‘Bonjour, Del,’ he says, and kisses me on each cheek. I feel the bristles of his chin and wonder if it stays there a fraction of a second longer than I’m expecting and if he feels it too. Or did I imagine that? Of course I did. I shut my eyes and shake it off.

‘How is Henri?’ I ask, holding my breath. We had agreed that Fabien would be the one to telephone the hospital as he’d understand more of what was said than Rhi or I.

His face breaks into a smile. ‘He’s doing okay. How do you say? Holding his own?’ His smile broadens and my heart squeezes.

I nod and smile. ‘Good.’

‘I am going to see him. Rhi has offered to come with me.’ He looks at me and I wonder if he’s waiting for some sort of reaction, to see how I feel about them going together.

‘Of course!’ I say quickly, waving the tea towel that was tucked into my apron.

‘You wouldn’t rather see him yourself?’ he asks.

My heart is saying, ‘Yes! I want to see Henri, and I want to go with you!’ But my mouth says, ‘No, of course you must go with Rhi! I have so much to do here.’ I point back towards the kitchen, thinking Rhi could probably do it, but I want to do it for Henri, to say thank you for everything he did for me. It would be so much more straightforward if I could have fallen in love with Henri than – I’m finally admitting it to myself – with a man I have told I’m not interested because I was too scared to follow my heart.

I have to find a way to stop myself falling deeply in love with Fabien. And this is a good start.

‘Go with Rhi. Have fun!’ And then, ‘Or as much fun as you can have at a hospital.’ And then, ‘Give Henri my love, lots of love. Tell him everything here is fine. And,’ I swallow, ‘I’m looking forward to seeing him when he comes home.’

Fabien nods slowly, as if imprinting the message on his memory. ‘I will,’ he says. ‘In the meantime, I’m going to ask JB to look after the brocante until I return.’

‘Oh, that’s an excellent idea!’ I say warmly. Why is this man just so blooming lovely?