At last Molly was satisfied with herself, sprayed eau de toilette on to her wrists and glanced at her watch. ‘Hell! It’s nearly half past and you’re not ready. Do hurry up. Gerald hates it if anyone’s late. Especially for the dinner adieu – you know, they have them on ships.’

Fortunately Thea’s toilet took mere minutes.

‘So sorry, Gerald,’ said Molly as they appeared in the lobby, where he was counting heads for the second time. ‘I am trying hard to be more punctual.’ She glanced at Thea, managing to imply it was her fault.

‘Well,’ said Gerald, following her glance, ‘I think we can agree that the effect was worth the wait.’

Thea smiled stiffly back at him, grateful that they would be going home the next day.

Derek wasn’t waiting in the arrivals bit of the airport so Molly rang him on his mobile with hers. ‘Oh. You’re just parking the car? Well, thank goodness for that, I hate waiting around to be collected.’ She punched in another number. ‘Traffic, he says,’ she told Thea as if she didn’t believe his story. ‘I’m just ringing my sister to see if there’s any news.’

Thea smiled at departing Tiger Tourers as they made their way to their separate destinations. In spite of Molly she had really enjoyed Aix-en-Provence and didn’t look forward to returning to winter, a house full of students and a boring part-time job.

Still short of sleep, she tuned out the bustle of the airport and let herself indulge in a little daydreaming, of Provençal sunshine and a certain lunch in a certain place in the company of a certain Irishman.

‘Oh, my God!’ said Molly, ending her call to her sister. ‘You’ll never believe it! Your lodgers have had a party and they’ve left the place in a terrible state apparently. It’s like that advert for Yellow Pages.’

‘Damn! They didn’t say anything about having a party when I rang the other night.’

‘You’d better ring them, find out what’s going on. Poor you, it sounds dreadful. A lot of gatecrashers got in and there’s vomit all up the stairs.’

Thea hadn’t been looking forward to going home anyway; now the prospect seemed utterly dismal.

Molly tried to press her mobile phone into Thea’s hand. ‘Better to find out now than be greeted with a horrible surprise. It’s going to take you ages to clear it up. Apparently you might have to have the whole house redecorated. And, Petal says, the washing machine’s broken down. It’s so awful for you, I’m so sorry. What a thing to go back to.’ She wiggled the telephone helpfully, urging her to use it. ‘I know a firm of professional cleaners you could use. They’d only cost a couple of hundred pounds.’