Of course, he blamed himself for his involvement with Suzi, but at the same time he perfectly understood why it had come about. As it turned out, he and Suzi had neither of them understood what the other wanted or needed, but the situation had a logic to it that Steph could quite easily understand – and maybe even forgive – if she wanted to. If she ever considered anything beyond her own wants and needs.

So that was that.

He found it in himself to wish he hadn’t accepted Nicky’s wedding invitation. But he had, and somehow he was going to find the strength to get through what should be a happy day. If not for him.

Sophie came back to her desk to find her mother staring at the guest list. Jo jumped when Sophie approached and when she turned, Sophie saw that there were tears in her eyes.

‘Oh, Mum.’ Sophie enclosed her in a protective embrace, angry again at how badly her mother had been hurt. ‘I’m so, so sorry they’re on the guest list. I did think about trying to put them off and tell Martin it was a misunderstanding, but I couldn’t think of a convincing way to do it.’

For a few seconds Jo allowed herself the luxury of letting Sophie’s precious love envelop her before the usual maternal guilt reared its head and made her feel she was the one who ought to be in charge. ‘It will be pretty ghastly for us both, having them here.’

‘I know.’ Sophie hugged her even tighter. ‘We’ll get through it together. Maybe I can get Jean-Christophe to poison their Mediterranean lamb!’ she giggled. ‘Or at least give them the runs. That’d put the kybosh on any romantic minibreak!’

This time they laughed together. ‘I do love you, Sophie,’ Jo told her gratefully, and made herself go back to the salutary task of sorting out the French version of Portaloos.

The heatwave meant that they needed to be extremely well disinfected and fragranced. A pong of Portaloo could easily ruin the romantic atmosphere they were going to so much trouble to create.

She rounded the corner to have another look at the appointed site and bumped into Liam, who was staring moodily out over the valley. It was so hot that the river was almost invisible in the heat haze. At this rate Nicky would be fainting into Martin’s arms instead of reciting her well-crafted wedding vows.

‘How long do you reckon this heat will last?’ she asked Liam.

‘The weather here can be quite dramatic,’ he shrugged. ‘Pleasantly warm and calm most of the time but you can get violent clashes between the dry cold winds from the north and warm humid ones from the south.’

‘What happens then?’

‘Short, dramatic storms. Always worth being ready. But I reckon this heatwave’ll pass soon.’