‘Actually …’ Alice leaned towards Clancy confidingly. ‘Actually, to be honest …’ She dragged the final word out through barely parted lips and lowered her voice. ‘Hugo is being a pain in the arse. We’re not getting on very well. Being shut up in the van with him whinging and freeloading was doing my head in. There’s at least a bit more space here. And a spare bed for when he passes out and snores like a pig.’

If Clancy’s heart could have sunk any lower it would have.

Alice brightened. ‘So tell me everything that’s been going on in Nelson’s Bar.’ Then, before Clancy could answer, dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. ‘Is Lee still around? I’ve been thinking about him a lot.’

‘Erm …’ In a burst of horror, Clancy realised how unwelcome Alice’s homecoming was going to be amongst Aaron’s family. How the hell was Lee going to react when he realised the breaker of his heart had turned up again? ‘Erm …’ she said again, faintly this time. She was going to have to give Aaron the news.

Crap.

Crap.

And double crap.

Her rosy vision of this evening popped like a bubble.

‘Well, is he?’ Alice’s voice demanded, sounding somehow far away.

Clancy jumped up, casting round for her bag and keys. ‘I’ll leave you to settle in and … whatever. I expect I’ll see you soon.’ As they were now living in the same house. Crap.

In seconds she was outside the front door and, after a moment to check out the motorhome parked outside like a small lorry, hurried away from the Roundhouse up Long Lane. A blood-red sunset was beginning, turning the cottages pink and making the flowers in the gardens glow ethereally, but she barely saw it. It wasn’t until she was within sight of Aaron’s place that her pace faltered. Then she squared her shoulders and opened the garden gate, circumnavigating the workshop on the side of the house to knock at the back.

A volley of barks followed and the boarded wooden door shook, presumably at the onslaught of a large canine.

Then Aaron pulled the door open, calming Nelson’s excitement, his face creased into a smile. ‘Am I pleased to see you,’ he said, pulling her into his arms and resting his cheek on top of her head while Nelson bounced around them.

She laughed hollowly as her head came to rest on his shoulder. ‘You might not be in a minute.’

He pulled away to examine her expression. ‘What’s the matter?’

It was like ripping off a sticking plaster. The only way was to do it quickly. ‘Alice is at the Roundhouse. She’s just turned up. With her husband.’

His face went slack with surprise. ‘Seriously? Did you know she was coming? Husband?’

She felt curiously hurt. ‘Don’t you think I might have mentioned it if I’d known she was coming?’ she asked tightly. ‘Particularly with a husband?’

He pulled her close again. ‘Sorry, stupid questions. But, shit, this is going to put the cat amongst the pigeons.’