Devan was laughing as he turned into the open gates at the house. ‘Smile, please. Don’t want to curdle the mulled wine.’

Connie did smile, because despite putting on a jokily cantankerous show for Devan, she was secretly pleased to be there, to be out. It was the first time in two weeks – since that night in Jared’s cottage – that she’d been social. She knew it was impossible for Jared to have become friendly with the entire village already, but she wasn’t going to risk it.

‘I still get really tired by the evening,’ was the excuse she’d given Devan for not coming with him to a talk in the village hall. It was by a famous TV forager and naturalist, who was going to show them how to pick the right mushrooms – she’d bought tickets months ago. She was still coughing, and she did get tired, but still …

‘I’m worried I’m coming down with something,’ was the get-out for Fiona Raven’s book launch in Bridgwater – to which she was supposed to be going with Neil. In other circumstances she would have loved to catch up with past colleagues and giggle with Neil at their old boss’s predictable gush and swagger.

Devan had begun to notice. ‘Are you sure you’re all right?’ he’d asked her a couple of nights ago, when she’d declared she was going to bed immediately after supper – really just wanting to get away from Devan so she could stop pretending. ‘You seem so tense at the moment. Is something bothering you?’

‘No.’ She’d feigned surprise. ‘I’m fine.’

He’d frowned and searched her face. ‘You’re not worrying about your job, are you? They’re not going to sack you for being ill, Connie. It was only two tours you cancelled.’

She had barely considered her job, her mind so consumed with Jared that she seldom had any other thought in her head. ‘I’m still feeling a bit below par, if I’m honest.’ She gave him a reassuring smile. ‘How would you feel about getting away? Fit in a week before Christmas, somewhere nice and warm. We could swim and lie about, read …’

Now it was Devan’s turn to look surprised. ‘It’s a great idea. Where could we go?’

Connie didn’t mind, as long as it was as far away from Jared as possible. Maybe he’ll have vanished by the time I get back, she thought, like a child with a hand over her eyes – if she can’t see you, you can’t see her. In fact, she hadn’t caught even a glimpse of him since that night.

Devan was on his laptop, searching winter breaks, almost before she’d left the room, although she knew it would change nothing.