We were about to set sail for Naxos. Josh was seated in the dining nook fiddling with his camera, and I had just finished cleaning up after breakfast with Marie. As I walked past, he grabbed my hand and said, ‘Hey.’ Tingles shot up my arm. ‘Come ’ere.’ He pulled me gently towards him, and I obeyed. ‘Let me see.’ He turned me slightly and looked at my hip.

Part of my tattoo was peeking out from my waistband, and I realised he was asking to see the rest. Without a word, I pulled the waistband down a couple of centimetres, revealing the tiny spray of cherry blossoms.

‘I like it,’ he said, looking up at me with those steel grey eyes. I felt a twinge in my stomach and another one further below.

I righted my shorts and replied, ‘Thanks,’ as nonchalantly as I could. Then I went up on deck before he gave me any more twinges. Twinges were not good when you were trying to stay ‘just friends’ with someone.

Marie, who had seen the whole thing from the kitchen, joined me on deck shortly after. She raised her eyebrows at me – not like she was being judgemental, but more like, ‘what’s going on with you two?’ I shrugged my shoulders at her. I had no bloody idea.

‘You know,’ she said in a low voice, ‘Gary is a younger man.’ She emphasised ‘younger’.

‘Oh?’ She certainly didn’t look older than Gary. It also didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out where she was going with all of this.

‘Yes, and he pursued me for a long time before I gave in.’

‘Gave in?’

‘Uh huh. I resisted because I’m ten years older than him.’

‘Wow. You don’t look older than Gary.’ I figured I should pay the woman a compliment; whatever she was doing to look after herself was working. ‘So, can I ask how old you are?’

‘I’m forty-eight.’

‘Marie, you seriously don’t look forty-eight. I would have said you were only a little bit older than me.’

‘Thanks.’ She smiled. ‘I think it’s being with a younger man that keeps me young. They have a lot of energy.’ She raised her eyebrows at me again, and this time I laughed. ‘Look, this really isn’t any of my business. I’ll butt out,’ she added.

But I was quickly learning that when eight people live on a fifteen-metre boat, everything becomes everybody’s business and, besides, I didn’t want her to butt out. I wanted advice. ‘No, you don’t need to. I mean, I don’t know what to do here. I’m not looking for anything – casual or otherwise – and it’s not like we can spend any real time together if you know what I mean.’ I paused. ‘Though I do like him …’

‘And he’s so handsome,’ she interrupted.

It was my turn to raise my eyebrows at her. ‘Really?’