‘I’ll set the picnic lunch up on the table,’ Em said in relief, remembering that Izzie’s moods were particularly volatile when she was hungry. Maybe they could all calm down now, put the drama behind them and eat some sandwiches, which, hopefully, hadn’t become too cardboard-like since she’d made them earlier that morning.

‘I still want Mummy,’ Seren pouted, apparently not in any hurry to relinquish her spot in the limelight. Had this been her own daughter, there would have been an end to the saga now, Em thought privately: she would have been brisk and firm; enough was enough, they would just move along. George was obviously a lot nicer and more patient a parent than she was, though, because he wearily acquiesced to Seren’s demands and began setting up Skype.

Oh dear! Is my baby safe there with such hoodlums? Em imagined Charlotte asking George in concern. She hoped George wouldn’t let slip the tale about the underage drinking and crap shoplifting, just to pile on the bad impression. Bloody hell!

As George waited for the call to connect, Em ducked away before she could see Charlotte’s completely gorgeous, luscious face on the screen – not least because she was wearing her denim cut-offs and an ancient striped FatFace T-shirt that had gone comfortably soft and baggy. My mummy is prettier than you, she remembered Seren saying. Yeah, all right. No need to rub it in.

But – ‘She’s not answering, poppet,’ George said after a few moments. ‘She must be in a meeting or something.’

Seren sighed, her face still wet with tears. Seeing her so dispirited, clutching her bedraggled fox figure, Em felt a pang of sympathy for her. It couldn’t be easy, being on holiday with much older children. Of course Seren wanted her dad to herself. Of course she missed her mum.

‘Come on, lovey,’ she said kindly, putting the sandwiches onto a plate. ‘You’ll be all right. We can give your fox a blast with the hairdryer later, dry him out. Or you could find a nice warm sunny spot for him. Do you want to help me with the lunch things now?’

Seren merely prodded at a rather grey, unlovely tuna-fish sandwich. ‘Yuck. This is squidgy,’ she said, at which point Em felt her patience and sympathy start to evaporate again.