I must have looked blank, because he grinned. ‘About the internship.’

‘Oh.’ My pause felt whorish to me, but how could I reject an opportunity for Zach? ‘Oh yes, well, I expect we’ll pop in, thanks.’

‘Don’t expect! Promise,’ he said gravely.

‘Promise.’

I spent the rest of the morning fixing balloons into bunches and setting out chairs and benches, borrowed from St Edmund’s church hall, in the circus tent, and then finding all the things that Melissa kept losing – as well as trying to pin her down for a quick chat.

Nella and Marcus had both disappeared immediately – Nella to concoct more punch apparently, and Marcus to set up the sound system with some famous DJ mate I’d never heard of – leaving Melissa and I to shoulder what Jonny would have termed ‘grunt work’. But given Marcus’s latest offer to Zach, I wasn’t going to argue.

To be honest, I doubt I’d have argued anyway.

Pat was there in body, and in spirit, no doubt – but that largely involved corralling her brood of children, in theory in charge of the tombola and the toy stall; in reality, in charge of making mess.

Ish had gone to sort the St John’s Ambulance people and to find someone to move the GoGreen environmental stall that was his baby, and Lena was running late – doing a final PR push from home, apparently, on social media.

Somehow it was just me and Melissa left in the tent: a chance to finally catch up.

‘Lena’s more likely wrestling with that child,’ Melissa muttered, descending a ladder with the bunting as I fell on her, ready to chat. ‘Forgot the bloody string! I’ll just pop home.’

‘Mel, wait, I really wanted to talk to you.’

‘Won’t be a sec, hon.’

And with that, my best mate was gone again.

‘I really don’t know what’s up with Melissa today,’ Nella opined in her kitchen. ‘Distracted isn’t the half of it recently.’ She passed me a bag of lemons. ‘She’s becoming a liability.’

‘I think she’s just really busy.’ I felt immediately protective of Melissa, despite my own frustrations. ‘Got a lot on.’

And what was that they said about life giving you lemons? It didn’t look like Nella was making lemonade here though, more like a second tub of over-coloured mess.

‘Haven’t we all!’ Nella rolled her eyes, watching me slice the fruit. ‘Honestly, I can’t keep up since my TV job started. What’s her excuse?’

But Melissa was still my best friend and closest ally – even if that had been at a distance recently, and Nella’s opinion wasn’t important to me. Well, not that important.

‘Well, Rex can be pretty… demanding, I think. Ouch.’ I nicked my finger with the paring knife.

‘Careful! He’s an angel, isn’t he, that man? I don’t know what I’d have done if—’ She stopped. ‘I mean, Willow is so grateful.’

An angel was not how I’d ever describe Rex, but I didn’t have the energy to argue right now. And what exactly was Willow so grateful for, I wondered. ‘Is she settling in OK?’