‘Thank you, Charlie,’ Jo gushed, gripping her hand tightly. I watched out of the corner of my eye. Ah. So this was the famous Charlotte. She was slimmer than I thought she’d be and she wasn’t unattractive but, a bit like Freya, she wasn’t exactly a head-turner, either. She certainly wasn’t in my league.

‘I don’t even know where to begin,’ Jo whined on. ‘I already miss him so, so much. I feel so alone.’

‘I know, I really do,’ Charlotte told her earnestly. She sounded every bit as wet as Ben. It wasn’t much wonder they had been together for so long. ‘But you have Ben and Emma and they will be there for you. You aren’t alone, I promise you.’

Jo nodded. ‘Thank you for coming, Charlie, it means a lot.’ I resisted the urge to stamp my foot. She had barely said hello to Elodie and me, yet she couldn’t fawn over Ben’s stupid ex enough.

Charlotte shook her head. ‘We all loved Peter. There is no way we wouldn’t have been here today.’ Ugh. I wasn’t surprised she had got on so well with Jo. She was nauseating.

‘Please make sure you sit with us at the front. We’d all appreciate it.’ I could have sworn Jo’s voice became a little bit louder, to make sure that I would hear.

‘Are you sure?’ Charlotte replied uncertainly, her eyes flickering towards Elodie and me. ‘We wouldn’t want to take anyone else’s seat …’

‘No, Mum’s right,’ said Ben, appearing at their side. ‘You should sit with us. It would help, especially Emma,’ he added, gesturing towards Emma, who was wailing away and being comforted by one of her relatives.

‘OK,’ Charlotte said, before stepping back. ‘We’ll see you in there.’

A swell of indignation and anger swept through me, so strongly that I contemplated not going into the church at all. How dare they! They were behaving as if I wasn’t even there. At that moment, I truly felt pure hatred for both Jo and Ben.

It was quite a small country church and it was already packed by the time we took our seats in the front pew. Ben reached out to take my hand as I sat down beside him, but I snatched it away and pointedly wrapped both arms around Elodie instead. Jo sat between Ben and a weeping Emma, with Charlotte on Emma’s other side, rubbing her back to comfort her.

Charlotte had tried to meet my eye but I refused to look in her direction. I had absolutely no interest in making any kind of connection with her and I also avoided looking at Matt and Freya, who were in the row behind her. We all knew where we stood after their last visit to our flat, so I didn’t see any point in pretending to be civil.

Suddenly, the organ music changed and the church was filled with the sound of singing. Only then did I realize how many people were there, filling the aisles and any available spaces. Peter had clearly been very popular. I glanced around me, wondering idly how many of the women present had also succumbed to his charms.