Yvonne sighed, then managed a smile. ‘Message received and understood, Aaron. If she’s all right with you then that’s all the rest of us need to know, isn’t it?’ She hugged him in the tightly squeezy way that told him she felt he was being exasperating but she supposed she’d have to put up with it.

After clapping his father on the shoulder and kissing Aunt Norma’s cheek, he popped his head into the lounge to say goodbye to Lee and Daisy. ‘Are we cool?’ he asked Lee softly.

‘’Course.’ Lee even summoned up a smile.

Daisy was too caught up with what she was watching to take her eyes from the TV screen as she said, ‘Bye! Will you bring Nelson next time?’

‘Would you tear yourself away from the telly if I did?’ he joked.

He was rewarded by a beaming smile as she pointed at the TV. ‘If it’s not In the Night Garden.’

He set off back to his place with a spring in his stride. He’d sorted things out with Clancy; he’d sorted things out with his family – even if he was well aware that his mother and aunt would take a while to come around. They each shared the trait of staking claims on what they saw as the moral high ground and then taking a while to be convinced if that ground shifted. He knew their attitude had sprung from a wish to protect Lee.

He arrived home and let Nelson leap up and paw the air while Aaron grabbed the lead to take him for a run along the clifftops. Maybe tomorrow Clancy would be free and they could take Nelson for a long walk along Brancaster Beach and find somewhere good to eat.

When a knock fell on his back door, he pulled it open, a smile of greeting at the ready. Then he saw it was Genevieve who stood there rather than Clancy making an early appearance as he’d hoped. ‘Oh! Hello, Gen.’

Though she greeted Nelson who, showing no understanding of human dynamics, hurled himself at her with his dance of love, Genevieve smiled thinly at Aaron, holding out a key. ‘I thought it would be a good idea to return this.’

Awkwardly, Aaron relieved her of it. ‘Thanks. Come on in and I’ll get yours.’ He didn’t lie and say he hadn’t thought about returning each other’s keys.

She only came in as far as the doormat and didn’t close the door while Aaron accomplished the fiddly task of removing her key from his keyring. ‘How are you?’ he asked as the silence became uncomfortable while he wrestled with the recalcitrant spring with his non-existent nails.

‘Disappointed, I suppose,’ she replied flatly.

Having no real idea how to answer, when he’d finally wrangled the key off the ring he passed it to her. Did ex etiquette indicate that he should offer her coffee when it really wasn’t convenient? He resisted flashing a glance at his watch. Clancy could arrive at any time.