As no one was hiding when she arrived and the function room was full of people, she realised she was too late. She went straight to the kitchen to find someone in charge.

The cake had been put on the trolley used for wedding cakes; it was being treated with the respect Gilly felt it deserved. It really was a very good cake. And once she had suspended a model glider over the landscape she was entirely satisfied.

‘That is an epic cake,’ said the venue manager. ‘The detail on it is amazing. We’ve been admiring it all day. If you fancied becoming a professional we would be happy to recommend you to clients.’

‘I think I’m happier with an amateur status, thank you,’ said Gilly. But she was really thrilled at his reaction.

‘There you are!’ said Daphne, bustling up in a vision of crushed silk in a bright olive colour that exactly matched the huge glass beads round her neck. ‘What happened?’

‘I am so sorry, Daphne. Some people turned up on the wrong day and I couldn’t turn them away.’ She was about to add that they were quite elderly but then realised they were probably the same age as Daphne.

‘Oh dear. Poor you. How awkward. And of course you can never turn anyone away. But you have made the most magnificent cake I have ever seen! I can’t decide what my favourite bit is. I think it’s the tiny swans swimming on the river.’ Daphne looked at the cake again. ‘And you’ve added a glider! Much more sophisticated than making one out of cake. I don’t know what I was thinking of when I suggested that.’

‘I did lots of those sorts of cake for my children when they were little but felt you couldn’t recreate the lightness of gliding, the flying sensation, if the wings were made with Victoria sponge.’

Daphne cackled with laughter. ‘Excellent! You sound like an artist! Oh, you’re wearing odd earrings. Is that a thing or is it a mistake?’

‘Definitely a thing,’ said Gilly, her hands flying to her ears to check what she was wearing in them. ‘It’s my artistic rebel streak.’

She wondered if the earrings were different enough from each other to look as if she’d done it on purpose. While she wasn’t opposed to people wearing odd earrings, it had to look on purpose and not just an accident. Hers were definitely an accident. Still, most people wouldn’t notice, she was sure.

‘Right,’ said Daphne, ‘we’ll do the cake. Some of the people here need to rush off.’

As they followed the cake, being pushed on its trolley by the hotel manager, Gilly asked, ‘So how did you find out who to invite?’