Luca had paused beneath the cottage porch, trapping Pax outside. ‘Sure, a walk will do me good. I’d like to take a gander round the place. The sun’s coming out.’

‘Let’s all go together,’ Ronnie suggested.

Pax was looking straight at the gin bottle under her arm. ‘I should call Mack.’

Equally certain she shouldn’t, Ronnie pressed her case. ‘Leave that a bit longer. You always love seeing the broodmares. Let’s take Luca round, get some fresh air. You know the set-up here as well as I do.’

‘It’s been years since I played a part here.’

‘Longer still for me.’

‘Yes, remind me. How many decades ago was it you ran off and abandoned us all?’

Ronnie glanced at Luca, who had stooped down to make a fuss of her dogs, politely pretending not to hear.

‘Well, I am not abandoning Kes.’ Tension was radiating off Pax like white heat, calm voice at odds with wild eyes. ‘Which is why I need to speak to his father to work out some details.’ She looked away, encroaching tide of tears turned back by furious willpower.

Three centuries of Percys not hugging were nothing to Ronnie’s burning need to wrap her arms around her daughter at that moment, but she knew that to do that would infuriate and upset Pax more. ‘A walk round will help to clear your head, take your mind off things.’

‘I don’t want my mind off things. I want to think about Kes and about Mack and his family and how we’re going to make this work. I want my head full of all the ways to ensure none of us hurts any more than we have to. I don’t want to take my mind off any of it, because it’s important. You took your mind off Daddy so long he drank himself to death.’

‘Whoa! That’s a bit harsh.’ Luca stood up.

‘You keep out of this!’ Pax snarled.

‘Yes, best keep out of this, Luca,’ Ronnie said quickly. ‘I’ll show you round.’

‘Good idea,’ growled Pax, pushing back through the porch and hurriedly closing the door.

Luca blew out through his lips. He’d noticed the plum gin under Ronnie’s arm too, she realised as his green eyes levelled with hers, secrets reflected between them.

‘Just putting this in the car for Lester.’

*

Hangover lifted, Bridge felt refreshingly pukka as she drove home from the gym, Fantasy Ash bound and gagged in her car boot. Having willingly sacrificed her JOMO New Year’s Eve to red wine, girl talk and owning the village hall mosh pit, she’d decided she would make the most of her last night without Aleš and the kids: scented candles, comfort pasta, charcoal mask and serious job-hunting. Plans for a career swerve were fresh in her head. Her tiny, tidy house was waiting for her. Fantasy Ash could stay trussed up in the boot. He’d just clutter the place up, and she had some serious Zen me-time planned.

Singing along to Anne-Marie, she banked the car up on the pavement outside the cottage, not caring how wonkily because Aleš wasn’t here to see her lousy parking.