We reach a food truck on the edge of the marina and while Joel orders his lunch I go over and sit on a bench, looking out along the river. It’s so peaceful here, far away from the normal tourists that flock down for the holidays.

Joel takes a seat next to me and he starts to eat.

‘What are you going to do with Hetty when you go? Will you sell her?’

‘I haven’t really got that far yet. It seems a bit of a waste to keep her when I might not be back for a few years, but at the same time I’m going to have a hard time letting her go.’

‘You seem so settled here.’ It tumbles out before I can stop myself. ‘I know it’s none of my business.’

‘No, it’s fine,’ he says, putting his wrap down on his lap. ‘I do feel settled here, first time in a long time, but Key West is a great opportunity for me, and there’s pretty much no other way I’d get there otherwise.’

I don’t know a lot about the US, but I know that Key West is all palm trees and colourful wooden houses and if I was offered the opportunity to live there I’d probably jump at the chance. ‘I’ve heard it’s really miserable there. Bit drab and dull.’

‘Are you getting confused with the UK?’

‘Probably.’ I do a kind of pathetic laugh, one tinged with sadness because how could we compete with Key West.

‘I will miss you though, it’s been nice becoming friends again.’

He nods. ‘Yeah, it has. But I’ve heard that these days it’s easy for friends to keep in touch with each other. Facebook and things.’

‘I’m not big on social media but I could email.’

‘I never had a lot of luck with you replying to those before.’ He laughs an almost bitter laugh.

‘What do you mean—’ My phone starts to ring and I don’t get to finish my sentence. I was going to mute it but then I see it’s Claire. ‘Sorry, I’ve got to take this.

‘Hi Claire, everything OK?’

‘Edie, thank god you picked up. Where are you? Are you at home?’ She sounds panicked and she’s speaking so quickly.

‘I’m in Westerly, what’s wrong?’

‘There’s no easy way to say this but Julie just phoned.’ Her voice is pitching all over the place and I start to recognise the tone in her voice; I’ve only ever heard it once before. I feel sick and I’m having to grip my phone so hard because my hands are quaking. ‘She said your dad wasn’t feeling well this morning and he started to clutch his chest in pain and he was really red so she called the paramedics.’