Michel peers into the oven at the tagine that’s been cooking for a good couple of hours now. ‘That smells so good! Bonsoir, Jess. All okay?’

I nod and close my book. Julia greets me and then goes over to the kids, but they barely look up from Frozen. She rolls her eyes. ‘You finish this and then no more.’

Léa nods without taking her eyes off the screen.

‘Sorry, should I not…?’ I say.

Julia waggles her head and makes a little pouty gesture with her mouth. ‘It’s okay. I don’t normally let them watch much television, but I’ll make an exception for English programmes. Part of their learning.’ She gives me a tight smile. ‘Anyway, tell me what you’ve done today.’

I recount our trip to the castle, the face painting and Byron and the picnic by the lake.

‘Excellent. And what have you learned today?’ Julia says to the kids.

‘Duck!’

‘Dungeons.’

Julia laughs. ‘It’s a start.’ She slips into a chair and lets out a little sigh. She looks tired; there’s a tinge of red rimming her big brown eyes, and strands of her glossy hair have slipped out of the neat chignon she put it in that morning. For some reason it pleases me to know she doesn’t sail through her working day untouched.

‘Long day?’ I say.

‘Always.’ She slips into a chair. ‘We have this big event on in a couple of months and there’s so much to do.’

I did ask her what she does but, as with most jobs that aren’t the kind that pop up on a school careers advice questionnaire, I haven’t really understood it exactly. Something to do with sport and sponsorship and event planning. One of those jobs that, when you’re a kid and you’re considering what on earth you might do with your life, it never occurs to you to choose because you’ve never heard of it. It’s always fascinated me, as someone who made an unimaginative career choice, how people end up in such obscure professions.

‘But you don’t have to do all of it yourself.’ Michel sits down next to her. ‘She does far more for her boss than she should,’ he says to me and Julia shakes her head.

‘It’s my job.’

He puts his hand on hers and gives it a gentle shake. ‘Yes, but you let yourself get taken advantage of sometimes.’

Julia smiles and rolls her eyes at me. ‘He thinks he knows everything.’