‘Yes,’ she says. ‘Yes, please.’

As Amy asks Sam about his family, Cara thinks that it will be good to go back to The Keep, to be with Fliss and Hal and Honey in that wonderful old house. She remembers how she and Fliss sat in the courtyard with Honey between them, and how Fliss talked about Mole and their older brother, Jamie, and how their deaths had affected her. These confidences were unexpected – Cara guesses that Fliss is not a woman who readily bares her soul – yet it seemed so right, as if The Keep’s high walls were sheltering them both in this special moment of intimacy. It made her feel privileged and less alone.

Everyone is raising their coffee cups to Jack, toasting him, and Cara finishes her tiffin and joins in.

PART THREE

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Al, sitting at his table in the corner of the bar, sees the group come in. It’s a few moments before he realizes that it’s the same group that was here the last time and he’s amused at the coincidence. Obviously this is their local and they enjoy a get-together. As he watches them at the bar he sees that there is a new addition: an older woman, rather formally attired. Whereas before he could see no obvious connection between any of the group, this time he guesses that she and one of the men are definitely a couple. The body language suggests that they are married. There is that familiarity of touch and exchange of glances that indicate a long relationship. The other two women, one dressed like a hippie, are talking to the other man, laughing and toasting him, whilst the two younger people – a boy and a girl – watch, smiling but slightly apart. The girl glances round the bar, her eyes meet his. She does a double take, and it’s as if she gives a little jump of surprise.

He looks back at her, wondering if she remembers him from his last visit, surprised at her reaction. She’s turned away now and as he watches her she leans towards the dark young man beside her and murmurs something in his ear. Both of them have their backs to him and neither looks at him again, but Al is intrigued. He wonders if this is Amy. They are all moving to a big table now, sitting down, and his own food comes and he begins to eat. He’s still pissed off with Cosmo for calling his bluff and dashing away to London. Al’s original plan was that they’d spend this weekend together, have some fun – and, no doubt, bump into Amy somewhere so that he could assess the situation more clearly and make Cosmo realize the damage he might be doing. Instead, Cosmo has outwitted him, and here he is bored and alone.