Amy takes out her earphones, gets off the sofa and goes to prepare supper. Dad should be back any time now. She checks the fridge and decides to make a stir fry. Lots of vegetables and a few slices of chicken to make it tasty. As she chops and slices, her thoughts drift to Sam and her heart lifts a little. His friendship is giving her comfort, soothing her bruised pride. She is able to be open with him, to speak frankly about Cosmo and how she feels, and she likes the way that Sam stays calm, neither judging Cosmo nor taking any advantage of her weakness. He’s just there. She’s glad that he’ll be back in Salcombe tomorrow and they’ve already made a plan to meet in the Coffee Shop.

Just as she looks up at the clock, she hears the front door open. Dad’s home.

‘You’re very nearly late,’ she tells him.

‘Nearly but not quite,’ he answers. ‘Poor old Max is down in the dumps so I couldn’t abandon him.’

‘Course not,’ she says, rolling her eyes. ‘Any excuse. So what’s his problem?’

There’s a little silence and she glances round at him as she stirs the vegetables in the pan. He’s frowning, looking serious.

‘What?’ she demands. ‘What’s wrong with Max?’

‘It’s Judith,’ he answers. ‘She’s decided that they need to sell up and move to Oxford to be nearer their family.’

For a moment Amy forgets about her own heartache.

‘Sell up? But they love it here. Oh, that’s a big one, Dad. I hope they think very carefully about it. He’s got a son at the university, hasn’t he? I suppose it’s because of the new baby.’

‘And Judith is planning to ask Cara to buy the house.’

He has her complete attention.

‘Why would she do that?’

‘Because Cara seems to like being here and the family could come and visit her for holidays and Max could keep his boat.’

Amy turns back to her stirring. ‘Got it all worked out, hasn’t she?’

‘It would seem so. Max’s torn in two. He loves his family and he loves living here.’

Amy fetches plates and begins to serve up.

‘Well, it might not work out quite so simply as Judith thinks,’ she says. ‘You know what they say. “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.”’

Her father is laying the table but he still looks anxious. She knows that he’s worrying about her, too, and the fact that Cosmo hasn’t come back.

‘By the way,’ she says casually, ‘I think I’m over Cosmo.’

He looks at her quickly, eyebrows raised, but resists making the teasing remark he might have made a few weeks back.

‘Thought you might like to know,’ she adds.

She doesn’t tell him her plan for confronting Al but suddenly feels a little more confident.