At that moment Gilly regretted her failure to fully master using the diary function on her laptop and relying on an old-fashioned desk diary for her B & B bookings. She realised it made her look ancient, as if she couldn’t grasp new technology. She could, but she was a bit lazy about it, Helena always said.

Leo didn’t comment when she came back with her diary. Ulysses followed her into the room and jumped on the sofa between them. ‘So,’ she said, ‘when were you thinking of?’

‘June’s a lovely month,’ he said, pushing the cat on to the floor.

‘Yes,’ said Gilly, knowing it was also a busy one for her. She flicked through to June. There was a booking for every single weekend. ‘July?’ she suggested, hoping there’d be a vacant weekend in it.

‘I can’t understand why you’re booked up so early,’ said Leo, sounding a bit cross, possibly because the cat had jumped up again and was heading for his lap. ‘It’s only April!’

‘These clients have been coming for years,’ explained Gilly, setting Ulysses gently on to the floor. ‘They like to book well ahead to make sure of getting their favourite rooms.’

‘Well, could you ask them to rebook so they all come on the same weekend and you have a weekend free?’

‘Not really,’ said Gilly. ‘They’ve been coming on those weekends for years and there wouldn’t be room for them all at the same time.’ She realised she was repeating herself. ‘The weeks are freer. Why don’t we go midweek?’

‘I can’t go midweek. I work.’

‘September is a lovely month,’ said Gilly, dismissing the thought that she worked too at the same time as she fielded her cat who seemed determined to get on Leo’s lap. ‘Let me pencil in some dates for us to go away then.’ She quickly did so.

‘I’m sorry to be so impatient,’ Leo said. ‘I just want to take you away. If you sold this house and retired, you’d be freer.’ He got up from his chair and swiped at the cat hairs that had landed on him in spite of Gilly’s efforts to protect him.

Gilly laughed and realised it had sounded rather brittle. ‘That would be a rather drastic way of solving the problem,’ she said. ‘And it would take a lot longer than until September for it to be accomplished.’

‘I could expedite it. I’d have a buyer for this house in a flash. In fact, I’ve got someone—’ He stopped abruptly, possibly noticing Gilly’s reaction.

‘No need,’ she said crisply. ‘I don’t want to move.’

‘Don’t be too hasty to reject the idea. Think of the advantages. You’d be freeing up capital for your children, just when they need it most.’