He starts to cry, but stops again abruptly when the singers take to the stage. Luca’s little face fixates on them, eyes wide, mouth open, as they begin to sing in rich, deep, perfectly blended harmonies. I lean back and close my eyes, trying to switch off thoughts of Daniel Buchs and Nina and Dad. I haven’t slept well since I’ve been here, often waking in the early hours and tussling with the thoughts dancing round my head as light gradually seeps in through the slits in the shutters. But now the rhythms and sonorous voices of the singers on stage fill up my head until there’s no room for anything else. Just music, and the warmth of the sun on my skin and the cool grass under my legs.

‘Jess!’

I feel a tap on my shoulder and open my eyes, squinting into the sun. My head feels groggy and there’s a bitter taste in my mouth.

‘Jess,’ Léa says again. ‘Where’s Luca?’

I look up and see he’s not there with us. During the time we’ve been in the park the grass has filled up with people and I start to panic. How long was I asleep? And where the hell has Luca gone?

‘You didn’t see him wander off?’

Léa shakes her head.

‘Promise me you’ll stay right here and don’t move at all.’

The tone of my voice shakes her face into a frown and she nods meekly. ‘I promise.’

I leave Léa on the picnic rug and pick my way through the crowd to the edge of the park, past the portaloos and onto the waterfront promenade. My heart’s hammering and nausea rolls through me. I can’t lose Julia and Michel’s son. I stop and look around me, trying to take deep breaths. He can’t have gone far. Think logically. But my head feels thick with sleep, and my eyes are streaming from the sun because I left my sunglasses on the rug with Léa. And now I’m thinking I shouldn’t have left Léa on her own and what kind of a bloody nanny am I anyway?

Maybe he’s near the ice-cream stands. That must be it. My panic eases a little as I weave my way through the crowds with a purpose now, heading to the stand where Luca had stopped me and pulled on my hand, pleading for strawberry cheesecake flavour. But he’s not there.