Despite the heat of the sun beating down on us, despite the anticipation of cooling off in the murky Naxos water, it was way too cold. I’m talking shockingly, if-I-had-testicles-they-would-have-leapt-up-into-my-throat cold. I bravely waded in up to my crotch, then completely wussed out. No number of taunts from Josh or Hannah or any of the others was going to convince me that swimming in that water would be fun.

I trudged awkwardly out of the small breakers and dried myself as best I could with my super-absorbent travel towel. Travel? Yes. It was compact – well, tiny. Super-absorbent? Not so much. Still, I made do and then went back into the crumbling bathroom to revert to my shorts and top. By the time I joined Marie on the beach, two little boys – obviously brothers – were playing with the others in the water while their mother watched from the shore.

Josh was loving it. He was picking the kids up and tossing them up in the air so they could dive into the water. They resurfaced and asked for another go, time after time. ‘Pali, pali,’ they called out – or something like that. It must have been Greek for ‘again’. Eventually, their mother called to them from the beach, and they reluctantly swam back in. Marie and I looked at each other and smiled.

‘Cute kids, huh?’ I asked.

‘Adorable. Josh seemed like a natural with them,’ she replied.

She was right. He did. I wondered how kids factored into his abstinence philosophy. Did he want them? If he did, how was he going to wangle that without getting involved with a woman? I wasn’t sure I wanted to get into a discussion about children with him, mostly because then I’d have to explain that I didn’t want them. It had proven to be a contentious topic on more than one occasion over the years. I wasn’t sure why, but almost every time the topic had come up in all manner of situations, I’d had to defend my position.

‘Do you want kids?’ Was Marie reading my mind?

‘No.’ I kept my tone light, but I didn’t offer any further explanation. She didn’t press, and remarkably she didn’t seem to be conveying any sort of judgement either.

‘We do – or rather, we did.’ I hadn’t expected that. I turned towards her to let her know I was listening. She watched Gary as he showed Josh how to body surf. ‘When we met, we talked of having one, maybe two, but we discovered quite early on that we can’t have them. It’s me.’ She offered no further explanation, and I didn’t ask. ‘We tried pretty much everything you can try – and I don’t mean to be crass, but it’s a good thing we earn decent money because that stuff is expensive. I can’t even imagine how hopeless some couples must feel without even the opportunity to try.’