Janice and Ona were glad to see other adult faces and Dugal and Keir instantly demanded to know where Doggo was so Lily put her boots back on to fetch him. He’d be glad to be let out anyway. When she returned, Doggo settled happily to the agreeable task of playing chase round the dining table with Dugal and Keir.

Feeling vaguely depressed because she’d missed yet another call from Isaac and again he hadn’t picked up when she tried to get him back she drifted into Max and Ona’s kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. There, she found Garrick pouring water into the coffee machine. If she stuck to her decision not to confess their shared genes, Lily realised she didn’t know when she’d see him after this. When she’d made her cuppa she sat down at the table.

Garrick took the seat beside her while he waited for the coffee to brew. ‘Have you enjoyed the trip?’

‘So much!’ Lily beamed. Leaving out her disappointment over Isaac dashing back to the UK she launched into a description of everything she loved about being in the mountains and how welcome the Middletones had been made to feel.

Garrick looked pleased. ‘It’s been great for us. We’ll miss you when you’ve gone.’

It seemed completely unexceptional to Lily, even when Garrick bestowed a friendly pat on her shoulder, so she was utterly shocked to hear Eleanor snap from the doorway, ‘Very cosy.’

Garrick got to his feet, face reddening. ‘I’m just waiting for the coffee,’ he said stiffly.

Lily stared at Eleanor in astonishment. ‘What’s up?’ she asked, bewildered.

The question, rather than soothing Eleanor, seemed to irritate her. ‘What’s up,’ she enunciated clearly, ‘is that you seem to enjoy the company of my husband a touch too much for my taste. You were lunching together when I rang him the other day.’

‘What?’ Lily laughed. ‘We were all at lunch together. It wasn’t just Garrick and me.’ But then she looked from Garrick to Eleanor and saw they both looked deadly serious. Irritation swept over her. Was Eleanor really that immature and insecure? ‘My relationship with Garrick couldn’t be more platonic,’ she said tightly.

Eleanor just sneered. ‘That’s what the last one said.’

‘Lily doesn’t need to know about that,’ Garrick muttered, face darkening.

‘Oh,’ said Lily, getting the significance of ‘the last one’. Garrick must have cheated on Eleanor in the past. The thought made her unexpectedly sad. She’d assumed he was happy with Eleanor, like Tubb was with Janice.

Eleanor was glaring at Garrick. ‘Maybe she does need to know. After all, your last little affair led to you having to change your job and us all uprooting and coming out here.’ She sniffed mightily, gazing at Lily. ‘I’ve seen you hug him.’