‘I think so. He said that he’s planning to meet her request about the sea just before he leaves in two weeks’ time.’ Tess frowns as she does mental arithmetic. ‘Actually, I think it’s one week now. Can you not phone him?’

‘He hates the phone. That’s why we do the postcards. And anyway there’s no landline and the mobile reception is rubbish. If he needs to make a call, he has to go up the wee hill beside the cottage to get a signal.’

‘How long would it take to send a postcard from France? Or a telegram. Do telegrams still exist?’

‘You’ve been reading too much vintage crime fiction. No telegrams since the 1980s.’

‘I could go back on your computer and sort out a next-day-delivery Amazon parcel? If I do it now, he’ll have it tomorrow.’

Georgia’s voice brightens. ‘You would do that for me?’

‘What do you want to send?’

‘I have no idea.’

‘How about a stop sign?’

‘You mean the kind of thing you get at a road junction? Yes, that’s perfect.’

Tess laughs. ‘I was kidding.’

‘No, a stop sign is an excellent idea.’

‘Red and white, octagonal? I bet I can find you something like that. Give me a chance to plug this phone in next to the Mac, and call me back in ten minutes.’

*

In the gap between phone calls, Tess doesn’t once think about her anxiety. She is completely focused on ordering a pillarbox-red stop sign from Amazon.

She loads up the website, and has all the options ready for Georgia by the time the phone rings.

‘You can have metal, like the kind you get as a proper traffic sign, or you can have stickers that would go on a wall?’

‘You’ve found one already? I wasn’t sure you would manage it.’

‘It was fine. It turns out that doing something for someone else isn’t the same as doing it for myself. Do you want metal or a sticker?’

Georgia laughs. ‘I think that I would like to make a statement, and there isn’t a much bigger statement than a whacking great metal road sign being delivered, is there?’

‘How big, exactly? You can have thirty centimetres, forty-five or sixty.’

Georgia doesn’t hesitate. ‘Sixty. He’s not the only one who can make bold pronouncements.’

Tess smiles. ‘Right.’

‘My card details should be stored on the site so just go ahead and order it. He’s on the account as a person who gets parcels because I’ve been sending him things while he’s been up north. He hasn’t been able to get out much.’

‘Stanley Goodwin?’

‘That’s him. I’ll go and have my dinner now, and leave this in your capable hands. And in the morning, I’ll try and work out how to get to the north-west coast of Scotland from the middle of France.’