‘Hi, honey, I’m home!’ she called out as she opened the front door, sharing the private joke both she and David often called out as they got in. Silence. He must have gone out and left me to do it all, she thought irritably, somehow forgetting that she was the one who’d just been out for hours with her friend.

‘Come on, let’s call Jo while the house is quiet,’ she said.

They sat in the empty sitting room and she dialled Jo’s number. ‘I hope she’s not at work,’ she remarked as the phone rang out and no one picked it up. Then on about the tenth ring, just as Steph was about to put down the phone, Jo’s voice came on the line.

‘Hello. Joanna Walker speaking.’

‘Jo!’ they both chorused gleefully. ‘It’s Steph! And Meredith!’

Jo sounded as if she almost had to sit down. ‘Meredith! Are you in France, then?’

‘Staying at Steph’s. It’s a long story. You’ll have to come and we’ll tell you.’

Steph grabbed the phone. ‘Yes, Jo, please come. Meredith’s here for two whole weeks! You’ve got to come. God knows when she’ll be over again! We miss you! It’s time we Meads Girls were together again!’

They heard Jo speaking to someone in the background, no doubt explaining who was generating so much excitement down the line. ‘I’m with my lovely next-door neighbour, Liz,’ Jo explained. ‘She’s been saving my life, as a matter of fact.’

‘Oh, Jo.’ Steph instantly guessed why. ‘Are things pretty horrible, then?’

‘Fairly crap, as a matter of fact,’ Jo confessed, her voice sounding ragged at the edges despite every attempt to sound normal. No point beating about the bush with Steph and Meredith. They’d been almost as close as sisters before life got in the way. ‘My horrible husband Mark is about to get married again.’

‘Oh, Jo, the bastard!’

‘Too true! I was tempted to call you, Steph, and offer myself as an extra pair of hands at your B&B. I know how busy you always are, and there’s nothing like a bit of bedmaking and a lot of white wine to help you forget your troubles.’

‘Oh, Jo, you don’t need to do any bedmaking,’ Steph reassured. ‘You’d be a treasured guest. Look, you have to come over while Meredith’s here! It’d be amazing! All three of us together again!’

Hearing Steph’s voice, the thought seemed more tempting than ever to Jo. And Meredith was there too! Meredith, who already thought men an inferior species and would waste no time in saying so. Jo could almost hear her funny, astringent tones now.