They looked out over the valley and for a split second Meredith couldn’t think what to say. What had happened to her famed social skills? ‘Well, here we are,’ she heard her own voice finally produce, ‘on that awkward first date. At our age, too!’

What the hell was she thinking?

But Philippe’s response was to laugh. ‘Indeed. We could start with that old cliché, “Tell me about yourself.”’

‘Sounds like a seminar. Or a therapy session. I remember a business thing in Singapore where we had this guru type who said “I want to know just one thing about each of you that you wouldn’t dare tell anyone else!”’

‘Bon! What is the one thing you would tell him?’

‘I’m scared.’

Where the hell had that come from?

‘You?’ Philippe raised his eyebrows in surprise. ‘You seem one of the least scared people I have met.’

‘Well, there you are. It’s the château. I’m in uncharted territory. In a normal business I know how to cost every last thing. But this is about fantasies, dreams, happiness. How do you cost those? And I’ve dragged my friends into it, too.’ She looked him in the eye. ‘Your turn now. What would your one thing be?’

‘I’m scared too. But for my son. He is the best thing in my life. But will he find love, the deep fulfilling love that can last a lifetime?’

‘That sounds more like a woman’s question than a man’s,’ Meredith commented wryly.

‘And now we have the gender bias in reverse,’ replied Philippe with a smile.

‘Do you think everyone’s scared?’ Meredith found herself asking. ‘Just of different things?’

Before either could answer, the waiter arrived. ‘Bonsoir, monsieur et madame, vous êtes prêts à commander?’

They had a delicious meal of hot pâté de foie gras with white grapes, followed by capon cooked in different ways, the thigh as a confit and the breast served in roast spiced aubergine, followed by the most delicious chocolate mousse she’d ever eaten. And all accompanied by a red Bergerac wine.

‘What makes you a good chef?’ she suddenly asked him.

Philippe thought for a moment. ‘I’m a bit of a maverick. I hate the alpha male nonsense in the kitchen. My wife – sorry, my ex-wife – would be surprised to hear that, because it’s something I’ve had to learn.’

Meredith registered the words with an almost physical jolt. Of course there had to be an ex-wife, or how could there be a Jean-Christophe? But she’d never heard her mentioned before. It was crazy, but Meredith felt the old thing her grandmother used to talk about – a ghost walking over her grave. How ridiculous! It must be all the rich food.