‘Yeah,’ Sarah says. ‘She’s very … nice and it’s clear she wants to be a good mum but I can’t help wondering how she’d manage if I wasn’t here. Even with my help, it seems like she’s struggling.’ She looks up at me. ‘Shit, sorry, it’s not my place to say that, is it?’ Her brow furrows. ‘You won’t tell her, will you?’

I smile. ‘Of course not,’ I say, though I am mildly shocked. Sarah is Cass’s (or at least Simon’s) employee, after all, and I am a virtual stranger. It seems out of order that she’d speak about her like that to me. I decide it’s best to change the subject.

‘Have you been a nanny long?’ I ask.

She wiggles Inigo’s hands above his head and he giggles. She seems like a natural with babies.

‘Not that long,’ she says, still looking at Inigo rather than me, pulling faces and making him laugh. ‘Cass is only the second mum I’ve looked after. But I’ve got a lot of younger brothers and sisters, so I’ve always been used to babies.’

‘And where were you working before?’ I ask, struggling to place her accent. Bristol? London? Difficult to tell.

Sarah picks up Inigo and stands abruptly. ‘Dubai,’ she says. ‘With another English family. Look, I’m sorry to be rude, but I think I’d better go and see if Cass is OK. It’s been lovely chatting though.’

Sarah heads up the stairs before I can say another word, as if she can’t get away from me fast enough.

The coffee I had while I was pretending to look for Cass has made my hangover worse, so I go up to our room to lie down too.

I pick up my iPad to read the news, but it opens on my emails page. My stomach lurches and my heart starts beating faster – I know I didn’t leave it like that.

I hear the chalet door bang, heavy footsteps on the stairs and then the door bursts open. ‘Cass is back!’ Hugo exclaims.

‘Yeah, I know. We had a chat. I feel sorry for her – she seems like she’s in quite a state. Personally, I think Simon could have been more sympathetic. Plus the nanny is a bit of a bitch, as it turns out. But listen, Hugo, have you been using my iPad?’

He frowns. ‘No. Why d’you ask?’

‘So you haven’t been looking at my emails or in my contacts or anything?’

He kisses me on the forehead. The minor drama of Cass going briefly missing seems to have enlivened him to the point he’s forgotten that he was annoyed about me getting drunk last night. ‘Of course not! Why would I do that?’