She wrapped her arms around him, chuckling and kissing his forehead at the same time. Lily joined in her amusement, and so did Mark.

She glanced up at Justin, hoping that he too might be laughing. But he wasn’t.

He was staring at her with a stunned expression on his face, like a man who’d been struck by lightning.

Lily intervened and hustled her little ‘family’ out of sight. Evie went to wash her hands where Hank had licked them, and returned to find Lily serving gateau and cream.

‘You look ever so pretty tonight,’ Mark ventured. ‘You don’t usually dress like that.’

‘I was going out,’ she told him.

‘On a date?’

‘Yes.’

‘Have you got a boyfriend?’

‘Yes,’ she said, laughing.

‘Mark,’ Justin muttered through gritted teeth.

‘Will he be mad at you?’ Mark asked, undeterred.

‘Nothing I can’t handle,’ she said cheerfully.

‘I bet you could handle anyone. I bet you’d really tell him off.’

‘If I did that he wouldn’t be my boyfriend for very long,’ she pointed out.

‘Are you nuts about him?’

‘Mark!’ This time Justin covered his eyes and his voice betrayed only an agony of embarrassment. Evie almost liked him.

‘That’s a secret,’ she said.

She was aware of Justin uncovering his eyes and looking at her, but she kept her attention on Mark.

‘Is he nuts about you?’ Mark persisted.

‘He probably won’t be after the way I stood him up tonight,’ she said lightly.

‘But if he’s really nuts about-’

‘Mark, that’s enough,’ Justin said edgily.

She noticed that the boy fell silent at once, as though a light had gone out inside him.

‘I honestly don’t mind,’ she said. ‘We’re just joking.’

She gave Mark a reassuring smile and followed it with a broad wink. After a moment he winked back, then cast an uncertain glance at his father, as though worried about his reaction. Evie followed his look and was startled by Justin’s expression. It vanished at once, and she supposed she might have been mistaken. But for a brief moment he’d looked almost forlorn, like a child excluded from a charmed circle.