‘Thanks, Hannah. That’s lovely of you to say.’ We must have been done with touchy-feely time, because she made a sort of squinty-scrunchy face and went back to her magazine.

‘Hey, Duncan!’ Josh called to our skipper, who was now at the bow of the boat.

‘Yo!’ we heard in reply.

‘Have we got plans for dinner – you know, all of us?’ Josh asked.

A mop of blonde hair appeared above us, and Duncan jumped from the top deck to the back deck. ‘I dunno,’ he said. ‘Lots of good places to go on Syros, for sure. Do you think everyone wants to do something together tonight?’

‘I do,’ said Hannah. That surprised me. She seemed a little hot and cold about spending time with the whole group. But then, the other yacht wasn’t in the marina, so it’s not like she was going to hook up with their skipper that night.

‘Yeah, me too,’ Josh said.

‘Me three.’ I put my hand up like we were in school. Maybe it was my near miss with being a person without a boat, but I suddenly craved being with our people, all of us together. Our floating family.

‘Cool. I’ve got a few ideas. I’ll have a think, and we’ll talk to the girls and Gary when they get back. Tee something up – sound good?’

‘Sounds good, Dunc.’ I loved Duncan. He was a good bloke, as we say in Australia. I sat back, sipping my Coke and taking it all in – the briny air, the sun warming my face, the beautiful town of Ermoupoli, my new little family, Josh.

Josh … And then my bugger of a mind made the leap to …

James. And that email. ‘Properly’ indeed.

My mind oscillated between the sexy, quick-witted American, and the worldly, exciting European – also sexy, I might add. I remembered what James had said in the email and felt a twinge in my stomach. He wanted to see me. Did I want to see him?

If I was honest with myself, yes. Yes, I did.

And why wouldn’t I? He was the fairy tale. Tall, mysterious, handsome, rich. Did I believe in fairy tales anymore? Was I Aurora waiting for the prince to awaken me with a kiss?

A kiss.

Josh’s kiss had been tremendous.

Josh.

Josh saw the world through similar eyes to mine. We weren’t exactly alike – and I wouldn’t ever want that. It was more that when I explained something to him – how I felt about something or what I thought – he didn’t look at me like I’d grown two heads. And more and more, we could share a look and just know what the other meant.

Don’t get me wrong, I had – have – a wonderful network of close, long-treasured friends, but even they look at me sideways sometimes, wondering exactly what I’m getting at. I didn’t feel that way when I was with Josh.