‘Troy’s dislocated his shoulder,’ said Evie. ‘They’ve given him some pain relief and put it back but it’s very sore.’

‘I had to have an X-ray,’ said Troy. ‘And the nurse said it can be extremely painful.’

Evie rolled her eyes but patted his good arm. ‘He has to rest it for a few days. The good news is that I got hold of our Gemma and she’s on her way now. She’d been to a school play in Penzance and had her phone switched off.’

‘That’s a relief,’ said Sam.

‘Shall we wait with you until she gets here?’ Gabe asked.

‘Oh no. You’ve done more than enough. You two get off home to Porthmellow.’

‘If you’re sure?’ said Sam, unwilling to leave Evie and Troy on their own.

Evie smiled warmly. ‘More than sure. Go on. Gemma’s only twenty minutes away and I’m sure you and Gabe have a lot to do.’

Reluctantly, Sam agreed and kissed Evie goodbye with a request that she keep her updated on Troy’s condition.

‘I’ll be out in a minute,’ said Gabe, handing over his keys to Sam.

‘Oh. OK.’ She assumed he was off to the gents’ so she walked slowly to the car park. It was a big relief to know that Troy was OK. He’d clearly been in way more pain than he’d let on and Evie was worrying too. They might be an odd couple – Troy was odd, anyway, and Evie was lovely – but they were obviously devoted to each other and Evie’s story about how Troy came by his name was priceless. Some stories did have happy endings, some people did stay together for – well as close to forever as humans were ever allowed.

She opened the Range Rover and climbed inside. Gabe’s minute stretched to twenty and Sam checked her phone. Where had he got to?

Just as she was thinking of calling him, he jogged over the car park and opened the door. ‘Sorry, I was longer than expected.’

‘I thought you’d been admitted or something.’

‘No. I was um … with the nurses.’

Sam raised an eyebrow.

‘They wanted some selfies with me.’

‘What? I thought they told that guy that he couldn’t take pictures with patients?’

‘There’s one rule for the patients and one for staff. I agreed to donate some signed books and a meal at the new restaurant for the scanner appeal too.’

‘Wow. You really are a hero,’ Sam said sarcastically.

‘In some quarters,’ said Gabe, pushing the start button. The car purred into life. ‘Let’s go home.’