‘Marvellous.’ I could lie down here and quite gladly never move again. Dean is framed by the mountains, there’s a healthy flush to his cheeks and his eyes sparkle in the perfect light. ‘Wait,’ I say. ‘Don’t move a muscle.’ Ferreting round in my rucksack, I dig out my camera and take a snap of Dean looking suitably gorgeous. This will make my sister weep with envy. ‘I’ll email you a copy.’

‘Let me take one of you,’ he says and while I strike a pose, he snaps away. ‘Mail me that too,’ he says and we both blush a bit.

And just when it might be getting cosy between us, the sight of a camera means we’re immediately surrounded by village children who are keen to have their photo taken and practise their English. It’s so nice that they have no fear of outsiders here and their open trust is bewitching. They chatter away as I take their photos and then they all stand obediently in line while they view themselves on the screen of my digital camera. One young girl with a dirty face, no shoes and a Marks & Spencer glittery party dress tugs at my heart-strings. I smooth her hair and she covers her mouth, giggling at her image on the screen, and I wonder if these pangs of longing will ever go away.

Chapter thirty-seven

Chapter thirty-seven

The office was quiet, almost peaceful, before the usual hubbub started. Jake leaned back in his chair and stared at the air-conditioning vents in the ceiling. Still he couldn’t make the scrambled bits of his brain come back together and form a cohesive shape.

The swing door crashed open and Pip, cradling his motorbike helmet and a battered briefcase, came in.

‘Couldn’t sleep?’ Pip wandered over and perched on Jake’s desk. He peeled off his leather jacket to reveal a shirt blooming with floribunda roses. It was an assault on Jake’s already delicate senses.

‘No,’ Jake admitted miserably. ‘Neve got up at some ungodly hour to go to Milan. I thought it might give me an opportunity to get back in Alec’s good books if he saw me here at the crack of dawn.’

Pip said nothing.

‘Did you know she’d been put on the Blow account?’

Pip nodded. A few more of the conscientious staff drifted in via the coffee machine.

‘Thanks for telling me.’

‘I thought it was better if it came from Neve,’ Pip said.

‘Well, I’m not sure she was in a tearing hurry to tell me either.’

‘No one wants to be the harbinger of doom, mate,’ his friend said. ‘She knew you wouldn’t be happy. I knew you wouldn’t be happy.’