Fern, busy fine tuning things in the café to her satisfaction before the impending dreaded hygiene inspection, hummed happily to herself as she worked. It had felt strange today arriving at the campsite without Belinda or Alain being there to greet her. She hoped that their visit to the hospice was not proving too traumatic for Chloe or Belinda. At least they were in good hands with Alain.

Fern smiled to herself. As much as Belinda might deny it, the telltale signs of their growing closeness were there for all to see. The evening they’d come for supper before Scott left, she’d detected a softness in Alain’s eyes as he’d looked at Belinda. The solicitous way he’d silently watched her, ready to shield her from anything that might upset her when Anouk had mentioned her family, well that spoke volumes. She could only hope that things had progressed between them before Belinda left.

As she cleaned the café windows it struck Fern how much her own life had changed in the last few months since she’d met Belinda. Anouk moving in with her was, she supposed, the biggest change of all so far, closely followed by this job – something which would never have happened she suspected without meeting Belinda. She was so looking forward to summer and earning some extra money. Extra money that she could save towards recuperating the money invested in the auberge. And then there was Scott.

The café door opened at that moment and Fern, expecting it to be a hopeful camper looking for food, opened her mouth to apologise for the café not being open, but it was Fabian. She looked at him in surprise.

‘Hi. What are you doing here? Anouk said she was expecting to see you this morning. Oh,’ her hand flew to her mouth, ‘has something happened to her?’

‘Non. Anouk is fine,’ Fabian quickly reassured her. ‘I wanted to see you. You look well. Are you ’appier too?’

‘Yes I’m happy,’ Fern said, smiling at him. ‘How are you all settling in at the Huelgoat house?’

‘It is wonderful. Carole she too is ’appy,’ Fabian said. ‘Anouk tells me you are the manager here for the season.’ He hesitated. ‘She also tell me you have met a man?’

Ah, so this is where the conversation was headed, Fern thought and waited for Fabian to continue.

‘An American?’

‘Yes Scott is American.’ Fabian, she could tell, was having difficulty in finding the right words to say what he wanted. Was he about to accuse her of being disloyal to his father? Tell her that it was too soon after Laurent? Well, she wasn’t going to help him out, put words in his mouth, so she waited patiently.

‘I am very ’appy for you,’ Fabian said, taking a deep breath before continuing. ‘But you tell this Scott please, that if he ’urts my step-mama he will regret. I will be on his case.’