“They could look after the dogs.” She regretted saying it the moment that she opened her mouth. She knew as well as Dan that the last time the girls had shown any interest in the dogs was when the Porter family, en masse, had driven to the Battersea Dog Home to collect them and Nina had given Cruise his name. “And they both have a lot of work to do, especially Millie. It would be so much better for them to be up in Scotland where there are obviously no distractions. They could just get on with it.”

“I don’t know, Jackie.”

She could sense his resolve falter. “They really have missed both you and Josh, you know.” She thought that a little friendly laugh wouldn’t go amiss at that precise moment. “Not your cooking, I have to say.”

“Jackie, you have to understand that we’re miles away from the nearest McDonald’s.”

“Scotland’s famous for its fish-and-chip shops, isn’t it?”

Jackie bit at the side of a fingernail when she heard him laugh.

“That’s true. Maybe I could wean them slowly onto my cooking.”

“It really would be an ideal environment for them to catch up on their work, Dan.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

“So could they come?”

“It would be a hell of a squash.”

“They wouldn’t mind that.”

“They’d have to bring sleeping bags.”

“They’re used to kipping on the floor. You know as well as I do how many sleep-overs they go to.”

Dan was silent, and Jackie sensed it as being the moment of decision.

“Oh, all right, then, but you’ll have to clear it with Millie and Nina first. I don’t want them coming up here and just moping around the place.”

“Of course I will!” Jackie replied, stifling the urge to jump to her feet and let out a whoop of triumph. “I’ll build Scotland up as the happening place.”

Dan chuckled. “For goodness’ sakes, don’t do that.”

“Leave it to me. I’ll say all the right things. Now, how do they get up there?”

“Probably best putting them on the overnight train from Euston to Fort William. When are you thinking of sending them up?”

Jackie turned her chair around and glanced at her diary, realizing immediately that she had no idea when Stephen was planning to go to Milan. “Just hang on a moment.” She caught Stephen’s eye and beckoned to him frantically. He raced over to her office.

“How did you get on?” he asked as he entered, his voice reverberating around her room.

She mouthed at him to shut up and gesticulated towards the mouthpiece of her telephone before clamping her hand over it.

“Who was that?” Dan asked.

Jackie took her hand away. “Just somebody coming into my office to find out how we got on in Paris.”

“Ah, right. So when are they coming up?”