jeremy “Jed” Penrose, grinned as he set down two glasses containing a clear liquid topped with sparkly col
