As this was an interim meeting, attendance was sparse. Apart from the committee members and Clancy, only eighteen villagers were present. Aaron’s parents were there, he was unsurprised to see, as Yvonne liked to involve herself with village matters in every way save actually standing for the committee herself.

And, seated behind his parents, sat Genevieve and her mum and dad, Viv and Warren. He registered the fact with the familiar inner sigh about the awkwardness of your ex living in the same tiny village as yourself, and your families inevitably knowing one another.

Still, when the meeting ended and everyone began getting ready to leave, he made sure he greeted Viv and Warren, who responded briefly before turning to say goodnight to Genevieve with big hugs.

It gave Aaron the opportunity to head in Clancy’s direction. As his parents moved towards him at the same time, the four of them converged. He was glad to see Yvonne making an effort with Clancy, complimenting her on the village website. Though it was a work-in-progress, Clancy had apparently projected sample pages onto Megan’s lounge wall for everyone to see. Clancy seemed more relaxed than he’d seen her around his parents and she wore a natural smile as they talked.

Genevieve came up to congratulate Clancy too, and he saw Clancy’s green eyes cloud, though she murmured polite thanks. Then Genevieve hugged each of his parents, which he suspected was an effort to discomfit Clancy. Look how friendly I am with Aaron’s parents. We have real history. Yvonne flicked him an uneasy glance, though Fergus, who was so laid back he was almost horizontal sometimes, simply appeared to take the gesture at face value and began to ask Genevieve about the work at her cottage.

Aaron had actually put an arm out to see if he could casually usher Clancy away from the group when he heard Genevieve say, ‘So what do you think about Lee and Alice? I suppose you’d have preferred her to be separated from Hugo first, but it would be amazing if he finally got his happy-ever-after with her, wouldn’t it?’ She beamed around the group as if expecting answering smiles.

Yvonne’s eyebrows shot up, her lips parting in shock. Even Fergus looked stunned.

Genevieve’s smile faltered and her hand flew to her mouth. ‘I hope I haven’t spoken out of turn,’ she said, looking mortified. ‘I thought that as Clancy knew … Wow, I’m so sorry!’ Then she turned and scurried away. As she stepped through the French doors she glanced back, then vanished in the wake of everyone else leaving the meeting.

Beside him, he heard Clancy sigh. When he turned back to her she was pink with embarrassment. She met his gaze levelly and then glanced at his parents. ‘I’m sorry. Genevieve has given you the wrong impression. I did see Alice and Lee talking together in the lane a couple of evenings ago and Alice must have told that to Genevieve. I don’t know what they were saying and they weren’t in a clinch or anything. Alice later told me they’d only been talking. I didn’t ask any more because being stuck in the middle of everything again was exactly what I didn’t want.’