‘No. I didn’t. We were at his friend’s place most of the night, and then he walked me home. And that’s it.’ She looked crestfallen. ‘Hannah, why do you care?’

‘Because. I do. If my friend can find a rich, handsome older guy who’s into her, then maybe I can.’ Seriously, she was making this about her? Fine. If that was the case, then I could at least give her some hope.

‘He did kiss me,’ I said, simply.

Her eyes got wide. ‘He did? How was it?’

‘It was great. He’s super sexy. He’s interesting—’

‘And interested, by the sounds of it.’

‘He is. Yes.’

‘AND? God, girl, getting any kind of information out of you is like interrogating a secret agent!’ She had a point, but I was only holding back because I wasn’t sure what was going on – or what was going to happen – or what I wanted.

I groaned under the weight of it all and dropped my head back on the pillow, heavily. Ouch, that really hurt. ‘I’m sorry, Hannah. I’m hungover. Can we talk about this later?’ Chickening out, I blamed the monster hangover, rather than telling her the truth. Of course, I would eventually tell her – but not before a lukewarm trickle of a shower and a hot cup of tea. And maybe some toast.

Hannah harrumphed a little and then made a big show of putting her sunglasses on. ‘Fine. I’ll see you up on deck when you have dealt with this.’

I knew that by ‘this’ she meant my atrocious state, because when she said it, she waved her hand in front of me to encompass all the grossness that was me. She even slammed the cabin door closed after her. I hoped the others were awake already, but as Hannah was usually the last one up, I figured they probably were. I wondered what time it was. Then I realised two things – it didn’t matter, and the boat was moving.

At least that explained why I felt like the cabin was moving – it was. Maybe I wasn’t as hungover as I thought I was. I sort of rolled off the top bunk and made it to a standing position. Oh, yeah, I was that hungover – it had nothing to do with the boat being on the move.

When I finally showed my face, freshly showered but still feeling off, Marie took pity on me, and plied me with tea and buttered toast. I didn’t deserve her kindness for my self-inflicted pain, but I appreciated it – especially because it was a sailing day.