Paul begins to eat rapidly. ‘I can’t remember when I last saw her like this, she’s really excited.’

Izzy had been silent in the car on the way home but her eyes had looked different, hopeful somehow, brighter as though a light had been switched on inside. Melissa picks up her knife and fork and starts to cut her beef into very small pieces, pushing them under the lettuce. ‘Tell me about your project.’

‘It’s not mine yet. It’s a shareholder decision.’ He shrugs. ‘It could take a while. Everyone was there plus the other architects, of course, the competition.’

‘Everyone?’

‘Senior partners, their wives. The odd girlfriend.’ He holds the wine in his mouth before swallowing, then he smiles. ‘They loved my design, especially the windows. When it’s built, the atrium will dominate the Seine …’

She stops listening. He’d have been conspicuous in Paris, tall, fair-haired, a little fleshy. Handsome. The kind of looks that hold women in thrall, that can catch at her heart even now. He might have caught someone’s eye. Someone young, he prefers younger women. She pushes another piece of beef under the lettuce. She’s being stupid. He was there to be judged; he would have been on his best behaviour, there wouldn’t have been time.

‘… take Izzy to France with me on the next visit,’ he finishes with a fond little smile.

Melissa puts her fork down. She’d looked forward to showing Paris to Izzy herself for the very first time. She’d planned it out: they’d go the Eiffel Tower first then the Louvre; the next day there would be time to explore Montmartre and, after that, maybe clothes shopping from little boutiques.

‘What a good idea,’ she makes herself reply. ‘Izzy will love that.’

He comes out of his daughter’s bedroom an hour later, smiling to himself. He halts when he sees her hovering outside on the landing. ‘She’s shown me what she did today. She’s tired now. Best leave her be, my love.’

She hesitates, disappointed. She had wanted to see the work, put her cheek against her daughter’s, kiss her goodnight. She daren’t insist.

‘I’ll take the day off tomorrow.’ He takes her arm very gently; his breath in her ear makes her shiver. ‘We might go to the sea.’