‘Whatever do you do all day?’ Rebecca asks each time they speak. Her voice is a calculated mix of incredulity and sarcastic amusement. The subtext reads: ‘What person in his right mind could stand the boredom?’ He won’t allow himself to be influenced by her distant attempts to control. If he’s honest he’s rather surprised at how little he’s missing Becks, and at the extent of his relief that she has no desire to travel west to visit him.

‘Much too busy,’ she says when he invites her for a weekend. ‘You know what it’s like at the moment.’

Her slightly impatient response implies that he should know better than to imagine she could possibly get away. Rebecca is a junior barrister and is tied up with a complicated case that she hopes will result in plaudits and consolidation in her career. Though she has made it clear that he could move in permanently with her, Cosmo still maintains his small flat in Hackney. They have fun together, she’s attractive and clever, yet some instinct keeps him from making the final commitment. He’s hoping that the sabbatical will help him to clear his mind.

Cosmo swings the Suzuki on to the track that leads past the farmhouse and down to the barn. A small part of one of the fields has been sold with the barn, and shrubs and saplings have been planted to form a new hedge. He drives through the gateway, into the lean-to shed, which also houses a big pile of logs, and climbs out. Reggie jumps down and goes to check his territory. Cosmo watches him, enjoying the sunshine and the peace. Here at the head of the creek there are a few houses clustered above the lane, which winds away, round the point and on into Salcombe, but there is no one about. The morning is clear and hot. Cosmo knows that these remnants of summer will not last long. Perhaps, when the evenings draw in and the westerlies bring rain, he might find it lonely and depressing, but meanwhile he’ll fetch Reggie’s lead and they’ll walk into Salcombe. He’ll sit in the sun outside the pub with a beer and a sandwich and watch the boats. Cosmo thinks of Al, and he smiles: what’s not to like?

He and Reggie climb down the steps from the garden, out into the lane, and set off round the head of the creek. Dinghies swing at their moorings as the tide begins to turn and a swan rears up, beating the surface of the water into a flurry of spray with its powerful wings so that the scattered drops flash in the sunlight. Reggie potters ahead, glancing back from time to time to check that Cosmo is keeping up, pausing to wait for him.