‘And OK, I did try to find you a nice man, but to be honest, when you first came down here Ben was still in the last stages of a very tricky divorce …’

‘And I’m not his type?’

‘Not really. When his wife was there their house made mine feel I had to rush out and get in an interior designer.’

Thea laughed, her good humour restored. Molly did have the same feelings as everyone else, she just reacted to them differently. Most people would feel they had to rush out and buy a pot of emulsion, or make some new cushions.

‘And after the first girlfriend he had tried to mother Toby, which really annoyed Ben, he’s never gone out with anyone who’s remotely maternal. Or over a size eight,’ she added.

Well, that’s me put in my place, size fourteen if I’m a day and desperately maternal, even if I haven’t got any children of my own. Aloud she said, ‘Well, enough idle chatter. Do you mind coming in to see to Lara and the pups on the days I’m away all day?’

‘No, that’s fine. My cleaning lady’s going to do it. She loves dogs and is very obliging, and she can do extra hours for me.’

Ben picked her up at ten o’clock two days later. It was pouring with rain. ‘I’ve got a list of what degree shows are on. There’s one in Winchester you ought to visit. I’ve got a couple of clients to see, so I’ll drop you off at the art school and you can have a look around.’

Thea’s resolution to be nothing but businesslike failed before they’d even said hello. ‘But Ben, I don’t know anything about art. You were going to help me choose. You said!’

‘I seem to have said a lot of things I don’t mean lately.’

Thea didn’t have time to work this one out. ‘You definitely said you’d help me choose work. You can’t let me down. This is the gallery at stake here.’

Ben concentrated on getting his car across three lanes of traffic. ‘I don’t want to let you down, but when it comes down to it, it has to be your taste.’

Thea realised, not for the first time, what an enormous undertaking she had made. ‘But I might choose all the wrong people; we might never sell a thing. Oh, God! Why did I have this stupid art gallery idea in the first place?’

‘Something to do with Rory?’ He glanced across at her, somehow implying that Rory had charmed her into it. ‘But now you have had the idea you’ve got to persevere with it a bit longer, if only to keep Molly happy.’