Zinnia and George did welcome Lily with literally open arms, taking it in turns to pull her in for the hugs she’d wished for. George was the strong, silent type, both good qualities for Zinnia’s boyfriend, but he opened up enough to say, ‘I’m really glad you’ve shown up because your sister’s moping for you.’

‘I am,’ Zinnia confirmed, making a faux sad face with big eyes and a quivering lip. Then she hugged Lily again, causing Doggo to try and shove in for his share of fuss.

They went into the kitchen to gaze at the half-stripped, half-burnt surroundings, the new range cooker representing progress. Zinnia went into great detail about how the finished result would look while George nodded along, simultaneously checking on the lasagne in the oven and ripping open bags of salad from the fridge, which had survived the fire. Smoke had damaged other parts of the house but those walls had already been painted.

It was an atmosphere so much like the one Lily was used to with her sister, before the existence of her half-brothers intervened, that her heart blossomed. She felt … she felt safe again with Zinnia. It was such a relief that her knees actually wobbled.

A dodgy moment arose when Zinnia caught sight of Lily’s left hand, currently turning brown. ‘Oh, Lileeee,’ she keened, eyes horrified. ‘Just look at that! Poor you. I’m so sorry; you know I’m sorry, don’t you? I absolutely didn’t mean to hurt you like that. I can’t blame you for not wanting to talk to me for a while. You must hate me.’ And she burst into tears.

Lily got emotional too, hugging Zinnia anew. ‘I knew it was an accident but I needed time to get over things. I’m sorry I went silent on you.’ George and Doggo both hovered wearing matching anxious expressions.

Finally, Zinnia blew her nose and recovered herself in time to lay the table. ‘I want to hear all about your Swiss trip. How did you get on with Garrick?’ She said his name with an air of determination, as if she’d made up her mind to accept his place in Lily’s world.

Lily pulled out a chair and sat down with a sigh. ‘Disaster,’ she admitted.

Dipping garlic bread dispiritedly into the lasagne she recounted the calamitous evening and her stupidity in never considering that Tubb might not have told Garrick about their father’s affair. ‘So that’s that,’ she ended bleakly. ‘I’m going to stay at The Three Fishes in the short term unless someone says I can’t. But I’m obviously not welcome in the family.’

Zinnia looked poised to cry again. ‘I’m so sorry it went so crap. Those idiots! They need to get over their own shallow egos and be thankful they have such a wonderful person as a sister.’