‘I know you don’t want to talk about it,’ Viv said now, placing a fat parcel of meat on top of the fish bundles as they left the market.

‘That’s not true. I have talked about it,’ Esther cried, knowing immediately to what she was referring, ‘just as I have all the other scintillating things that have been going on in my life.’ She directed her gaze to the breathtaking view as the tic of annoyance passed. A medieval village on a hilltop. She had given up taking photos to try and do justice to it. Having a therapist for a best friend had its drawbacks as well as its benefits, she reminded herself, tracking the metallic glints of the river, which – somewhere – contained three yellow kayaks, as it wound its way along the lush foliage of the valley bed. ‘I’ve told you – I am happy for Lucas and Heidi. Truly. Good luck to them both. It was just the manner of finding out that was somewhat galling, on that day of all days. The children are apparently fine about it, though, and that is all that matters.’

‘And you being all right, that matters too.’

‘I am all right,’ Esther insisted, slightly riled again because Viv was doing her staring thing, peering over the top of her sunglasses.

‘I think you still miss him.’

‘I do not miss Lucas, and you saying so is unhelpful.’

‘Ice cream?’ Viv had stopped by a youth who was sitting next to a makeshift board of prices, propped up against a large ice box. ‘He’s got Magnums.’

‘Yes, please. Thanks.’

‘You are so ready to meet someone, Esther,’ she went on mildly as they dropped their wrappers into a bin and drifted on.

‘I thought I didn’t need someone to complete me?’

‘You don’t. But then again, I know how tough you’ve been finding it… and this business of imagining seeing people when there’s no one there,’ she went on, quickly switching to a much lighter tone, ‘a classic sign of subconscious companionship-seeking surely…’

‘There was someone – a boy collecting his football,’ Esther protested, laughing in spite of herself.

‘But there were those other times, you said, in the garden.’

‘A couple of weird moments… Viv, what is this? I feel like I’m being told off. And I have been trying to meet someone, as you well know.’