‘Isn’t it a lovely day?’ I say as we break apart, though she slips her hand into mine to keep hold. I squeeze it back and glance reassuringly at Valentine. He smiles gratefully.

‘Jour parfait,’ she says now. ‘I came here once with my daughter and husband, you know.’

‘That sounds like fun.’

‘She was only a baby – she liked to crawl on the sand.’ Gisele peers at me then, as if trying to place me, and for a moment I worry I’ve confused her, but within seconds her mind has changed direction. ‘You would have loved my husband. We used to go dancing at the Plaza. Oh, you should’ve seen us on the dance floor.’

Letting go of my hand, she begins beating out an invisible tune with her fingers on the arms of her deckchair.

‘Do you want to borrow these?’ Maya joins us and unloops her chunky headphones from around her neck and holds them towards Gisele. ‘You can listen to music.’

‘Thanks, but it’s all right, love.’ Valentine answers for his wife. But Maya isn’t to be put off.

‘What music did you dance to? I’ve got Spotify.’

‘Eh?’ He frowns, confused.

‘Bill Haley & His Comets,’ I tell her, recalling Valentine teaching me how to jive.

‘OK, hang on.’ With both thumbs she texts dexterously into her phone. ‘How about “See You Later, Alligator”?’

‘We loved that one, didn’t we, Gisele?’ Valentine turns to his wife.

There’s no response. It’s as if she’s retreated somewhere and can no longer hear us; I see Valentine’s crushed expression and feel my heart break a little. There are no miracles, like in the movies. This is real life. But then something quite remarkable happens. Crouching down in the sand next to her, Maya holds the headphones to Gisele’s ear and, as the opening beats of the song begin to play, her reaction is as immediate as it’s joyful. Her eyes suddenly widen and a delighted smile breaks over her face as she begins to move in time to the beat.

‘See, she remembers,’ grins Maya as I watch with amazement.

‘Of course she does.’ Valentine’s face is overcome with emotion.

‘I have an idea.’ Quickly Maya calls over to Will. ‘Hey, let me borrow your headphones.’

It only takes a few minutes to synchronize them, and now Gisele and Valentine are both wearing headphones as the song begins to play again. Only this time Valentine reaches out his hand, just like he did all those years ago in the Plaza in Leeds, when he was only nineteen years old. And Gisele takes it, as she did when she was only eighteen, and together they dance barefoot on the beach.

Two people lost in a happy memory, with only the sound of the waves washing against the shore. I don’t know about a miracle, but if that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.

Running on Empty

Afterwards we leave the beach and go to get fish and chips on the beachfront.