He looked so downbeat, so disheartened by his daughter’s mendacity, that Em felt sorry for him. Thank God her kids had always been straight with her. She hated the thought of them lying about anything. No wonder George seemed so stricken. Wrapped in her towel, she went over to hug him. ‘Kids, eh?’ she said, her voice muffled by his shoulder. Then she snorted. ‘That seems to have become the catchphrase of this holiday.’

‘Charlotte said to apologize too,’ he said as they drew apart. ‘Seren’s just finding it hard, she thinks, us being apart. It’s the first summer she’s had where she’s been shuttled back and forth like this; she’s probably thinking about other holidays where we were still a family and . . .’

‘Charlotte doesn’t have to apologize for anything,’ Em said quickly, seeing George becoming more miserable by the second. ‘And neither do you. If Seren says sorry to Izzie, we can clear the air, start again. Right?’

He nodded. ‘Right. I’ll bring about the truce, get the peace treaty signed and sealed and then how about I take us all out for pizza tonight?’

Em began combing her wet hair and smiled at him in the mirror. ‘Sounds like a plan,’ she said. He left the room and she heard him knocking gently on Izzie’s door.

There. Over. Sorted. Even better, her own child wasn’t in the wrong for once. She picked up the hairdryer, feeling as if they might just have turned a corner. Smooth roads and happy holidays ahead, she thought.

Chapter Twenty

‘Are you sure this is safe?’ Maggie asked with a nervous laugh. ‘I’m not about to plunge to an early death or anything?’

The man tugging on the straps of her harness to check they were secure paused to consider her question. He was in his mid-twenties, she guessed, burly to the point of almost bursting out of his green ‘forest ranger’ uniform, and had a dimple in his cheek when he smiled. ‘Let’s see, it’s Wednesday today, isn’t it?’ he said in reply. ‘Nope. No early deaths booked in for today, you’re all safe.’

‘Ha-ha,’ said Maggie apprehensively. ‘That was a joke, right?’

‘Let’s hope so!’ he replied. ‘Okay, you’re all set. Last question is: do you want a push or are you going to jump?’