I wanted to put my arms around her. ‘I’ll go home with you,’ I said. ‘I don’t want to hunt either.’

She smiled at me. ‘Good. We’ll take my car. Rupert can drive Nico back.’ She stood up.

‘Don’t we need to wait for them?’

‘The totos will tell them where we’ve gone.’

We left in a squeal of tyres.

‘I’m parched,’ Sylvie said as we neared Naivasha. ‘What do we have to drink?’

I rummaged around and found her some brandy. She took a long drink, and sighed.

‘I just had to get out,’ she said. ‘Do you understand?’

‘Yes.’

‘I felt that way in France, too.’ She took another slug of the brandy and passed the flask back to me. ‘Nico’s brother married the snottiest little bitch – she was always laughing at my accent.’

‘And that’s why you wanted to leave?’

She shook her head. ‘It was just the same every day. Same people, same conversations, same food and wine. Nico loves it, loves the routine. I never settled into it – there’s obviously something wrong with me.’

‘I don’t think so.’

She looked over at me and smiled. ‘You’re getting to be one of my favourite people, Theo.’

She dropped me off at the top of our driveway, where the ornamental firs clustered on either side of the road, blocking the view of the house and the lake.

‘Thanks for looking after me,’ she said as I opened the passenger door.

I suddenly saw her again as a girl disguised as a young bride, and felt my insides tighten, then my mouth was moving before I’d even realised what I was going to say. ‘Rupert doesn’t look after you, you know.’ I stopped just short of saying ‘like your father’.

‘He cares about me.’

‘He’s not a good person. Nico told me about the fire.’

She frowned, and I hoped I hadn’t dropped Nico in it. ‘He promised never to do anything like that again.’ She stared down at her hands on the steering wheel. ‘He’s different when we’re alone. I love him so much, Theo, sometimes I think I’m dying. I guess I might as well die if I can’t be with him.’

She looked up then, and smiled her special smile. I knew I had to change her mind somehow, that my future happiness depended on it. I felt my heartbeat skip and before I could stop myself I was leaning over and kissing her. Her lips were as soft as I’d always imagined, and she tasted sweet, like the brandy. I thought I heard a quick intake of breath. My body responded and I pressed forwards, but she put her hand on my shoulder and pushed me gently away.

‘Goodbye, darling.’