"Won't they mind?" I asked, some clarity briefly returning as I took it.

“Mind? They take enough drinks off me, bloody students."

“Bloody students," I repeated slowly. I enjoyed the sound of it. "I don't swear enough, Ted. I'd like to do it more."

He laughed. "You are away."

"No, but seriously. I will. You'd like my friend Shona, she swears a lot."

"I don't think I do, that much!" he protested.

“No, but still, you'd like her. Works for the BBC.”

“So you said.”

“Big microphone. Furry one. Big job. Tiny girl. Like these. These tiny grains of sand." I gazed in wonder as I took a handful and let the grains pour through my fingers. “Look! Look at all the little animals! Crabs, beetles — turtles!" I showed him a miniature turtle on the palm of my hand in fascination.

He laughed. “Come on. Time to get you back, I think.”

I gazed at him, at his handsome, smiling, slightly craggy, good-natured face. "Not until I've kissed you," I informed him gravely. I took his face in both my hands, brought it towards me, and kissed him, very seriously, and very thoroughly, on the lips.

“There," I said when I'd finished. I returned his surprised face to its rightful position. “That's better. I thought it would be a good idea earlier, in the restaurant, and it was."

He threw back his head and roared. "Well, I certainly found it more than just A Good Idea. But to be continued, I feel, at a later date. Let's get you home." He got up and helped me to my feet, which were wobbly and not quite so gazelle-like now.

“Oi - Ted! You stole our bottle!”

A few outraged students ran across from the dance floor and swarmed around Ted. He laughed and held up his hands.

"Literally, barely had a sip. But frankly, if I'd known it was yours, Shaun Casey, I'd have finished it. I've kept you in beer for three years!"

More jokey banter ensued as they pooh-poohed this notion, and reclaimed their bottle, with much discussion about who drank more, the professor or his students. Then a girl approached, one of the two pretty blonde ones who had originally rushed up to drag Ted away, and she said something sharper to Ted, something cutting. A couple of the boys had to calm her, tell her to pipe down, but I didn't really take much notice because I was somewhat distracted. As Ted broke off from them and came back towards me, I was staring away into the distance.

I realized I'd recognized a couple walking away from the fire in the opposite direction: back along the beach towards town, where Ted and I had just come from. The figures had gone now, they'd disappeared around the rocks of the headland. But I was absolutely sure I'd seen Peter and Janey, arm in arm.

Chapter 17