Reflexively, Aaron tightened his fingers around hers. ‘Don’t go home—’

Her smile was strained. ‘I don’t have a home.’ She went up on her toes to give him a peck goodnight but turned away before he could catch her to him and kiss her properly. She slipped out into the evening, leaving him nursing a hollow feeling as he examined her final words.

I don’t have a home.

The Roundhouse probably didn’t feel like home now Alice had restaked her claim, installing Hugo to act as if he owned the place. Clancy’s portion of the home she’d shared with Will was being transferred into the ownership of his new wife and soon Will’s baby would live there too. The first eighteen years of her life had been spent transferring from country to country as her parents’ careers dictated. They’d flown home from Oman in time for her to be born in a hospital in London, she’d told him once, then they’d returned as soon as an airline would have her on board.

It was a far cry from being born and brought up in one small village. That was home. It always had been.

He thought about going after her, but then decided to respect her decision to be alone. And, since that initial meeting with Alice, he hadn’t felt much like visiting the Roundhouse or Roundhouse Row. Maybe he ought to change that; establish his right to be there. He could offer to help Clancy again on changeover day. It hadn’t seemed like work to breeze through the cottages in her company, watching the way her shorts clung to her rear as she hoovered and polished and changed sheets.

Meantime, he’d had a hard day in the sun after expending a lot of energy in bed with Clancy. He’d give Nelson a run because Aaron feeling knackered was not the dog’s fault, and then he’d go to bed.

As he was reaching for the door keys the phone on the kitchen wall began to ring, but he waited for it to go to the answering machine because he could think of several people he didn’t want to talk to right now. Then he heard Lee’s voice come down the line. ‘Oh, shit, aren’t you there?’

Instantly, he reached over and picked up. ‘Yeah, hi, what’s up?’ He didn’t have to be told something was up because Lee’s emotions were usually on show – in his body language or, in this case, his voice.

Lee groaned. ‘I’m going to ask you a huge favour. I know you’re not going to want to say yes but I’m asking you not to say no. It’ll only be temporary.’

Aaron’s heart began a slow descent towards the canvas shoes on his feet. ‘Go on.’

‘Can Daisy and I come and live with you until I can find somewhere else?’ Lee asked miserably.

Aaron sighed. ‘I don’t think I have to ask why.’

‘Yeah. Mum heard something about Alice and me and came home to give me a good telling off. Thirty-four is too old to be under the parental microscope and I told her to butt out. I’m mega-aware that you’re not keen on sharing your house but I promise it’s only until I can either find a rental or I get a completion date on my old place and buy somewhere else. Maybe in Hunstanton,’ he added, ‘because Daisy will go to school there and I’ve never been that thrilled about the village kids going on a minibus.’