She won in the end. She got the prize. Maybe I let her or maybe eventually I didn’t see the point of the fight. If he wanted to leave Mum for someone like her I wasn’t going to change anything.

‘Dad, listen, I’m back on Evergreen,’ I tell him and wait for his reaction. One of Olivia’s unspoken conditions was that we forget Dad had a life before her, and as such any talk of the island between us faded many years ago.

‘Oh? What are you doing there?’

‘Well, did you see the news at the weekend?’ I ask. ‘Do you know what happened?’

‘The news …’ his voice fades.

‘About Evergreen,’ I prompt. ‘It was on TV. They found a body on the island.’

‘I don’t really remember watching the TV,’ he says.

‘But do you know what’s happened?’ I go on. ‘Where they found the body?’

There is silence for a moment as I wait for him to answer. ‘I think I do,’ he says at last. ‘I think someone came to talk to me about it.’

‘Dad,’ I say patiently, dipping my voice so the remaining two customers don’t hear me. ‘They found a body buried just outside our garden. Dad …’ I press, a little louder. ‘Did you hear what I said?’

‘Yes, my love, I heard, but it’s really raining now. I think I need to bring the clothes in.’

‘You have clothes out there?’ I mutter. ‘Dad, did you know that they’ve identified the body?’

‘No,’ he says slowly, more definitely this time. ‘No, my darling, I didn’t know that.’

I wait but he doesn’t ask. ‘It’s Iona,’ I tell him. ‘Do you remember her?’

‘Oh yes,’ he says gravely. ‘Yes. I do remember her …’ he trails off. ‘Is our treehouse still there?’ he asks suddenly. ‘I built that for you. You and Danny loved it in there.’

‘We did,’ I say.

‘I built it well.’ I can hear his smile seep through his words. ‘Your mum was worried it would collapse, but I bet you anything it’s still there.’

‘Yes, Dad, it’s still here,’ I lie, pain pressing at my heart.

‘You wanted to sleep in it,’ he is saying.

‘I did once,’ I admit, smiling sadly at the memory. ‘It was too cold, though. I didn’t last the night.’

See, we were happy. I do remember it right.

‘We had good times on the island,’ I murmur.

‘We did, my love.’

So what happened? Why did you make us leave?

‘Dad,’ I start, ‘you told Bonnie you took Iona back to the mainland at the end of the summer.’

A pause. ‘Did I?’

‘Do you remember her leaving? She was called away for a sick relative.’