She and Moira and Penny were still stuck in the busy reception area. ‘Perhaps it’s the gods punishing you for bad behaviour,’ suggested Moira innocently.

‘I expect they have some bureaucratic rule about numbers,’ Penny offered.

‘In Greece?’ Marigold replied sourly. ‘I’m going off to get a coffee.’ She didn’t offer one to Penny or Moira.

‘Tell you what,’ Moira announced as soon as she was out of the room, ‘I’m off to the posh garden centre. If I stay near that woman any longer, I may kill her. Why don’t you come too?’

‘I’d rather hang round here for a bit,’ Penny replied. The truth was, she wanted to call her daughter Wendy at the first opportunity and see if anything more had happened with Colin.

‘Oh yes,’ Moira grinned. ‘I’d forgotten. Nikos is going to be here. And Marigold. That’s nice. The two of you will be hanging round both hoping for the golden apple for who’s more beautiful. I should really stay and join in to make it a fair contest.’

‘Moira, don’t.’ Penny suddenly felt overwhelmed by emotion.

‘Sorry. I was never very tactful. You’re the winner, obviously.’

‘Oh God, Moira.’ Penny collapsed onto a plastic chair. ‘It’s all such a mess!’

‘That’s the nature of relationships,’ Moira said, patting her ineffectually. ‘That’s why I’ve never had any. Stuck to the gods and kept well away. But it strikes me that the gods did exactly what they wanted, and it had a way of working out in the end.’

Penny attempted a smile. ‘Perhaps you should write a book. The Greek Gods’ Guide to Modern Living. Books like that are very fashionable at the moment.’

‘That’s better,’ Moira grinned. ‘You’ll be all right, Penelope. You’re stronger than you think. I’ll go and distract the ghastly Marigold. Maybe I should take her with me to the statue man. She’d probably scare the shit out of him with one wink of those Dusty Springfield eyelashes of hers!’

Then she asked, ‘Would you rather I waited too?’

‘No, no, go off. It’s fine.’

When Moira had gone, Penny slipped out into the tiny patients’ garden they had passed on arriving at the hospital. It was a peaceful spot, newly planted with pink oleander and the usual purple bougainvillaea, with a small white wall high enough to sit on all round the edge of the flowerbed. No one else was there.

‘Wendy?’ she blurted as soon as her daughter answered. ‘Oh darling, it’s so good to talk to you!’ She realized instantly that this emotional reaction would probably seem odd to her down-to-earth daughter. ‘How’s everyone?’ she continued in a more normal voice.