Lily looked at him, patiently, without judgement. That same incredible acceptance on her face, soothing the way for his words. ‘He was sending me money each month and I was in no fit state to get a job, so I just … kept the money. Guess that makes me a thief too,’ he said, a small sad smile pulling at the corner of his lips. Lily shook her head in denial but didn’t speak. ‘I got arrested – well, cautioned – a few times for drunk and disorderly conduct. I was so angry, I was looking to fight anything and everything. My mum found out and reluctantly called Dad. And then he summoned me back to the Cove.

‘We had a terrible argument. Real apocalyptic stuff. We both said things we shouldn’t have. Though, in hindsight, it was probably the kick up the arse that I needed. He accused me of being selfish. I was outraged. Because I saw him exactly the same way. Selfish and focused only on the estate, not caring about his wife and son, the estate and the town being more important than his family.’

‘The estate has a bond with the town. Without one there would not be the other.’

‘Who cares, Dad?!’

‘I do. And you should too. And until you can see that, until you can care about one thing other than yourself, then you’re not welcome in this house.’

The words cut through the thoughts in his mind.

‘He cut me off, said I wasn’t welcome in the house. So, I went back to Mum’s for a bit and then figured I needed to get out of London. Of the UK. I only had a few months until the trust fund from my grandad kicked in. I’d planned to spend the whole thing on booze and whatever, but then I met Ben in Thailand. On my twenty-first birthday,’ he concluded wryly.

‘Who’s Ben?’

‘My business partner and best mate. Without him … I doubt I’d even be sitting here.’

She raised her glass. ‘To best mates.’

‘To awesome foursomes,’ he snuck in before she could stop him, receiving a small elbow jab to his side for his efforts. ‘What about you? Your twenty-first?’

Lily frowned as if having to remember, smiled and then a shadow passed across her features.

‘I was in London. With Alistair. We had dinner. I paid.’ She shrugged. ‘That was it.’

‘You paid? Where were the girls?’

‘V had to work,’ she said, pressing on against the look of faint disapproval she must have seen in his face, ‘no. Really, she couldn’t get out of it. Malie and Zo were halfway around the world. We’d talked about all meeting up midway, but we’d only just seen each other at Christmas down here, so … we’d done my birthday celebrations then.’

‘Why did you pay?’