Plates were filled and emptied in short order, food eaten quickly as if we all wanted this stilted meal together to be over. After ten minutes or so, as if sensing a need to fill the silence, Jennifer tapped a fork against her wine glass with a ting-ting-ting and cleared her throat. Her smile was fooling no one: she had always hated being the centre of attention.

‘Well, everyone, since we’re all here we’ve got a bit of an announcement, actually.’

All eyes turned to her.

‘What with one thing and another—’ here she looked pointedly at Sean ‘—we’ve decided to head back to England a little bit earlier than planned.’

There was a stunned silence around the table.

‘You’re leaving?’ All my thoughts of Izzy were momentarily forgotten. ‘When?’

‘That’s such a shame,’ Rowan said. ‘Aren’t you having a nice time, all of you?’

Jennifer ignored her question.

‘There’s an evening flight tonight. We just need to get packed and sorted out here and then we’ll be off.’

I put down my fork and pushed my plate away.

‘There’s no need to go early is there, Jen?’ I said. ‘We’ve only got a couple of nights left.’

Jake sat up straighter in his chair, tuning in to the adult conversation for the first time.

‘Hang on, what?’

‘We’ve changed our flights, Jakey. There’s one at ten tonight from Béziers.’

‘Why?’

‘Your dad and I thought it was for the best, Jake.’

‘Best for who?’

Jennifer’s blue eyes fell on Sean again.

‘Everyone.’

‘I don’t want to go home.’ Jake’s face was flushing red. I’d never seen him blush before. ‘I want to stay here, all of us together.’

‘Let’s talk after tea, shall we Jakey?’

Jake stood up.

‘This is bollocks.’

‘Language, Jake.’

He pushed his chair back and stormed off, throwing up a hand.

‘Whatever.’

Ethan stood up too, looking at Daniel.

‘You coming?’

‘I suppose,’ my son said, looking over at me. ‘Can I?’

‘We’re in the middle of tea, love.’

‘I’m finished.’

‘You’ve got a whole piece of pizza to eat.’

His cheeks started to redden too: I was embarrassing him in front of a bigger boy. His friend.

‘Please?’ he said. ‘It’s our last time to play together on holiday.’

‘What about the pizza?’

He bit off half the pizza slice and spoke with his mouth full. ‘Finished now.’

I sighed. ‘Go on then.’

He scampered off after Ethan, down towards the garden and the vineyard beyond.

Odette pushed her chair back and stood up.

‘I want to go too, Mummy.’

‘You can wait until Mummy and Daddy have finished.’

‘Not fair!’ She stamped her little foot. ‘All the other children have got down!’

‘No, they haven’t – look, Lucy is still here.’

‘She’s not a children.’

Odette ran off to catch up, shouting ‘Sardines!’ at the top of her lungs.