Others began arriving and with a lot of encouragement from Carola and Lily ate fast in order not to hold up departure. Overnight, poor Emily’s graze beneath her eye had formed a tender-looking pink scab that wept at the edges. Though everyone was sympathetic Emily was forlorn and kept cupping her hand over it as if to hide her embarrassment.

When they convened at the minibus at eight, Emily put in a plea for Doggo to be allowed to be her seat partner. ‘It’ll be more interesting than being in a crate. I’ll cuddle him.’ She stroked the big Dalmatian’s head and he whipped his tail as if to support her application.

‘Sorry. He’s safest in the crate,’ Isaac said kindly, looking relaxed in a sweater and jeans, his hair damp as if he’d just got out of the shower after his run. ‘He likes it in there and feels safe, like a wolf in a cave. And he gets a treat every time he gets in.’

‘Also,’ Charlotte drawled patronisingly, ‘that would leave us without enough seats. Who would you put in the crate?’

Emily shot her sister a look that quite plainly said, ‘You.’

They rolled on into the second leg of the journey. Lily had tried to get by without codeine as she wanted to be awake to pass Isaac the right money for the pay booths on the toll roads, but the jolting of the minibus made her hand ache and prickle so she accepted it was a doomed effort and knocked back a couple of pills before checking her email and messages on her phone then updating Max and Kirstin on their progress. Just left Chalons on the A4 heading towards Strasbourg. All’s well. See you this afternoon!

Beyond the window, winter-bare trees alternated with ploughed red clay soil or lush grassy fields beneath an iron-grey sky. The windswept landscape became gradually more rolling and woodsy as they drove along dual carriageways that seemed to go on forever.

The lads began jokily singing ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ but when that got them catcalls from Charlotte changed to ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’. Eddie’s guitar began the accompaniment so he must have picked his way to the luggage bay to grab it.

As song followed song, Isaac shook his head in admiration. ‘I’ve never heard you singing any of these before. You guys must have an amazing repertoire.’

Lily grinned. ‘These songs aren’t in our repertoire. They’ll be getting the lyrics and chords from websites on their phones.’ The singing acted like a lullaby and next time she woke up they were making a fuel-and-loo stop. She stayed with Isaac to put the diesel on her credit card while Eddie, Alfie and Warwick took Doggo to a nearby patch of grass.