‘He told me.’

‘I have to go. I’ll see you at the next committee meeting.’

Gabe touched her arm. The lightest most fleeting touch. Then he drew back and folded his arms as if he was ashamed of making physical contact with her My God, she thought, this was going to be excruciating.

Gabe’s expression was so serious, goosebumps popped out on her arms. ‘I would pull out but I can’t let people down now,’ he said.

‘That would make a change,’ she muttered, desperate to get away.

Before he could stop her, Sam turned on her heel and headed towards the cottage. She heard Gabe calling to the driver, but didn’t dare look round. Soon his voice was lost in the dull roar of the waves dragging at the shingle on the beach below the cottages and the cries of gulls high above her. Only when she was outside her garden gate, did she risk a glance behind her. There was no sign of Gabe, only the rear of the van disappearing between the gates of Clifftop House before they slid shut.

Chapter Eleven

‘Are you all right, Sam?’ Zennor asked. She was already home, putting fresh fleece in the pig palace when Sam walked into the sitting room.

She collapsed down on the sofa. ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’ she replied, more sharply than she’d meant, so she tempered it with a smile. Gabe was back, like a spectre – only a living, breathing, vibrant spectre who’d turned her life upside down again and brought so many memories tumbling back.

She had tried to calm down before walking inside. The shock after so long had rattled her far more than she’d expected, but she didn’t want to bring her raging emotions into the house. She really wanted to put things into perspective for Zennor’s sake as much as her own, but it was harder than she’d anticipated.

‘You’re all red in the face and you look as if you’re ready to murder someone. Even your hair means business.’ Zennor pulled off the Marigolds.

‘What?’ One hand instinctively went to her new haircut. ‘Oh. My hair … yes …’

‘Makes you look professional. Scarily professional.’

‘Thanks,’ said Sam. Trust Zennor to make her smile even after an encounter like the one she’d just had. She decided to come clean. ‘I … um … I saw Gabe on my way up here.’

Zennor dropped the gloves onto the bag of bedding. ‘Oh my God. Not at Clifftop House? He really is moving in, then?’

‘Yes. I drove his removal van up to the gates.’ She finally allowed herself a grim smile at the memory of the driver’s face before bracing herself for her sister’s reaction.

Zennor squealed in horror. ‘What the actual fuck? I didn’t see you come past?’