‘Sorry I missed that,’ Anya said kindly. ‘I just thought I’d take a look-in, you know. There’s not a lot else happening in the village today.’ Her eyes were pinned on Eddie – well, he didn’t look anything like his usual self, doubled over and trying to catch his breath after his spurt in the soccer game.

‘We’re all going to Flannelly’s afterwards, if you fancy coming along,’ Eddie volunteered before sauntering off to sit on the sidelines in the hope of being brought on to play again.

‘Were you out with the hunt yesterday?’ Maya asked, keeping her eyes on the game at the same time.

‘No. I gave it a miss – not really in the form this Christmas, you know?’ Anya smiled a little apprehensively then: ‘Actually, I thought I’d go cabin crazy if I didn’t meet anyone I knew here today.’

‘It’s Ballycove; you’re always going to meet people you know,’ Liv said, although Anya hadn’t really lived here since primary school. After that she’d been sent to boarding school so most of her friends were spread across the county and probably the country. Her family had been really well off, well, until the whole country crashed and they lost everything so suddenly, Anya had to go out and work for a living, probably not something she’d ever planned on.

‘You know what I mean.’ Anya lowered her voice.

‘Yes, I’m sorry about you and Pete,’ Liv said. They were sitting next to each other now Eddie had moved. ‘None of us were expecting that; you seemed to be so perfect together.’

‘Really, it’s probably been over between us for a while. I just didn’t want to admit it, I suppose; we’ve so much tied up together…’

‘The coffee shop?’

‘Yeah, and the apartment…’ Anya said, talking about Pete’s super-plush apartment that overlooked Dublin Bay.

‘Gosh, yes, where will you stay when you go back?’ Liv asked and almost regretted it immediately.

‘I’m really not sure,’ Anya said and there was an uncomfortable moment when Liv wondered if she should offer her couch, but unlike with Eddie, Anya couldn’t stay forever and she was fairly sure she wouldn’t want her to. They really weren’t that close; actually, today was the first time Anya had ever really sought her out. They were chalk and cheese – nothing in common beyond Pete, and now that thread too had been ravelled away.

‘I’m sure something will work out and in the meantime, can’t you always stay over with some of your friends?’ Maya cut in and Liv was grateful to her sister for deflecting the conversation from that awkward unasked question.