That moment came back to him now and he swallowed hard. ‘Yeah. Stage fright. I always have a few nerves and you’ve no business being on stage if you don’t, but it’s not normally an issue. Today was … a bigger thing than I’d anticipated. I was suddenly looking out over all those people, some of them I’d known for years. Being back here after all this time is strange and it hit me.’

‘I thought that’s what might have happened. It’s only natural.’ She smirked. ‘I liked your moment. It shows the great Gabe Mathias is only human like the rest of us.’

‘Oh, I’m human all right,’ he said bitterly. ‘But you already knew that.’

‘We all are.’ She squeezed his good hand. ‘It’s OK. You are back and no one threw a brick at you. You survived. So cheer up. You’ve still got your fingers.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘Eeek. I should be in the Institute to check on the announcer. See you later this afternoon for the next session?’

Gabe groaned. ‘Argh. I’d forgotten there’s another one to do this afternoon.’

‘There’s tomorrow too, if your hand hasn’t recovered.’

‘You won’t have time to help with all of them.’

She beamed. ‘What? After my taste of fame, you try to stop me.’

‘Now my lovers, get yourselves over to the festival marquee where the lovely Gabe Mathias will be signing copies of his new book, Gabe’s Mediterranean Odyssey.’ Evie’s voice purred over the tannoy. ‘You don’t want to miss the chance to be up close and personal with the Greek god of cooking, do you? The gorgeous Gabe has hurt his hand and deserves a great big hug. And if I wasn’t stuck on duty at Festival HQ, I’d give him one myself.’

Sam groaned. ‘Oh no. Now she’s gone too far!’

Sam scurried off to the Institute while Gabe was escorted to the marquee by one of the stewards. He’d have to pray that Ryan had made himself scarce until he could call him and tell him to keep out of the way.

It was growing dark when Gabe got home, though the festival was still going on. He’d left after watching one of the bands with Sam, Zennor and Ben and he could still hear the music from the marquee at Clifftop House.