Eddie, Gary and Ricky did most of the tidying up. ‘You have a break, Jess, we’ll do all the dirty work and you can add your magic touch at the end,’ Eddie insisted.

With her mind in no-man’s-land, Jessica politely asked her parents if they would mind if they didn’t stay for dinner.

‘Of course not. We know you’re not yourself, love,’ Stanley said kindly.

Joyce wasn’t so understanding. She loved being in this nice big house and was in no rush to head back to her own rabbit hutch. ‘Me and your dad will stay here, Jess. You have a lie down. I’ll cook the dinner today.’

Jessica blatantly refused. She had enough problems without having her mother driving her bloody mad. ‘Look, I’m sorry, Mum, but go home, please. I’m really not up to it today. You can come over again next week, and I’ll do you dinner then.’

Annoyed, Joyce stomped upstairs to pack her overnight bag. ‘I’ve got no meat out the freezer, so me and you will have to starve, Stanley,’ she shouted loudly.

Stanley hugged his daughter. ‘Take no notice. You know what she’s like.’

The drive to Cambridgeshire didn’t take as long as Frankie thought it would. Jed took her down by the Fens and showed her where his dad and grandfather had both been brought up.

‘I really miss my grandad. He was a good old boy,’ Jed said, urging Frankie to sit down next to him. He wondered if she knew that her grandad had shot his grandad, but he said nothing. He didn’t want to pry, unsettle her; it wasn’t the done thing.

Frankie sat with her back against the bark of the tree and smiled. ‘It is lovely here. It’s so peaceful,’ she said.

Telling Frankie to lie across his knees, Jed ran his fingers through her hair. ‘We can live here one day. Imagine, me, you and our chavvies. It would be proper, wouldn’t it?’

‘What’s a chavvie?’ Frankie asked him.

‘Kiddies. Our babies,’ Jed said, laughing.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Frankie pulled him towards her and kissed him passionately.

‘No trying it on with me and don’t you dare touch me cory. I’m not that type of boy, you know,’ Jed said teasing her.

Frankie giggled. ‘Is your cory what I think it is?’

Jed pointed at his erection. ‘It’s a big cory, ain’t it? Ere cacker, I’m sorry about trying it on with you the other night. Them Es make me horny, I shouldn’t have done that. I was out of order.’

As Jed took her in his arms, Frankie clung to him for dear life. He had a wonderful smell, a manly aroma, and she couldn’t get enough of him.