‘He is. I like Gary. At first, I was worried he was a bit of a know-it-all …’ I looked over at Josh, and he was quick to follow up with, ‘He’s not. I know that now – he just loves conversation and he knows a lot about a lot of things.’

‘I have to be honest, I haven’t really spent much time talking with him – I mean in groups, yes, but not just the two of us,’ I admitted. ‘I’ve talked a lot with Marie – I adore her.’

‘Yeah, well Gary – he’s a good guy. He’s the kind of guy you would want on your side if anything went wrong, you know? He’d have your back and he’d know what to do.’

‘Like with the disappearing boat thing.’

‘Exactly. Anyway, if you get the chance, seek him out. He’s really interesting.’

‘I will. Hey, did you know they have a big age difference?’

‘Really? Like us?’ he asked, a teasing tone in his voice.

‘Actually, it’s more than with us.’ I poked my tongue out at him, and he laughed. Maybe he was still riding high from that kiss. It was a pretty great kiss.

‘Hey!’ I exclaimed. ‘There’s our boat!’ Duncan was jumping back and forth between the boat and the pier, hooking up various cables. Hannah sat with her feet up on a bench, apparently absorbed in a magazine.

‘Hey, Skipper,’ I called out as I slipped off my flip-flops, picked them up from the pier and stepped carefully up the gangplank.

Josh was right behind me. ‘Need a hand?’ he asked Duncan as he stepped aboard.

‘Yeah, that’d be great. Hand me that cable?’ Josh obliged him.

‘Hey, Hannah.’ She hadn’t looked up, and I wanted to gauge the extent of her hangover before engaging with her further.

‘Oh, hey,’ she said, then flicked the magazine to the next page. I assessed from her rather frosty greeting that the hangover she was nursing was monster-sized. I spied the empty mug beside her.

‘Cup of tea?’ I offered, retrieving the mug.

She looked up at me, squinting behind her sunnies at the bright sun behind me. Her expression softened a little. ‘Oh my god, I would love that.’

‘Coming right up.’ I turned back to Duncan and Josh, who were still working on getting the boat situated. ‘You guys want anything from the galley? Tea, coffee, cold drink?’

‘Is it beer o’clock yet?’ asked Duncan, who was bent over some fixture at the back of the boat.

‘Always, Duncan. It’s got to be five o’clock somewhere.’

‘Then I’ll take a beer,’ he answered, still inverted.

‘Josh?’

‘Yeah, a beer’d be great.’

I heard Hannah moan behind me – probably at the thought of drinking again.