‘Right,’ Em said weakly, unsure what else to say. She actually felt quite taken aback at the ferocity Seren had just displayed. Don’t take it personally, she told herself. Cut her some slack. She’s testing boundaries, that’s all. Seeing what she can get away with. ‘I’m going to build a moat,’ she announced after a moment, deciding to act as if the sandcastle-pulverizing hadn’t just occurred. ‘What are you going to build next?’

From where they were sitting on the sand, they could see the Frisbee game in full swing and both turned their heads as Izzie’s whoops of triumph drifted over on the sea breeze. Em smiled to see her daughter doing this strange little victory dance with the orange Frisbee held aloft, before she sent it skimming across to her brother. ‘They’re having fun,’ she commented, when Seren didn’t answer her question.

Seren had a rather tight look about her face as she began arranging a group of Sylvanian Families foxes on the coolbox, then dumped spadefuls of sand into a purple bucket. ‘My mummy is in another country now, because she has a very important job,’ she said grandly.

Great, back to everyone’s favourite subject: George’s wonderful ex-wife. ‘Wow, that’s exciting,’ Em replied, marking out the edges of her moat. ‘What job do you think you might want to do when you’re older? Let me guess . . . A lion tamer!’

‘No,’ said Seren, and just for a moment, Em thought she was on the verge of provoking a giggle for once. A scowl was forthcoming instead, though. ‘That’s not a proper job.’

‘An astronaut, then. A robot designer. Um . . . An ice-cream tester.’ Her own children had loved this game back when they were little, coming up with their own wild fantastical ideas amidst gales of laughter. Not Seren, apparently.

‘No! Those are silly jobs.’ She sat back on her haunches and eyed Em with a patronizing air, as if she was far too old for such childish nonsense. ‘I need some shells,’ she announced.

‘Right,’ said Em, whose ideas of cutting children a bit of slack did not extend to allowing them to boss her about like a minion. ‘You’d better get some then, hadn’t you?’

‘You get them,’ Seren countered.

Over my dead body, love. ‘I’m busy digging my moat,’ Em said sweetly. ‘Why don’t you look for some in the rock pools over there? I bet you can find some really cool ones.’

Seren’s nostrils flared. ‘My mum would find the best shells,’ she said.