She probably wouldn’t come back again, she had decided. After Lorna read what she had to say, she might not be welcome any more, for one thing, but also this was a place with so many memories of the past that she wanted to leave it behind now. So this would be her last day here and she was going to act like a holidaymaker: enjoy the town’s loveliness before she went on to spend the evening indulgently alone, doing all the things that motherhood had taken away from her. Eating late, drinking a lot, another long bath, a silent luxurious night. And then tomorrow . . .

Her thoughts kept snagging on that word. It was Thursday tomorrow and by then she would have spent four nights away from home, by far the longest time she’d ever been separated from the twins. Lorna and Roy had made it clear that the cottage would be empty until Friday and she could stay that long if need be, but Olivia didn’t want to overstay her welcome. Like it or not, she would have to make some decisions.

Not right now, though. Right now, she was going to revisit some old haunts around the town – her farewell tour, if you like, and then head out on her favourite walk, along the coastal path to Maenporth. Before she’d left them, her mum had loved this stretch of coastline and they’d gone there many times, rain or shine, in Olivia’s childhood. She could still remember her mum crouching beside her, pointing into the sea where a seal’s sleek fat head had popped up. ‘Look! Can you see it?’

Her thoughts turned to her own boys then – how she had crouched similarly between them, pointing out a horse on the downs, a huge tipper truck, a cat on a shed roof. Their little faces lighting up with wonder, their eyes shining as they all watched together. It hadn’t all been bad, she told herself. They’d shared some good moments, hadn’t they?

She was on Church Street, the bunting flapping in cheery zigzags above her head, following the crowds past a surf shop and a café, the streets full now that the rain shower had blown over. Overtaking her just then was a mother who seemed to be in charge of five children, including a baby in a papoose and a dozing toddler in a pushchair. ‘Okay, because you’ve all been so good this morning, you can each choose a book from the bookshop,’ she told them, at which the older three whooped and ran into the shop ahead of her.