Pip was confused. She couldn’t see what this had to do with Teresa calling off their engagement, if that was indeed what had happened.

‘Well, there’s nothing wrong with that,’ she said cautiously, unsure of the right thing to say.

‘No. I know that,’ Jez replied. ‘And don’t get me wrong. I love what I do. Your dad’s great to work for and the job suits me.’

‘So where’s the problem?’ Pip asked.

He pulled his gaze from the window and focused on her instead. ‘I’ve been punching above my weight with Teresa. She’s way out of my league. Always has been. Her dad works in futures, whatever that is, and her mum’s a consultant at Colchester Hospital. They’re hardly like you and me.’

Pip could feel herself bristle a little at being lumped in with Jez, but she checked herself. She had to accept that they were fundamentally the same, despite all her efforts to differentiate herself.

‘And Teresa’s got a degree and an amazing job. She’s flying high. Pretty soon it was going to dawn on her that Jez Walker, lowly farmhand from Hicksville, didn’t fit into the picture. To be honest with you, I can’t believe I got away with it for as long as I did.’

‘That’s crap,’ said Pip, angry now on his behalf. ‘She was marrying you for you, not your job description. The rest of it shouldn’t matter if she really loves you.’

Jez peered at her through his lashes. ‘Says the girl who changed her name to something posher the minute she moved away,’ he said, and there was something bitter in his tone that made her feel ill at ease. Was that really what he thought, what they all thought? Then again, that was exactly what she had done; she just hadn’t realised it was so very transparent.

Jez seemed to understand that he might have hit a nerve, and he lowered his eyes again to defuse the tension.

‘Anyway, none of that matters,’ he said, ‘because Teresa’s called the whole thing off. Returned the ring. The works.’

He pulled a black velvet box out of his jeans pocket and flicked it open with his thumb. Inside was a very pretty ring with a diamond solitaire. Pip knew it was probably only around a quarter of a carat and immediately hated herself for both knowing that and thinking it.

Jez snapped the box shut and slammed it on the table.

‘So that’s that. I’m a single man once more. No big country wedding for me. Shit, the grapevine will be having a field day.’

‘Ignore them,’ Pip snapped. ‘It’s none of their bloody business. You just need to talk to Teresa. She’ll change her mind. It’s probably just pre-wedding nerves.’