Thea was relieved to hear this. While she knew perfectly well that she couldn’t ‘screw around’, the fact that Petal was equally shocked at the idea meant that perhaps Petal couldn’t either. Thea knew that Molly thought she should keep an eye on Petal’s morals, a task Thea felt completely unequal to. ‘Well anyway,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t stand another evening of early music in a freezing cold church.’

‘Tell him you don’t want to go! You don’t have to finish with a bloke because you don’t share the same taste in music. Just bring him round to what you like!’

While Thea was certain that Petal could convert the most dedicated classical music scholar to ‘techno’, or ‘drum’n’bass’, she didn’t feel she shared Petal’s skills in manipulation. Molly, on the other hand, might even be able to teach Petal a thing or two about getting her own way.

Molly’s husband Derek, well-trained and with the prospect of a week without Molly organising his life, had agreed to drive the two women to Gatwick. Molly took an elegant suitcase on wheels and a fitted vanity case as hand luggage. Thea took a battered holdall, borrowed from Jerry, one of her lodgers, and a large, flowery cotton handbag into which she could fit a huge amount. Molly would have made a list, and packed an outfit for every day and every evening, and numerous pairs of shoes. Thea had stuffed her bag with everything she owned that was navy-blue, so there was a hope of it blending in, if not exactly matching, and a pair of slightly less tatty shoes for evening than the trainers she was now wearing.

Derek and Molly arrived at Thea’s house at eight o’clock in the morning. Molly was in full make-up and looked marvellous. She regarded Thea with her lips pursed. ‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Trainers.’

‘You said I’d need comfortable shoes,’ Thea reminded her.

‘I know, but I meant – oh, well, never mind. Have you got a light mac and an umbrella?’

‘I’ve got a cagoule but no umbrella,’ said Thea firmly. ‘I don’t get on with them.’ She hadn’t got an El11 either, or personal travel insurance, but she knew if she told Molly this she’d have a fit.

‘Well, it’s up to you. So, where’s your case?’

‘This is my case.’

Molly looked horrified. ‘I wouldn’t be able to go away for a night with only a bag that size.’

Thea shrugged, hoping she hadn’t forgotten anything really vital, like her one pair of tidy trousers.

‘Oh, well. You do know we eat out at restaurants every night?’

‘I’ll be fine.’ Thea closed the front door behind her, wondering if agreeing to go on holiday with Molly hadn’t been a dreadful mistake. Molly was already making her feel harrassed.