‘It sounds much better than flat-hunting,’ Maddy says, with a sigh.

‘No joy?’ Claire asks.

‘No,’ Jamie says. ‘Although we did have some good news. Go on, Mum. Tell them.’

Maddy smiles at him. ‘Well, it’s nothing … well, it might be something.’

‘Mum’s got a consultant.’

‘Had a consultant. When I could afford her. Manpreet.’

‘She’s big in social media,’ Jamie explains. ‘She loved the post Mum did and when Mum explained about finding me, she’s going to help us find a new direction.’

‘New how?’ Dominica asks.

‘Jamie has agreed to help me,’ Maddy says. ‘We’re going to talk about our journey together. Try and help other people in the same situation.’

‘We want to reach out to people who weren’t as lucky as us,’ Jamie adds.

‘That’s great,’ Claire says, meaning it.

‘It’s going to be hard work, but Manpreet is going to help us. And best of all she’s not charging us. Well, not for the first few sessions at least. She’ll want something if it takes off, I’m sure, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I’m not convinced we can make much money, but something has to happen. We’ve been looking at places to rent and …’

Her shoulders slump and she pulls a desperate face.

‘No joy?’ Claire asks, and Maddy shakes her head.

‘Everything is ludicrously expensive. At this rate, we’ll have to live in the car.’

‘Well, we had an idea,’ Helga grins at Linus and then at Maddy. ‘Why don’t you both stay at mine?’

‘Yours?’ Maddy asks.

‘I’m afraid I have a plan to whisk this salty Sea-Gal away,’ Linus says.

‘Away?’ Dominica asks.

‘We’re sailing to the Channel Islands first. Maybe to France. We’ll see where opens up. We’ll be away for …’ Helga smiles at him and he shrugs.

‘Who knows?’ he says. ‘Let’s see what happens.’

‘What? But surely you can’t just go?’ Maddy says, looking at Claire, who knows what she’s thinking … that this is all rather sudden.

‘Why not?’ Helga says. ‘We both feel the same. We’ve been waiting for an adventure for so long. Why wait?’

‘If I can have your permission,’ Linus says, although he’s only half-joking, ‘I promise I will take very good care of her.’

‘You’d better,’ Dominica says and they talk excitedly as Helga opens the huge icebox and hands round beers, like she’s already the owner of the boat.

Maddy looks like the weight has fallen from her shoulders too when she realises that Helga is serious about her and Jamie staying at her place.

‘We’ll take good care of it,’ Jamie says. ‘I’ll fix that tile in the kitchen for starters.’

‘Do what you like,’ Helga says. ‘I’m happy you’ll get to enjoy it and it won’t be empty. But you’ll have to promise to feed Terry.’

‘Terry?’ Jamie asks.

‘My seagull.’

‘He comes into the kitchen,’ Dominica says. ‘I’m serious.’ They stay until it’s getting dark and then Claire insists that they have to go home, as they have no lights on their bikes.