It had been a devastating blow when Roz had been killed in a road accident when Sam was nineteen, Zennor was fourteen and Ryan twenty-one. It wasn’t easy to get social services to agree that Zennor could stay with Sam and Ryan. Sam was a trainee baker at the time while Ryan had got his first job on the trawler. Not that he kept it for long. He decided that a life at sea wasn’t for him and left to work in a bookies in Penzance before moving to his ‘management position’ in the arcade.

That’s really when all the trouble started; Sam was now convinced that Ryan had never really come to terms with their mum’s sudden death. It was only after she died that Ryan’s ‘issues’ came to a head and it all blew up.

Sam had started going out with Gabe six months before Roz died, though she’d had her eye on him for far longer, of course. She’d noticed him when it seemed other girls didn’t know he existed. The serious, intense boy in the chip shop, who served up the meals with barely a smile. Like he was there as a penance. She now knew why. Gabe adored his parents, but felt under pressure to take over the business, when his dreams lay in going to university.

The irony was that in the end, he’d set aside his academic studies to train as a chef. It had obviously worked out, judging by the fact he’d rented Clifftop House, and by the customised Range Rover Sam had glimpsed through the gates – not to mention the two restaurants he owned in London. Now it appeared he was launching his takeover of Porthmellow. What if his rental of Clifftop House wasn’t only temporary and he intended to move in permanently? Surely not? Sam shuddered inwardly. Well, she’d find out soon enough and she’d just have to deal with it.

‘Here you go.’

Sam opened her eyes to find Zennor standing over her with a large pink gin with strawberries in it. ‘Dinner’s in the oven. You weren’t asleep, were you?’

‘No. I am a bit knackered though. I went into Stargazey early this morning as we had a big order for a festival.’

‘You work too hard.’

‘I’ve no choice. Who’s going to pay the bills? Not that you don’t contribute your fair share. I didn’t mean that,’ Sam added hastily, accepting the drink from Zennor. It was a huge relief that she, Zennor and Ryan all jointly inherited the cottage after their mum’s death, so there was no rent, but there were still all the other usual bills to pay, not to mention food – and gin, which right now, felt like an essential.