‘You’ll be so busy, time will fly by. Nigel and Molly wouldn’t be insisting you go to France if they didn’t think you could do it. And let’s face it, nothing much ever happens here until spring. The hotels aren’t exactly busy – oh, except for Easter of course, which is late this year anyway. Being surrounded by all those hunky Frenchmen will be a bonus,’ Jane added with an innocent look on her face, which induced a resigned laugh from Belinda.

‘At least you won’t be there trying to matchmake,’ Belinda said. She and Jane had met at a book club three years ago when Belinda was struggling to cope after her unexpected divorce. Jane had been on a mission ever since to find Belinda a replacement husband, determined her new friend wouldn’t sink into a lonely middle age.

Several friends of Jane’s husband, Brett, had duly been introduced to Belinda at supper parties, but sadly not one of them had come up to Belinda’s new, exacting, requirements. Certainly none had given her even a tiny frisson of excitement when she met them. Jane had declared only last week that Belinda was impossible to please. She wasn’t really, she was just determined never to be hurt in the way Peter had hurt her ever again.

‘We’re talking northern Brittany here, not the Côte d’Azur, which, as we all know, is where all the hunky Frenchmen hang out. If Nigel had bought a campsite in Cannes or Antibes, I’d have gone like a shot. All that sunshine and je ne sais quoi, mmm.’ Belinda glanced at Jane. ‘Guess that makes me somewhat shallow?’

‘Just a bit. I don’t understand why you’re so upset at the thought of spending time in France. You’ve had holidays over there and loved it. You adore Paris and you’ve had several holidays in Nice. Paris and the Riviera aren’t the sum total of France, you know. Besides it’s not forever. You’ll be back before you know it.’ Jane looked at Belinda. ‘Anyway, you haven’t come up with a real reason yet for not going.’

‘I do know there’s more to France than the major tourist destinations, but Brittany is not somewhere I’ve ever longed to visit.’ Belinda shrugged. ‘I don’t like being out of my comfort zone these days. And, honestly, what do I know about campsites? I’ve never stayed in one. I like five-star hotels,’ was the only excuse she could think of without lying to her friend.