‘Oh!’ Helena tried to imagine the view outside her old bedroom window including yurts.

‘And apparently several of the trees are really old now so he wants to take them down to make room for the yurts. Natasha seemed a bit embarrassed about it and asked if it would affect my bed and breakfast business.’

‘What did you say?’

‘She was being served then so I didn’t say anything. But I don’t think my normal clients would fancy sleeping in a yurt.’ Gilly paused. ‘I don’t think I can complain, can I? Yurts aren’t permanent structures. I don’t suppose they need planning permission.’

Helena resolved to find out. Jago would know.

‘So what’s the next pudding?’ she said.

‘Would you mind chopping nuts for brownies?’

‘No, but you could make another recipe – one that doesn’t involve nuts? Less work?’

‘I think it’s better to make the recipe I know best,’ said Gilly.

Then Helena remembered – her mother used to make those brownies to send to Martin at university. He loved them. She concentrated on her chopping for a while and then suggested they put on some music. There was so much unsaid between them, it would be good to fill the silence.

After lunch, they went to look at the marquee.

‘It looks amazing!’ said Helena. ‘So big! We could have a wedding here easily, surely.’

Gilly shook her head. ‘No, I promise you, this only takes fifty. You’d need something bigger unless you leave off most of your relations and half your friends.’

‘Couldn’t you fit a bigger one in here?’ asked Helena.

‘Not really,’ said Gilly.

Helena sighed. ‘Well, we don’t need to worry about my wedding just yet.’

‘No,’ Gilly agreed. ‘But this marquee definitely needs flowers. A few big arrangements, I think, and then tomorrow I’ll put posies on the tables. Let’s get cutting.’

As they clipped and snipped in the garden, getting enough material to fill the big stone crocks Gilly wanted to stand in the empty spaces, Gilly said, ‘Do you remember when me and other parents got together to turn the school hall into a summery bower for a play?’

‘Oh yes! A cut-down version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – I was Titania because I had the longest hair.’

‘You looked lovely!’

‘And so did the hall.’

‘It did involve hacking down whole branches of leaves and every flower in the garden – in every garden in the village practically.’ Gilly smiled, obviously thinking back to her days as a young mother with fondness. ‘Of course we had the orchard then so I had extra trees I could use, but it still wasn’t enough, so a group of us mums went into the churchyard and started raiding that! We were terrified someone would come along and tell us off. But it looked so pretty!’

‘There are photos somewhere,’ said Helena. ‘I remember.’