‘As badly as it could have gone, given that we didn’t actually come to blows. I was as tactful as I could be but Mum was just devastated. I could have tipped a barrel of water over her and she’d have been less shocked. Honestly, Jago, I think I’ve made a terrible mistake telling her. I should have just kept it all to myself. She’ll never want to speak to me again.’

Jago came forward and took her into his arms, pressing her face into his old Guernsey jumper. It was dusty, a bit smelly and scratched her face. She didn’t ever want to move away.

‘Look, it seems terrible now but you and your mum love each other. You’ll be friends again in no time. It’s just the shock of it. When she gets used to the idea of it all she’ll think about it and realise you only did it for the best.’

‘I know,’ Helena told his jumper. ‘But I’ve shattered her dreams, and for what? If she loves him, she’s going to stay with him. It’s just me she’ll hate.’

‘Come into the house and have a cup of tea,’ said Jago.

‘You’re busy. You haven’t time for tea.’ Reluctantly Helena let go of Jago’s jumper; she’d been unaware of clutching it.

‘If I haven’t got time to give a friend a cuppa when they’re in a state we might as well give up. Come on.’

He put his arm round Helena’s shoulders and took her into the house.

‘I’m so sorry to cry all over you like that,’ said Helena, sitting down at the kitchen table. ‘I hope I haven’t got snot on your jumper.’

‘My jumper would be honoured and besides, it’s had far worse. Fish guts being one example.’

‘Oh, yuck!’ Helena had stopped sniffing now and felt bizarrely better for her cry.

‘I know!’ he said. ‘I had a job on a fishing boat one summer and I kind of liked the uniform so I kept it.’

Helena nodded, not knowing what to say.

‘Now,’ he went on, pushing a mug of tea towards her. ‘Tell me what Gilly said?’

When Helena had finished, he said, ‘So you didn’t even eat your soup? ‘You must be hungry.’

‘Not really. I’ve lost my appetite. The tea is good though. I should go, anyway.’

‘I expect you want to finish sorting out your loom.’

‘Yes, but I’ve also got a room to look at, for me to live in, for when I have to move out of my studio. It’s in a shared house at the top of town. Not huge and quite expensive for what it is, but OK.’