‘I feel as if I’ve made a real mess of things.’ He glanced up at Edie and grinned. ‘I know. I’m a bloke. What do I expect?’

Lyssa’s sister sighed. ‘I’m not sure I’m the right person to come to looking for sympathy.’

‘I need to contact her,’ Jake said. ‘I want to know what she’s thinking.’

‘If I were her, I’d be thinking you’re a wanker.’

‘I’ve tried her mobile,’ he said. ‘It’s not working.’

‘She’s not in bloody Kensington High Street, Jake. She’s up a mountain somewhere. She’s gone without her hairdryer. Don’t you realise how serious this is?’

‘What can I do?’

‘Get your act together. She’s going to be gone for a while yet. When she comes back, you need to have decided exactly what it is you do want.’

‘She will come back, won’t she?’

‘Can you see Lyssa staying anywhere that’s out of reach of Starbucks coffee for too long?’

‘No,’ Jake said. ‘But then I never imagined in my wildest dreams that she’d do this anyway.’

‘Me neither,’ Edie said. ‘My sister isn’t one for surprises. That’s normally my forte.’ She cast a glance at Archie as if to confirm it. ‘Sort it out, Jake. Sort it out before she comes back.’

‘I will,’ Jake said. ‘I promise you.’ One way or the other.

‘I can’t begin to see why, but the poor deluded woman still loves you.’

Jake felt a lump catch in his throat and it was nothing to do with the indigestibility of Edie’s cooking.

‘I’d better be going,’ he said. Though he wasn’t sure he wanted to. It wouldn’t have taken too much persuasion for him to settle down here for the night, but Edie wasn’t offering. ‘I’ve got stuff to do.’

‘Me too. Clothes to iron. Children to torture.’

He stood up. ‘Can I ask you one thing, Edie?’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘As long as it doesn’t involve borrowing money.’

‘Do you ever regret having kids?’

They both looked down at Archie, who was licking the kitchen floor. ‘Every day,’ she said. ‘But I still wouldn’t be without them.’

Was that the answer he wanted to hear? Probably not. He wanted to hear how much children enriched your life and that you never hankered after the days when you were young, free and single and had money to blow on skiing holidays. Why did kids have to be such a big compromise in one’s life?

‘Now can I ask you something?’

‘Yes. As long as you don’t grill me like those fish fingers.’

‘No, no,’ Edie said. ‘Nothing like that. I just wondered…’ She coughed slightly. ‘How’s Pip?’

‘Pip?’

‘I met him at Lyssa’s bon voyage party.’