‘Oh, well spotted,’ I said, blinking away my tears as I quickly checked the label. ‘Let’s sort the rental fee and then you can be on your way.’

He looked mightily relieved as he drove off.

‘Another satisfied customer,’ said David, as he came out of the barn, followed my gaze and watched the car turn out of sight. ‘Are you all right, Liza, you look a bit pale?’

‘I’m fine,’ I rallied, knowing there was no time to get into what had happened to Wren. The best thing I could do was carry on and explain at the end of the day. ‘Who’s next?’

I kept checking my phone, having quickly given my number to Theo, but there was no word. I kept telling myself that no news was good news and carried on, netting trees as if my life depended on it. The busyness did help keep my mind occupied to a certain extent, but as three o’clock dawned, disaster struck and my head was filled with another crisis.

‘It’s Scott,’ said the man I’d just shown one of the few remaining potted trees to. It was a fine specimen; tall, wide and in a vast pot. ‘Not Stott,’ he carried on. ‘We’re the Scotts and we’re here to collect Doris.’

‘This isn’t her,’ said the woman with him as she stepped forward. ‘Unless she’s grown about three foot in the last year and look, this label says Stott family.’

‘We’re the Scotts,’ the man repeated, looking increasingly harassed.

‘The Scott family,’ the woman said again.

They had two kids with them. The eldest, a boy aged about fifteen, looked up from his phone and sniggered, no doubt enjoying the fact that someone else was on the receiving end of his mum’s bad mood, and the younger, a girl, looked as if she was about to cry. The woman put her arm around the girl and gave her a squeeze, which soon set the tears flowing.

I couldn’t believe this was happening. There was still no word from Theo and when I looked up and spotted Ned’s truck pull into the car park, I felt very much disposed to join in with the girl’s wailing.

‘Shit,’ I muttered under my breath, feeling like the biggest fool.

‘Kim,’ said Ned, when he reached us, ‘Andrew. Good to see you both. Hey Jasper, hello Daisy. I’m guessing you’re here to collect Doris. She’s grown loads this year.’

‘Not three foot though,’ muttered Jasper, with a grin.

I knew, given how tired Ned looked, that he was making a huge effort to warmly greet these annual customers he clearly knew so well and I also knew that he was going to go ballistic when he found out what I’d done. Hopefully not in front of them though. Not that I didn’t deserve a public dressing down.