‘And how does this concern us? Do you want us to take a stand?’

‘I would like to hold the festival on that field.’ He pointed to a field beyond the edge of the last row of vines. ‘It’s very convenient for parking for traders, they can then use the main car park just out of sight.’

Meredith looked thoughtful. ‘We might take a stand, as it happens. Good publicity for our weddings business. Maybe Sophie could dress up as a bride.’

‘Not you?’ he countered.

‘Too old,’ she stated baldly.

‘How ridiculous.’

‘It would be.’

‘Are you ruling it out, then, ever being a bride?’

‘This is a very stupid conversation,’ she stated crossly.

‘That’s why it’s so enjoyable. And people sometimes say very revealing things in ridiculous conversations. Such as, would you care to have dinner with me one of these days? Not in my own restaurant, I promise.’

Even though Meredith wanted to accept, an instinct stopped her. Somehow he would be winning in the way men always won. ‘I think we should get back to the details of this festival,’ she said sternly. ‘How long will it last? I assume there will be a fee for the château, and most important, will the land be cleaned up afterwards?’

‘The mayor’s office is taking responsibility, but I can at least tell you the fee.’ She was quite impressed with the figure he mentioned, given the small scale of the festival.

‘I see no major problems, then,’ she said. ‘What will happen to the restaurant while you are organizing it all?’

‘My son has had a clever idea. He is going to run the restaurant from a van, as they do at music festivals.’

‘That sounds fun!’ Sophie had just arrived to tell Meredith she was needed inside. ‘I love the food at festivals!’

Philippe smiled at her and bent down to fondle Nelly’s ears, while she looked up at him adoringly. ‘I am sorry, Mademoiselle Nelly,’ Philippe apologized to the animal, ‘to have insulted you earlier. You are the most charming creature I have ever met.’

‘Don’t listen to a word of it, Nelly,’ Meredith advised tartly. ‘That’s what they all say at the beginning!’

‘But Mademoiselle Meredith . . .’ Was he deliberately stressing that mademoiselle? ‘Some of us say it because it is what we actually mean.’

Steph pulled herself up, conscious not just of a stiffness in her knee, which she recognized as an inevitable part of getting older, but a pain that seemed to engulf her whole body and mind. David had been her rock for thirty years. Not having children had felt like a tragedy at first, but as the years unfolded it had seemed somehow to draw them even closer.

And now he had gone. Sent away by her.