“Yes, I heard you.” She couldn’t do this now. Reinforcements were called for. “Greg! Coffee is ready.”

“I’m here.” Greg strolled into the room and Eden immediately shifted from combative to cheerful.

“Hi, Dad.”

“Hi yourself.” He greeted his daughter with a swift kiss on the top of her head, which Eden still tolerated as long as no one she knew was around to witness it. “How’s my family this morning?”

Tired, Mel thought as she stood up and handed him the flask of coffee she’d made. Eden had been a feisty toddler, with firm opinions on everything from clothes to food. Mel had told herself that things would get easier when she was a teenager. She’d been wrong. Maybe she should stop fighting with her. Stop trying to steer her decisions in a more sensible direction. At what point should you step back and let them live their lives, mistakes and all?

The question nagged at her and she was relieved when Eden and Greg departed, one to school and one to work.

Mel wasn’t needed in the café for a few hours and she decided to use the time to find a book to replace the one she’d finished in the bath the night before.

She grabbed her purse and her keys and headed out of the house. It was a five-minute stroll to Main Street, and she lifted her face to the sun in an attempt to lower her stress levels.

It was early, but already the streets were buzzing with summer visitors.

Mel pushed open the door of the Beach Bookstore and the bell clanged in that pleasing, familiar way that reminded her why she’d chosen to work in the family business and stay in her hometown of Silver Point, California.

Silver Point, with its cobbled streets and glorious beaches, was a much-photographed section of the Californian coastline to the annoyance of the police department, who were tired of people almost killing themselves while posing for the perfect selfie. The small ocean-side town nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Lucia Mountains. In the peak summer months people often drove right past it on their way to the tourist hotspots of Carmel and Monterey.

That suited Mel. She loved her home, where mountains met the ocean, and would happily have kept it all to herself. This was her place and she belonged here, with these people she’d known all her life. She ran on the numerous hiking trails that crisscrossed the mountains, through forests of Monterey pine, cyprus and cedar trees. She surfed and swam in the ocean under skies so blue it seemed unreal.

Still, Eden’s words dug at her. It was like walking with a stone in her shoe.

I don’t want to settle, like you did.

She had a brief vision of high heels and city life, the busy buzz of crowded streets and the glint of sunshine on glass skyscrapers.