Giles rolled his eyes and laughed.

I dabbed at my eyes with the back of my hand and sniffed loudly into the microphone, creating a noise not unlike a leaf-blower and causing the entire gathering to wince as one.

‘Thank you so much, June and Stan,’ I began hesitantly, the wobble in my voice amplified for all to hear, ‘for welcoming me into your lovely home this evening, and thank you, everyone, for welcoming me so warmly to—’

I paused, aware of a loud tapping sound behind me and, turning, saw a dishevelled-looking, middle-aged woman, standing on the patio outside the French windows. Some sort of vegetation seemed to be hanging from her hair and she had one hand pressed flat against the glass whilst waving a wooden clog with the other.

June bustled past me. ‘You carry on, dear,’ she said, placing a hand on my arm and leaning in. ‘I’ll just let Stella back in. I think the new trellising has defeated her.’

I nodded, joining in the general acceptance of the situation, and as I turned back to face the room, I saw Cameron and Kerry slip away.

More thrown by their exit than by Stella’s unconventional entrance, I lowered the microphone and was just about to return it to Stan, when I spotted Giles. He was still smiling at me and, on catching my eye, immediately added a supportive double thumbs-up to his visual pep-talk.

I swallowed hard, offered him a watery smile and then, raising the microphone and taking a deep breath to steady myself, said, ‘I love my job. But work isn’t great at the moment, so having somewhere to escape to – a home – is more important to me than it’s been for a very long time. And I’m grateful to you all for making me feel so at home tonight.’

There followed a collective ‘Aaaw’, and as I, somewhat tearfully, turned and handed the microphone back to Stan, Giles offered me a congratulatory hug.

Then, as Bill once again struck up on his penny whistle, and June took Stella into the kitchen to look for a Band-Aid, we said our goodbyes and headed home.

Chapter 13

By the time I woke the next morning, Giles had already headed off to attend the seventieth birthday party of a family friend in St Albans. There was to be a lunch on the Saturday and then drinks the next evening, and although Giles offered to cancel his plans to stay overnight on the Sunday, I asked him not to.