Seeing the little girl’s face fall, Clancy said, ‘How about if I just come for ten minutes? Because then I’ll have jobs to get back to.’ It seemed to work for Daisy, who asked if she could be ‘Nelson’s lead person’ and trotted happily at the big dog’s side, her head just level with his good eye. Though Lee was careful of Daisy as they passed beneath the colourful gardens of Marshview Road, scrunching up their eyes against the sun, once they got to the footpath to the clifftops he allowed her to go a few steps ahead, though well away from the cliff edge.

Lee was a lovely dad, Clancy decided. He always had a smile for Daisy, even when she sulked because Clancy left them on the beach to go home.

In the past two weeks, Clancy had seen Aaron only when they talked about the cottages or the dog. He’d withdrawn since the day she’d received the texts about Will and Renée’s baby. Oh, he’d remained perfectly pleasant and polite as he drove her home but he hadn’t suggested they stay out for dinner or tried to kiss her again. Well, OK, he did give her a peck on the cheek as he left her at her door but no red-blooded woman would consider that a kiss.

As she’d thanked him for the lovely day and stepped into the silence of the Roundhouse, she cursed Will’s text and her reaction to it. She’d been enjoying the day, feeling a little like Sleeping Beauty because when Aaron had kissed her she had certainly woken up. And then she’d retreated into herself; Aaron had backed off, and she couldn’t blame him. He’d taken her out for the day and then she’d turned moody over another man. And, deep inside, she hadn’t really needed him to point out that Will’s treatment of her was going from bad to worse. It was making her question even the years they’d supposedly been happy, before Renée launched herself back into his heart. It felt uncomfortably as if he’d settled for Clancy once he’d thought the love of his life was gone.

Last Sunday, while in Hunstanton with Dilys, she’d finally replied to Will’s texts.

Congratulations to you and Renée. I very much hope you’re enjoying your life as much as I’m enjoying mine. She could imagine him reading that last sentence and wondering whether she was having a lovely time or a horrible one, for her to wish him the same.

Alice hadn’t emailed this week so Clancy left a chatty email for whenever her parents touched civilisation again, and then she did her shopping.

In the car on the way home, after they’d found a way to cram their bags in the boot of her Beemer, Ernie, as usual converting his thoughts into words uncensored, had said, ‘I like you now, Clancy,’ which had made her laugh even as a tear came to her eye.

The first half of July was quiet. Aaron phoned to say he was working at a house where the owners had two labradors and every day had become a playdate for Nelson. Aunt Norma was much steadier on her crutches now and he probably wouldn’t have to call on Clancy to dog-sit much in the future.