And yet . . . Did he still even want that from her? she wondered anxiously, retreating to a corner of the pool and propping her elbows on the wet concrete lip. Was he not tiring, just a little, of the real Em, now that he had seen her at her most shrill and stressed that afternoon? She had tried so hard to keep up appearances, to be the perfect holiday girlfriend for him, but she knew the mask had slipped earlier, revealing the mess of her true self beneath. Spending so much time in close proximity made you vulnerable, she had realized. With hindsight, it might have been better to keep the relationship on a more detached setting: dates where she only had to be charming and witty for a few hours, nights where she could throw her energies into being seductive and seduced, safe in the knowledge that he’d leave in the morning and she could slob about enjoyably in her old dressing gown in privacy afterwards. If only she had considered this earlier, before she went and blurted out her invitation to him!

As if sensing her doubts, George swam over to her and leaned on the edge of the pool beside her. ‘You okay?’ he asked. His bronzed wet arms gleamed in the sunlight, and she had to resist the urge to lay her head on them.

‘Yeah,’ she said. I’m just a girl in a slightly too-tight bikini standing in front of a boy with a sexy wet body, asking him to love her, she thought. Thankfully she didn’t say that out loud, though. Not least because she hadn’t qualified as being a ‘girl’ for more than twenty-five years. ‘Sorry about earlier. Me flying off the handle in a panic.’

He seemed unperturbed. ‘That’s okay. It all got a bit hectic, didn’t it?’

‘It did a bit.’ They smiled at each other rather apprehensively, then both spoke at once. ‘I’m finding it—’ she confessed just as he said, ‘I guess that’s the downside of—’

Then they stopped. ‘You first,’ she said, losing her nerve.

‘I was just going to say, that’s the downside of going on holiday with kids – your attention’s divided all the time, there are so many people to please.’

‘Yes,’ she replied gratefully. Exactly. And for a people-pleaser like Em, she had felt pulled in all directions. ‘It’s not easy, trying to navigate our own thing when we’re both having to be mum and dad as well. I hope this wasn’t . . .’ She swallowed, not sure if she dared say the words in case he went and agreed with them. ‘I hope this wasn’t too much too soon,’ she managed after a moment, gazing up at him worriedly through her eyelashes.