‘Hang on,’ said Irene. She crawled across to Lorrie and Neil, put a hand on Neil’s shoulder, stared at Lorrie. ‘It could have happened to anyone.’

‘We weren’t looking. We looked away.’

‘It could have happened to anyone. Believe me. No one can be looking all the time.’

‘She would have drowned.’ Lorrie’s voice was dull. ‘You saved her. But she would have drowned.’

‘Nonsense. She was in there for a few seconds.’

‘Here.’ Luke was back with a pile of towels. ‘Strip off and dry yourself and then we’re going to get a warm drink inside you.’

‘Listen to me. It’s important.’ Irene was urgent. ‘We all look away and every so often something terrible happens. There’s always something that very nearly happens – a second earlier or later and it would have. All those times they nearly get run over, nearly pull the boiling water over themselves, nearly fall out of the window … The world’s crammed full of disasters that we’re a hair’s breadth away from. We can’t be vigilant every second of every day. We’d go mad. It’s not possible. It’s not human.’

‘She would have drowned.’

‘But she didn’t. Be happy. Look at her, she’s completely fine.’

‘Irene,’ said Neil. ‘Thank you very much.’

‘I didn’t do anything, honestly – someone else would have jumped a second later than me –’

‘You’ve no idea …’ Neil covered his pale blue eyes with his hand and started to cry. Lorrie put an arm around him and they leant into each other, hands on their daughter’s quivering body.

‘Come on,’ said Luke, and led Irene away.

She let herself be looked after by Mickey and Luke, fussed over as if it was she who’d nearly drowned. They pulled off her shirt and trousers, so that she was just in her bra and knickers, and then wrapped two towels around her and sat her in the sun on the upper deck. Mickey rubbed her hair dry and warmed her chilly fingers between his warm ones. Luke went and made tea, insisting on adding several spoonfuls of sugar. She took a sip and grimaced.

‘For shock. Drink it down.’

‘I’m not shocked. Katherine’s shocked.’

‘I’ve made her a mug of hot chocolate.’

‘Is she all right?’

‘She says she thought the water would just hold her up. It’s what I told her when she was worrying about Lorrie and Neil in the lake. Apart from that, she’s very quiet but completely OK. She’ll probably fall asleep soon.’

‘And Lorrie and Neil?’

‘They’re pretty quiet too. It’s all been a bit much.’

‘We should have a drink,’ said Mickey.

‘Good idea. It’s after six now anyway.’