Laura laughed. ‘Some people think I’m quite fun in my shell.’ Grant was probably the only one who qualified, even if he was also trying to get her out of it, but she felt she ought to protest a bit about Monica’s backhanded compliment.

‘I’m sure, but I think you’d be a lot more fun if you mentally came out from behind the counter of a bookshop.’

‘Have you been talking to my friend Grant?’ she asked suspiciously.

Monica laughed. ‘No. I haven’t met him yet.’ A man came out of the shadows and beckoned them forward. ‘Thank goodness, it’s our turn now. I hope they don’t put us on a shelf somewhere. Technically called the swing decks.’ She moved the car gently forward.

‘How do you know so much about ferries?’ asked Laura, glad she didn’t have to plunge the car into Stygian gloom and interpret the hand signals of men wearing fluorescent jackets walking backwards at speed.

‘I used to drive the band round in an old van,’ said Monica, coming to halt at the end of a chain of vehicles. ‘Ferries are no problem.’

Fenella had insisted that they booked a cabin, even if only for a very short time. Jacob Stone was paying, after all, and he could afford it. Whether or not he would demand his money back if they returned empty-handed, so to speak, had yet to be discovered.

‘We’ll think of something to tell him when we meet up for our first proper meeting,’ Fenella had said casually. ‘As long as you try your best, it won’t be a problem.’ Then her insouciance had left her. ‘You do realise we have to get Dermot Flynn to confirm as soon as possible? Otherwise we’ll have to find not only another literary superstar but another sponsor, and God knows where we’ll find one of those.’

Laura had nodded. ‘We can only do our best but we will do that, I promise. But if I can’t get time off work, Monica will have to go on her own.’

However, she was not going to get out of it that easily. Henry practically pushed her out of the door.

‘It’s a quiet time after Christmas and I can always give Brenda a few more hours if we’re busy.’

With that excuse not to go denied her, she went to see her parents, feeling it was time they knew about her imminent redundancy. She and Grant discussed the visit before she set off. This was one of the things that bonded them: Grant’s aunt had never heard of homosexuals and Laura’s parents still berated her for going to university, getting a good degree and ending up working in a shop. The fact that it was a bookshop made no difference.