She bit her lip and winced.

It was a pity that the others felt so very bad about the end of La Mosaïque.

Of course it would be a struggle for them all. She felt slightly foolish for having put quite so much of her spare cash into the place, but, until yesterday, nothing about that seemed to be risky. In fact, the whole project seemed to be just like a game they were all playing while waiting for the spoils.

Her feelings towards La Mosaïque reminded her of moments when she was a child, running a post office with one of those paper kits your grandparents invariably gave you every Christmas. Little pink, yellow and blue envelopes; stamps with teddy bears and bunny rabbits on them; a rubber stamp and a red ink-pad …

Now she and her friends were running a toy restaurant, only this time the food was real and customers were spending real money, not plastic tokens. But Sally and her friends carried none of the actual pressing anxiety that all the other local establishments must have been feeling over the last three years.

For, at the back of the minds of the owners of La Mosaïque, whatever came to pass there was always that safety net lurking: the cosy, warm security of the Picasso.

She opened her eyes.

Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!

She laughed aloud, even though she was lying alone on the beach. She peered along the way to see if anyone had heard her.

It reminded her of when she played Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady for one of the better northern repertory companies. Hadn’t Higgins said that when she slammed the door on him?

She looked around to make sure no one was staring. But the other people there all seemed too preoccupied with digging out their sunglasses and blowing up beach balls to care about anyone else.

Now that La Mosaïque would soon meet the dust Sally also realised that she was going to have a lot more time to herself, which might be fun.

She could get back to classes at the Sea School. See if she could get that Yachtmaster Certificate. Or perhaps she could try something else. A course in wine or perfume. There was so much opportunity if you went out to find it.

A shadow fell across her face.

At first she presumed it was someone passing by, looking for somewhere to set down their blanket for the afternoon. But the shadow remained.

Sally felt quite irritated that these people were blocking her sun. She wished they would just settle and get out of her ray of sunshine.

She kept her eyes determinedly shut.

‘Oh, yes! It is.’

‘I don’t believe it.’

They spoke English, too. How awful! She prayed it was not fans who remembered her from years back when she was well known on English TV.

‘Sal? Is that you?’

Sally opened her eyes. She could barely see who was looking down, but could tell it was two people, a man and a woman.