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She shifts the baby to one arm and hugs me with the other. I never, ever, ever would have had Eddy down as coming from a family that hugged.

I look at baby Elsie.

‘Oh, she’s beautiful,’ I say.

‘I know,’ Lauren replies with a smile.

I reach out, touching one of Elsie’s tiny hands. Her fingers close around mine with surprising strength.

‘She’s got a good grip,’ I say.

‘Runs in the family,’ Lauren replies. ‘She might even play rugby – for Leeds, obviously. Marco is a Wakefield fan, but we can’t have that, can we?’

She switches to a baby voice halfway through her sentence.

‘Come on, let’s eat,’ Rachel insists. ‘It’s all fresh from the bakery today.’

‘Has the bakery been here long?’ I ask.

‘It was a café, before Eddy’s dad set his sights on it,’ Rachel tells us. ‘He’d just retired from rugby, he was deciding what he wanted to do next, and he’d always liked the idea of having his own business, and he loved to bake, so it made sense.’

‘I thought retirement was supposed to mean taking it easy,’ Lauren says. ‘Not getting up at 4 a.m. to bake.’

Rachel smiles down at her cup of tea.

‘He loved it, though. Loved the customers, loved trying new recipes. He knew everyone who came through the door, and if somebody missed their usual day, he’d worry about them,’ she continues.

‘Nah, Dad was nosy,’ Eddy says with a grin.

‘He was interested in people,’ his mum corrects him.

‘Interested in their business,’ he replies, laughing.

It’s obvious from their conversation that Eddy’s dad isn’t around any more, and given how fondly they’re talking about him, it sounds like he must have passed away.

‘So your dad was a rugby player too?’ I ask Eddy.

He nods.

‘He was the one who got Eddy into rugby, although I’m not sure anyone needed to encourage him. He was sports mad from the moment he could walk,’ Rachel tells me. ‘He was always running, climbing or throwing something. We had to move every ornament above shoulder height because if he saw an open space, he assumed it was a goal.’

‘When I was, like, six,’ Eddy insists.

‘You were twelve when you broke the kitchen window,’ she reminds him.

He laughs.

‘He was exhausting,’ Rachel continues. ‘Football in the garden, rugby at school, cricket in the summer. If there was a ball involved, he wanted to play.’

‘He was nerdy as well,’ Lauren chimes in.

Eddy looks at her. ‘Thanks.’

‘Well, you were,’ she replies. ‘Everyone thinks you were this serious, super-cool athlete, but you liked loads of uncool stuff.’

‘Like what?’ I ask.

‘Video games, for one,’ she tells me.