Isaac dropped back. ‘Lily, according to the floor plan there’s a whole section of outdoor stuff. Text me when you know details of where we’re meeting for lunch.’ Checking no one was looking their way, he dropped a kiss on her hair and headed off, leaving Lily to carry on with the teenager wrangling.

At least when they reached E11-07 it was to find everything ready. Kirstin and Garrick were waiting, an electrical outlet had been reserved for the PA and all they had to do was organise themselves. ‘It’s too hot for hats and scarves, we’ll just wear the overshirts,’ Lily decided, shaking hers out. They were over-oversized without outdoor clothes underneath but she was sure no one would mind. Los arrived as they were about to begin so Kirstin became very animated and took lots of pictures of him with the Middletones, then added Garrick to the mix, then Felix, who’d just finished a meeting with a woman in a navy suit, moving a #BritishCountryFoods flag closer and swinging a Union Jack artfully into shot. Lily, deciding she couldn’t wear her exhibition designer hat and her Middletones hat simultaneously, didn’t protest.

Some of the hurrying foot traffic slowed to watch the photoshoot. Felix encouraged lingering by taking round a bowl of chocolates decorated with Union Jack ribbons. Los and Garrick stepped aside and Carola moved to the front to count them in to ‘White Christmas’ and soon a little crowd had gathered. Lily felt so buoyed by excitement as song followed song that she didn’t even worry about the high notes in ‘Walking in the Air’ and just let her voice soar up to the industrial rafters of the great hall while Kirstin took yet more photos for social media. On the last notes of ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ a couple of people asked to have their photos taken with the Middletones and Los watched with an expression of approval that had Kirstin beaming.

Having arranged to meet the others in half an hour, Lily hung back to return the stand to its former configuration and talk to Kirstin about hashtags while Los disappeared and Stephen and Felix began new meetings at the stand. Then Garrick closed the conversation he was having with a woman in a neat red dress and held out his arm to Lily in an old-fashioned gesture. ‘May I take you up to lunch now?’

Her heart gave an extra beat as she laid her hand on his sleeve and said shyly, ‘That would be lovely.’

As they made their way through the crowds, Lily holding her injured hand to her chest to prevent people from bashing it, Garrick kept up a commentary. ‘Los is very happy. It would have been easy for him to look at this project and say there were no direct rewards for BCF but he listened to what we wanted to do and gave us the go-ahead.’