“Please don’t worry.” She managed a weak smile. “I’m the clumsy one. I’ll be fine.”

The room emptied quickly. Keely’s tumble had finished off the evening, which had begun to deteriorate with the mention of Levallier Dell’s involvement in the Divine Wine and Dine weekend. Flynn and Katerina had been the first to leave. Then Sean helped his sister and her husband bustle his young nephews out to the car. Keely looked around and realised that Euan had disappeared as well.

“There you are.” Anna put a cup of tea in front of her. “I’ve put in an extra spoon of sugar. You could do with the energy. Now I think you should also take some pain relief.”

Keely went to protest but Anna cut her off. “You will probably be sore for a while now. I’ve had the very same op and tried to do too much too soon. Didn’t do any damage but I had a restless night with pain. A couple of tablets will give you a good night’s sleep.”

She left the room and shut the door behind her. Keely looked around the empty table. Behind her she heard the fridge begin to hum. She took a sip of the tea and wrinkled her nose. It was very sweet.

* * *

Euan walked back into the house. His hands were shoved deep in his pockets and his head was lowered so that he nearly walked straight into Anna, who was standing just inside the door, her hands planted firmly on her hips.

“I wondered where you’d got to,” she said.

“Just getting some fresh air. Keely had enough people fussing around her.”

“You seem to have taken her under your wing, nonetheless.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Euan clenched his jaw. Anna was a good mate but sometimes she overstepped the mark.

“What about your own child? When are you going to pay him some attention?”

“Flynn’s doing okay. And he’s not a child.” Euan stepped around Anna, moving on up the passage. He didn’t want to be reminded of his inadequacies as a parent. He knew them well enough.

She followed him. “He’s hurting, Euan.”

“He has to suck it up. He’s not a little boy anymore.”

“You’re right. He’ll be thirty-three next week or have you forgotten his birthday again? He hasn’t been a little boy since Lucy died. He turned into an adult overnight. Who do you think runs the place when you’re not here? He has to manage, then you come home and take over again as if you’ve never been away.”

Euan stopped just short of the kitchen door and turned slowly back to face her. “That’s enough,” he growled. “We’ll sort it out ourselves.”