‘I thought I’d fallen in love with Nelson’s Bar,’ she said slowly, watching a delivery lorry stop outside a shop causing the traffic in both directions to have to squeeze into the remaining room with horn-blowing and hand-waving from irascible drivers. ‘But I’m not sure how Nelson’s Bar feels about me. Alice and Hugo arriving changed everything for the worse. If Hugo stays with Alice gone, the Roundhouse will be a torture chamber and he’s Alice’s legal husband so I have no power to chuck him out.’

‘I probably could,’ Aaron observed, ‘but it might take time.’ He waited for her to go on.

‘My B&B idea fell through. Kaz and Oli can’t even accept me as a long-term guest.’ Like the IsVid situation all over again, she’d realised, she’d begun to feel squeezed out.

Being wanted was important.

A sigh escaped her. ‘So I’ve been thinking about alternatives.’ She didn’t tell him that the alternatives were mainly driven by her trying to create conditions in which their relationship would flourish. ‘I thought maybe Thornham or Titchwell, until the end of October when bookings drop off at Roundhouse Row. Then my money should be through and I can think about starting up a business and buying a place.’

The frown had remained pinned to his forehead. ‘But not in Nelson’s Bar?’

‘I don’t think so.’ She blinked, because being pragmatic wasn’t always joyful.

‘How does being back here in London feel?’ he asked, after a minute.

‘Weird. Familiar. Good. Bad. As you know, I was towed along in my parents’ wake in my childhood. Going back instead of forward hasn’t cropped up much.’ She screwed up her face in thought. ‘Will asked me if I’d return to IsVid on a temporary basis until everyone gets back on their feet, but I’m not really needed because they’ll all be working from home on their laptops in no time. That part of my life is over. The agreements will soon be ready to be signed.’

‘Right.’ He gazed around himself, taking in the constant traffic noise, the endless stream of passing people.

She could almost see him hating the noise, the fumes, the bustle. ‘Do you think it would be a good idea to leave soon? This is a very late lunch and if we hang on much longer we’ll get caught up in rush hour.’

Slowly, he nodded. ‘OK. If you’re sure you’re ready to go, I’ll follow you up. Your Beemer’s a racer and my truck’s more of a cart horse.’

Clancy dawdled on the final leg of the journey, but Aaron’s truck never appeared in her mirrors.

Soon she was driving into Nelson’s Bar, through the dappled sunlight of the pinewoods, up Long Climb and curving down sharply into the final dip. When she pulled up in front of the Roundhouse she stepped out of her car with some ambivalence, glad to be back in Nelson’s Bar but not looking forward to interacting with Hugo again. Stretching out the kinks of the journey from her back and legs, she pulled her bag out of the boot and let herself in through the front door.