‘You’re right, it’s a shame,’ Blake said thoughtfully. ‘Hey, maybe we should throw a summer fete here, in the grounds? I won’t be here then, I’ll be Nepal, making this movie about a Buddhist ninja monk who has to l save the word, but I could give you the key and you could arrange it, obviously I’d cover all the costs. It could be a fundraiser, maybe for the church? Churches always need a new roof, don’t they?’

It hadn’t been the response that Sue was expecting and it took her some moments to climb off the moral high ground that she had been occupying.

‘Well, yes. Thank you, but I must be going,’ she said, checking the spot on her wrist where a watch would be if she were wearing one. ‘It’s very nice to meet you, and I am sorry I interrupted your lovemaking.’

The words just tripped off her tongue without so much as a by your leave, and Blake laughed. It was his turn to blush as he walked Sue out to the gate.

‘We were only watching TV,’ he told her.

‘None of my concern!’ Sue said, wishing with all her might that the slowly opening gate would move things up a gear.

‘Listen.’ Blake put his hand on her arm, as Sue prepared to bolt through the first feasible gap in the gate. ‘I’ll be at your auditions tomorrow. I promise you that. Just don’t tell everyone it’s me, tell them that a Hollywood actor will be making a guest appearance, that will get them much more excited, I promise you. The speculation will get the buzz going.’

‘I shouldn’t think anyone could be more exciting than you,’ Sue said. ‘Shall we say mid-morning at the church hall?’ And, seeing her chance, she made a run for it.

3

‘Where’s Rory again?’ Cordelia Thorne – Thorne by name and sometimes by nature – asked Sue as she lay out her detailed plans for the pageant all over the kitchen table, so she could complete her final checklist before the silent rehearsal. The children were asleep, thank God. Meadow had been asking to talk to Daddy again, and both Petal and Forest had wanted to know when he would be home. It had been almost impossible to distract them sufficiently to stop them asking her questions that she didn’t know the answer to.

‘At a writing convention thingy,’ Sue said, brushing the question away, with a flick of her wrist.

‘He’s been gone a long time.’ Cordelia scowled. ‘Normally it’s a weekend, or a week at most. But this is more than a week, and just before Christmas. I’m surprised you let him go. The kids were asking for him. I tried his phone, but it went straight to answerphone.’