‘Me too, although I’m more interested in seeing you. I’ve missed you.’ He leant down and kissed me. It felt strange kissing him after so long.

‘I can’t kiss you here,’ I said, pulling away. ‘I’m at work.’

‘It’s been a long two months, Eeds.’

‘It has.’

I felt disloyal, because I’d been having too much fun to miss him.

‘You look different,’ he said, taking a step back from me and looking me up and down.

‘Do I?’ I went to tuck my hair behind my ear but it fell straight back out.

‘Yeah, I can’t put my finger on it.’ He reached down and tucked my hair in properly and stroked the side of my face. ‘Are you going to show me where I can pitch my tent? I’m looking forward to giving you the grand tour.’

‘Isn’t it a two-man tent?’

‘Uh-huh, but once we get inside there’s lots for you to see.’ He took my hand and pulled me in for another kiss and I tried to fool myself that the only reason I didn’t want to kiss him back was that I was at work and didn’t want to be caught.

One of the things I’d been looking forward to about Scott coming to Westerly was introducing him to the gang. It was so hard to do them justice on the phone and in emails. Yet, walking towards the water sports hut, where we’d arranged to have a quick drink whilst Soph and Douglas were on their breaks, I suddenly wondered why I made such a big deal out of it.

Scott reached for my hand and it took us a few attempts to clasp each other’s fingers without it feeling awkward.

‘What do you think of the place so far?’

‘Yeah, it’s all right, isn’t it? For what it is.’

His words stung. All he’d done since he’d arrived was talk of his European adventure. Each time I’d tried to tell him about Hartland’s he’d listened politely but I could tell from the look on his face that he felt his summer experiences were far superior to mine.

I spotted Joel hanging damp wetsuits on the rail outside the hut and I let go of Scott’s hand and waved at him. Joel waved back, running a hand through his hair.

‘Did you guys want a drink? We’ve got cold beers in a cooler,’ he said as we got closer.

‘That would be great, thanks, Joel.’

He headed off to get the beers and I sat down at the picnic bench. ‘Are you going to sit down?’

Scott was busy watching Joel walk away.

‘Yeah, sure.’