‘Sorry,’ I mumble, wrapping myself up even tighter in Kit’s shirt. ‘It’s been a weird day.’

‘You can say that again,’ replies Bonnie, and Tui titters uncertainly.

‘I need to do a poo,’ she announces.

I can’t help it, I start to laugh.

‘Right,’ says Bonnie, feigning seriousness. ‘Well, in that case, you had better scarper.’

‘OK, Mummy.’ Tui gets to her feet. She is about to slither down the hay bales on her bottom, when she stops and turns once again to me.

‘Don’t be sad any more, Genie,’ she instructs. ‘Me and Mummy will look after you now, OK?’

And with that, she is gone, disappearing in a cloud of hay dust and excited giggling, Beavis not far behind. Bonnie and I say nothing at first, both of us listening instead to the sounds of the yard, to horses pawing the concrete with their hooves, to one of the stable hands shouting something about a missing noseband and the distant ringing of the telephone. I remember David down in the office, abandoned. He is no doubt wondering where we are, but is too awkward and polite to venture outside.

‘I’m sorry I ran off like that,’ I say finally, glancing at Bonnie.

‘I think you get that from me,’ she says, lifting an apologetic shoulder.

Another silence blooms.

‘I don’t know what to say,’ I admit after a pause. ‘I had it all planned out a few weeks ago, but then you weren’t here when I arrived.’

‘Sorry about that.’ Bonnie grits her teeth. ‘I always did have bloody awful timing.’

‘Did you go to England to see me?’

‘Yes,’ she says, then turns to me. ‘But when I got there, I wimped out. I went to stay with a friend instead, and then I found out about Anna. I am so sorry.’

‘Thanks.’ I try out a smile.

‘You are a lot braver than me,’ Bonnie adds. ‘Coming out here to the yard almost as soon as you’d got off the plane.’

I shake my head. ‘I’m not brave.’

‘Oh, come off it,’ she protests gently. ‘Not only did you come here alone, you also saved Tui. Your dad told me that you haven’t been on a horse since—’ She hesitates.

‘Since Anna died,’ I finish. ‘He’s right. Not until today, anyway. I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it, but in the moment, it didn’t even occur to me that I couldn’t. I was so worried about Tui that I acted before I had time to think it through.’

‘And yet you say you’re not brave?’ she chides softly.

I think about galloping underneath the low branches and leaping into the river.

‘OK,’ I allow. ‘Maybe I am a little bit.’

‘I really am sorry,’ Bonnie says again. ‘About Anna. She was a lovely woman, and what happened is just horrible.’