Alice gurgled with laughter. ‘That’s Hugo,’ she agreed. ‘Isn’t he a pain in the arse? He does not know the meaning of the word “tidy”. He’s a teeny bit spoilt, I’m afraid. Some of the people we met in the States christened him “Hugo Fuck-up” instead of Hugo Suffolk.’ She pealed with laughter. ‘We get on each other’s nerves all the time when we’re in the van.’

Gritting her teeth, Clancy persisted. ‘I am going to have to insist on these boundaries though, Alice. Hugo’s drunk all my wine—’

‘Oh, come on, Clancy! I’ll get you more wine, if that’s all that’s bothering you.’ Alice pushed herself up from the bed.

Clancy put a detaining hand on hers. ‘It’s not. I’m bothered by the bathroom being left like a tip, I’m bothered by being treated rudely, by you coming into my room without a by-your-leave, by you stinking out downstairs by using it as a rubbish dump, by my things being taken without permission.’

Alice withdrew her hand and drifted serenely towards the door. ‘Gosh, aren’t we Miss Bossy? You can’t have everything your own way, Clancy. That’s not fair now, is it? We all have to learn to get along together if we’re going to house-share. You need to learn how to chill.’

Clancy listened to her cousin’s footsteps starting down the stairs and lifted her voice to follow them. ‘If I have no option but to abandon ship it might adversely affect the income you receive from Roundhouse Row. Someone would have to do all the changing of beds and cleaning. Dealing with Aaron …’

The footsteps returned. ‘OK, OK,’ Alice said, laughter in her voice. ‘You’ve been a star looking after things for me while I’ve been away and now doing the caretaker job. You deserve some consideration. I’ll have a little word with Hugo. OK?’ Then she withdrew once again.

Clancy rolled down on the bed and gazed at the ceiling. Everything was far from OK. She felt uneasy, uncomfortable, wound up and put upon. She indulged in a wistful fantasy that Alice had returned alone, the old Alice rather than this stranger Alice, and that the two cousins could have shared the Roundhouse in harmony. Living together could have been fun. Like the amicable sharing of opinions, gossip, films, books, friends and family whenever they’d been together in the old days.

Though she loved her cousin, the old Alice seemed just a memory.

And even if she didn’t agree with Aaron that Alice was all about herself she did feel uneasy that Alice hadn’t seemed one bit worried over how her return to Nelson’s Bar might affect Lee who, after all, she had hurt badly. The subject of Alice and Lee was causing tension between Clancy and Aaron. He hadn’t contacted her today. If he was going to become aloof every time some challenge came along then Clancy was going to be disappointed in him.

She remembered the research she’d agreed to do – was it only three days since the Parish Meeting? – about broadband and mobile signal in Nelson’s Bar and also the subject of crowdfunding for the B&B. Could she justify strolling up to Aaron’s cottage and asking to use his satellite broadband? If she stayed in the Roundhouse this evening her choices seemed to be skulking up here alone or suffering the company of Hugo downstairs …