‘Oh, good. I do like my mistress to have my wife’s approval on her wardrobe.’ He caught her hand in mid-punch and pulled her towards him across the table. His kiss was lethal and far more arousing than was acceptable in a crowded pub.

Maddy sank back in her chair. ‘I think you’ve got completely the wrong idea about how the baby table works. Sitting at it is apparently sufficient. Copulating on top of it isn’t necessary.’

‘Spoil sport.’ Drew stuck his tongue out at her, just as the Channel Four team’s cameras whizzed around the bar.

Maddy woke alone. As she’d gone to sleep alone, it wasn’t surprising. But she’d dreamed vividly about Drew and woke with a jolt of despondency to find that he wasn’t beside her. She rolled her face into the pillows, trying to recapture the smell of him.

After they’d woven their unsteady way back from the Cat and Fiddle, accompanied by Suzy, Jason, and Olly and most of the stable lads from Peapods, he’d left her at the cottage door with a decorous kiss on the cheek. It was the best they could manage with that sort of audience.

Maddy stretched drowsily. It was her last day of work for three days. Normal life was suspended in Milton St John during the Derby period. Lazily, she watched the dappled leaf patterns dancing on the sun-washed bedroom walls and realised that it had stopped raining. She also realised that her parents and Luke would be arriving before long, and that Caroline Fitzgerald would be taking up residence at Peapods. Groaning, she staggered out of bed.

She cleaned with almost demonic fervour. She wanted to get back to the cottage and spy on Caroline’s arrival. Midday, Drew had said. She kept checking her watch. The hands seemed to be going backwards. Everyone was unbearably cheerful, the excitement spreading like a particularly virulent virus from yard to yard. She wouldn’t have been surprised to see bunting.

It was just after half past eleven when she crashed the bicycle against the cottage gate. Pink-faced with exertion, her flapping black T-shirt and tatty leggings dust-smeared, she almost expected to see Drew waiting for her. After all, he’d never caught her on a good day yet. In fact it was Kimberley who was standing smiling beside the front door, a huge box in her hands.

‘Mother’s hat.’ She gestured towards the box. ‘As promised.’

‘Lovely.’ Maddy unlocked the door and shouldered her way into the hall. ‘But you are sure you won’t want to wear it yourself?’

‘Quite sure,’ Kimberley beamed, taking the yellowing lid from the box. It smelled of damp and gin. ‘I’d never wear green. It’s like actors saying “Macbeth”, or anyone having peacock feathers in the house. And anyway, I’ve bought my entire outfit in pink.’

Maddy winced. ‘That’s nice. Is it pale or fuchsia?’