‘Of course,’ he says quickly, hands shoved in pockets, ‘and you were entitled to be pissed off. Of course you were. Christ, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d done worse, if you’d, um—’

‘There’s no need to list all the things I could’ve done.’ On the doorstep now, I glance back into the house. There are shrieks of laughter, and I’m aware that I have left Jules and Nick in charge of proceedings. I imagine Penny is just sitting there serenely in the corner, sipping her gin.

‘Okay,’ Andy says. ‘But, look …’ He rubs at his forehead. ‘You do know it really is over, don’t you? That, uh, thing I did, I mean?’

That thing he did? That minor matter of him shagging Estelle Lang for months on end, and finally leaving me for her? That ‘thing’?

I study his face for a moment, wondering how he expects me to respond. By commiserating on his newly single status? By digging him out a hot water bottle in case he gets chilly at night? ‘You did mention it,’ I remark.

‘Well, erm … I thought, maybe we could get together and talk sometime,’ he adds, ‘when things are less hectic.’

‘Talk about what?’ I ask, genuinely confused.

He shrugs. ‘About, well … you know. Stuff. How we’re going to go forward with things—’

Impatience is rising in me now. What is this, a board meeting on my doorstep? ‘D’you mean legally,’ I start, ‘or money-wise, or—’

‘Viv, when can we have some birthday cake?’ Ludo shouts from the hallway.

‘In a minute, love,’ I call back, silently thanking him for the interruption. Andy and I look at each other until Ludo has rejoined the other children in the living room.

‘That kid,’ he mutters with an eye-roll.

‘He’s much better now, actually. And, look, I really can’t discuss anything right now …’

‘No, of course not,’ Andy blusters, reddening. ‘I realise that. I didn’t expect to—’

‘I need to go back in,’ I say firmly. ‘I can’t stand here chatting. I’m sure you’ve noticed that I have a party going on.’

Izzy and her friends are supposed to be settling down to sleep in the tents. But of course, they’re not. They are giggling madly with torches flickering on and off. Every so often, someone appears in the kitchen, claiming to be ‘starving’ and loads up a paper plate with supplies before disappearing again.

At one point, Ludo sneaks out to the garden and trips, and I rush out to tend to his grazed knee (incredibly, Izzy invited him of her own accord and is clearly concerned about his minor injury). Jules left at around seven, and Penny followed soon afterwards to let Bobby out ‘to do his necessaries’, as she put it, leaving Nick and me together, alone. At least, alone with thirteen children.