Chloe has put fresh bread and new cheese on the table, along with those weird prickly cucumbers, ugly tomatoes, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a bunch of basil and some Padrón peppers. Christ, I could murder a burger.

I suddenly remember one Saturday when Amy came round unexpectedly with the kids and I had nothing in the house that a child would possibly want to eat. Ruby-May had grabbed one of the red peppers Maddison had bought to make into a chilli that evening. She held it in both hands, took a big sniff and said, ‘Hmmm, smells like money.’

It made me laugh at the time, but almost as soon as I start smiling at the memory, I stop. This is shit. When will it end?

‘What’s this – create your own lunch?’ asks Matt, as he slides a couple of sharp knives into the middle, so we can peel the spines from the cucumbers.

‘Looks perfect,’ says Bethany, putting her arm round Chloe’s shoulders.

‘It’s what they gave me at the farmhouse when I went up this morning,’ she says. Her cheeks are slightly pink. ‘Oh, and some eggs. They were still warm!’

‘Because they’d just come out of a hen’s bottom?’ asks Lotte, her eyes wide with delight.

‘I can make everyone omelettes,’ says Dad.

There’s a pause. No one looks at my father, until Amy says, ‘That would be nice. Thanks, Dad.’

She and Matt seem a bit more at ease with each other, but I’m no expert. If Maddison had been here, she’d probably have rolled her eyes and told me that of course they still weren’t getting on, and wasn’t it obvious Matt hadn’t apologized to her? I still haven’t had a chance to talk to Chloe on her own about those photos of her, and it doesn’t seem right to bring it up with Matt and Amy, today of all days.

‘There’s the big plan for tonight,’ says Luca. ‘I went into town with Joe before he left and saw all the stalls for the Ferragosto celebration. The speciality of the region is chilli! Lots of hot food, fairground rides, fireworks. We should go, no?’

‘Oh yes!’ says Chloe. ‘I’m so bored. I would kill to do that. Carlo says some of his friends are going and I could hang out with them?’

Amy’s mouth tightens into a thin line. She picks up a cucumber and starts skinning it.

‘Yeah, fireworks!’ Lotte jumps around and pretends to explode.

‘Can we go, Dad? There’s a really cool ride. It even says, “Abandon all hope, you who enter here” on the front,’ says Theo.

‘Do any of you even know what day it is?’

‘Amy,’ says Matt.

There’s a crack as Dad drops an egg. The white oozes across the floor.