Philippe, standing back in the open doorway, heard the shared laughter and smiled. Silently, he turned round. Time to leave them to their moment. Friendship like theirs would pull them through.

As he headed back towards reception to tell his son the good news, he thought how sad it was for men that their friendships lacked the depth of feeling and trust he had just witnessed between Steph and Meredith. Football and fishing were all very well, but they couldn’t rescue you from life’s toughest moments.

Then he laughed out loud. He had plenty of friends who would argue that was exactly what football could do.

Of course, all of them were men.

David contemplated the small mountain of perfect-looking French fries Suzi had heaped on his plate next to an enormous T-bone steak and felt slightly defeated. It seemed hardly a moment since she’d provided a full English breakfast. This must have been how poor King Harold had felt, still tired from marching nearly two hundred miles from another battle when suddenly faced with the overwhelming forces of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings.

Suzi, he had discovered, had certain unshakeable beliefs. First was that the way to a man’s heart was through feeding him gigantic meals. Second was that Men Like Steak. And cheese. And red wine. And pudding. Indeed, anything guaranteed to raise your blood pressure sky-high.

David had for the last few years cut most of these things out of his life and almost become a pescatarian, something Suzi assumed must be his star sign when he attempted to explain it to her.

Then there was her attempt to settle him into her home, ignoring the fact that he had insisted he would only be staying two days until the hotels emptied.

Pysching himself up, he managed as much of the steak as he could, accepted a slice of runny Brie so small that she insisted it wouldn’t feed a mouse and retired as soon as he could to the bedroom.

This, he was soon to learn, was a tactical error. No sooner had he got into his pyjamas and switched on The World Tonight – which he listened to largely for the reassuring British voices, ignoring any scary content – than Suzi got there first, wearing a skimpy nightgown, and climbed into bed.

‘Come on, sailor.’ She patted the bed archly. ‘What are you waiting for?’

David felt a sudden temptation to bolt for the door. Maybe tomorrow he’d check once more whether any rooms had become free at the hotel.

Meredith found herself faced with a dilemma.