‘We have been,’ she assures him quickly. ‘But things move on. I want to see my grandchildren growing up. Staying with them is going to be even more difficult now, space-wise, and Oscar is always a problem. I know it’s lovely when they come here but that doesn’t happen very often, does it?’

Max still seems knocked sideways by her suggestion. She can see him calculating all that he would miss, here in Salcombe, and she cunningly makes her next move.

‘I had another idea, too. Cara seems to be settling in so well here, making friends, and she clearly loves the area. Why shouldn’t she buy this house? Then she’d be in a lovely community and you could come down and stay with her and go sailing and see all your friends.’

Quite deliberately she doesn’t say ‘we’. She knows perfectly well that Max and Cara enjoy each other’s company and she’s trying to make it more attractive to him.

‘We can all come down,’ she adds quickly. ‘It would still be a family house. And Cara can afford it. I checked on Zoopla. She got a small fortune for the house in Fulham.’

Max begins to laugh, but not in an amused way.

‘You never cease to amaze me, Judith,’ he says. ‘So how long have you been planning this for us all?’

‘I told you. The idea came to me when I got back, although I was thinking about it a bit when I was in Oxford. I love it there. You know I do. It’s so central for everything and it would cut out all this awful travelling when we want to see the children. That won’t get easier as we get older, you know. I think it solves a lot of problems in one go. Why are you frowning?’

He shakes his head. ‘I think it’s the casual way that you decide Cara’s future for her. We don’t actually know that she wants to be in Salcombe. She came here to be with us.’

‘To be with you,’ Judith corrects him sharply. ‘Be honest. She has to stand on her own two feet, Max, to build a whole new life, and this could be perfect for her. She loves it here. It means you could keep the boat, go sailing with your friends, and spend time with Cara, and the children could come to stay with her. Try to see it clearly.’

‘How ruthless you are,’ he marvels, but his eyes are cold.

‘No, I’m just realistic,’ she answers. ‘You like Oxford, you love to spend time with the children, it seems a very good solution to several problems.’