Sam gave a little whoop of triumph that her guess had been right. ‘Caitlin? Do I know her?’

‘Don’t think so. As a matter of fact, I’m seeing her later this evening only I didn’t want to say so earlier. This is only our third date.’

She let out a mock gasp. ‘Third date? My God, should I buy a hat?’

‘Not just yet, but I don’t mind admitting I’m pretty smitten.’

‘Wow.’ She planted a kiss on his cheek, delighted to have been trusted with the news about his new girlfriend. ‘But you’re not bringing her to Chloe’s party?’

‘Oh, I’m not sure she’d fit in. After all, would you bring a new bloke to one of our committee booze-ups?’

‘On careful reflection, no. Not unless I wanted to split up with them. And besides, there is no one in my life at the moment.’

‘At the moment, eh? I heard you were seeing Hunky Carl Trenow.’

She gasped, shocked that Drew knew about her most recent ‘relationship’ with the handsome helm of the Marazion lifeboat. ‘What? I only went out with him three times and we were meant to be keeping it quiet.’

‘Not quiet enough. It was all around Porthmellow.’

‘In that case, you’ll know we called it a day,’ she said curtly, still taken aback at how fast the gossip had spread.

‘Word has it you wouldn’t let him wear his yellow wellies in bed. Most women beg him to wear them, apparently.’

‘What? That’s outrageous!’ She huffed loudly. ‘I hope Carl didn’t say that or I’ll sort him out. Things never even got that far …’ She paused, realising she’d shared too much information with Drew. ‘Who told you about the wellies?’

‘Oh, it was a bit of banter at the station and on the quayside. We all knew it was rubbish. Most people thought it was more likely that Carl bored you to death.’

She made a mock strangling gesture. ‘This bloody place. The gossip is terrible. Carl – and I never called him Hunky Carl – and I decided not to see each other again because we didn’t click, and that’s all. He was obsessed with playing with his Xbox and he thought gourmet food was having HP sauce on his chips rather than tomato ketchup. To be honest, I was sooo relieved when he was called on a shout before our final date, and when he asked me to go to a lifeboat barbecue, I told him I couldn’t make it because I had a meeting about the Portaloos. He didn’t call me again and that suited me fine.’ Sam’s cheeks turned warm, thinking of people discussing her sex life – or lack of – with Hunky Carl, the most boring ‘hero’ on the planet.

Drew laughed. ‘What are we like, eh? Both as bad as each other at romantic stuff.’