Clancy giggled. ‘Oops,’ she said. ‘Did we barge in? We could leave …’

Harry treated her to a huge grin, saying, generously, ‘We don’t mind sharing if you don’t do anything we shouldn’t see.’

‘What, with all this sand about?’ Aaron joked, dropping to the beach alongside the lads. ‘How are things?’

Brows clunking down over his eyes, Harry shrugged. ‘Dad’s bringing university and girls into every conversation. He’s said everything but “I know how to set you straight”.’ He shared a glance with Rory. ‘He’s being fake and it makes me feel fake. I’ll be glad to get away now.’

Aaron made an ‘awkward’ face. ‘It’s a tough time. You know I’ll support you whatever you decide to say or not say to Jordy.’

‘Not say,’ Harry said feelingly, taking Rory’s hand. ‘We just want to get out and be ourselves.’

The conversation turned to lighter things, to Secret Beach, jumping The Leap and the village in general. When the conversation moved on to villagers she knew vaguely or not at all, Clancy rolled onto her back, an arm across her eyes. It was so peaceful here, letting the sun dry her on Secret Beach where Harry and Rory felt safe enough for the very minor public display of affection that was the holding of hands. Without opening her eyes, she took Aaron’s hand too. His fingers tightened over hers for an instant’s silent communication.

The waves hissed rhythmically onto the beach and the gulls sounded far away, high on the wind. Clancy thought about last night in Aaron’s bed. And today, working through the chores together, smoothing fresh-smelling sheets and clearing away the combination of dust, crumbs and sand left by every batch of holidaymakers. Being with Aaron gave her a feeling of contentment she never remembered feeling with Will.

Aaron was so much his own man, creating gardens and guitars, things of beauty, with the skill in his hands.

Her life with Will had been so bound up in IsVid, in the industry and intensity she’d come to think of as normal for achievers, the work/life balance tipped firmly in favour of ‘work’ by long hours and the importance of success.

Here … here in Nelson’s Bar her existence was different. Just as yesterday evening she and Aaron had run to the sanctuary of his house from the pelting rain, thunder and lightning crashing and flashing, she’d run to the village to shelter from a life-storm.

In the coming months, she thought drowsily, there would be a lot of money coming her way as Renée bought her out of the apartment and the others bought her out of the company. For the first time she let herself really think that Nelson’s Bar could provide her forever home. She could buy herself a house, get herself a stake in it.

Her parents had derived huge satisfaction in playing their part in building things that not only changed the landscape of the countries they visited but also left the region enriched by their efforts. Schools. Assembly halls. Transport hubs. Perhaps Clancy was only just discovering a similar trait in herself.