Except that here the wave closed out. It dumped him and held him under, pummelling him hard. He felt the yank and release of his leg rope and knew it had snapped clean. Coming up gasping, he looked around. In time to see the board bounce against the breakwall, hard and white and brittle like a piece of old cuttlefish.

Just like that, it broke in two, his beautiful prized board. One half bobbed on the surface; the other tumbled out of sight. So that was it: wipeout. What a comprehensive fuck-up. He swam to retrieve what was left, the piece of board he could see. By this point, the tide was getting fuller. Behind him, over the sandbar, the waves fattened as they formed. Without the tempering effect of the incoming tide, the outgoing rip was stronger. It was dangerous, this rip.

Forgetting his board, he looked for Max, raking the lineup with his gaze. When he spotted him, out the back, he was catching his own wave. He made the steep takeoff, a small miracle in itself. He survived the sticky middle section where the wave looked like it could crumble. It almost closed out too, then didn’t. It barrelled along the bar. Damien saw him in the barrel – he was crouching, holding on.

This is the wave, Damien thought, that should have been his, the best left in Europe. It was the wave of the day, a glorious thing they would remember, Damien with a tinge of envy, but also with a shot of pride. Because despite being sick of Max, he was also somehow thrilled. ‘Go, Max, go!’ he shouted, giving a hoarse, yodelling whoop.

It was beautiful to watch him. It was a useless, beautiful pursuit, the act of riding waves. He figured Max should come away from this triumphant, and it looked like he did at first. He scudded in on the wash and clambered out after Damien. He grinned as he approached, flicked the water from his hair and laid his board flat on the grass.

‘Thought you’d go without me, did you?’

‘You snooze, you lose, my friend.’

‘You shouldn’t have left me. You shouldn’t have gone without me.’ He was still grinning when he said this but he was serious all the same, serious enough to make Damien look twice.

You shouldn’t have left me. Here at last was the accusation. It was what he’d wanted to say out loud since they swam back from that cave. The next thing Damien knew, his cousin moved to trip him, wrenching him by the shoulders and sticking his leg out behind his. Damien spun about on instinct and seized his shoulders in return.