Elsa decides not to bother with a spoon, or even her fingers. Instead, she just buries her face into her scoop of vanilla ice cream, like Pongo gobbling up his dog food. When she comes up for air, she’s got ice cream smeared across her face and hundreds and thousands stuck to her eyelashes.

‘Elsa!’ I say, pulling out the baby wipes.

‘Leave her,’ says Annie, grabbing my arm. ‘She looks amazing!’ Then she dips her finger in Elsa’s melty ice cream and daps hundreds and thousands on her own eyelashes, making Elsa scream with delight.

Just then, we hear a rumbling noise, and it’s getting louder. A group of teenagers on skateboards are moving towards us along the prom, weaving in and out of pensioners and children. At the head of the pack is Jackson. When they get to our table, Jackson jumps off his skateboard, flips it up with his toe and catches it with one hand. ‘Ladies,’ he says, ‘I’m here!’

‘I got you an ice cream!’ blurts out Rose.

‘Nice.’ He turns back to his friends. ‘I’ll meet you later under the pier,’ he says, and their skateboards slam down and they move off like a shoal of fish. He sits down and starts scooping up chunks of ice-cream-soaked brownie.

Jackson seems totally uninterested in the fact that I’ve turned up with a baby and a dog, or maybe he’s just distracted by all the free stuff he’s been given. He takes another mouthful of ice cream then wipes his mouth on the back of his hand and looks round at us. ‘I just did something amazing,’ he says.

Turns out Jackson’s amazing thing was skimming a stone six times, but his vivid recreation using sugar cubes helps break the ice. Next, Rose shows us the opal necklace she got for her birthday and then Annie describes a film she watched last night about useless vampires. ‘So what have you been up to?’ she says, turning to me. ‘Except for looking after thingy here.’ I’m not sure if she’s talking about Elsa or Pongo.

I find myself telling them about yesterday at the science centre, and because they like the bit about Grandad running off at the start, I mention that Ed was my surprise volunteer.

‘Ed King was at a kids’ science show?’ says Jackson, laughing. ‘I just saw him in town. He never told me.’

‘And did the king of Year Ten deign to speak to you?’ asks Annie. ‘Was he doing this?’ She raises one eyebrow and does an uncanny impression of Ed’s wry smile.

I shake my head. ‘No. He was being … nice. I think he enjoyed it.’

Annie stares at me.

‘What?’ I say.

‘Bit defensive,’ she says, smiling.

Rose leans forward and says in a quiet voice, ‘OK, so don’t turn round, but I can see Ed and Bella right now, and they’re walking towards us!’

TWENTY-NINE

‘What?’ I bang my milkshake glass down, and then, of course, we all turn round and watch as Ed and Bella walk towards the cafe. Bella’s arm is looped through Ed’s and she’s whispering in his ear. I feel my cheeks start to burn. I can’t meet Ed here, not in front of everyone! After all the balloon rubbing and finger touching that went on yesterday, I knew it was going to be a bit strange when I saw him again next, but I thought we’d be in school, not sitting outside a cafe with an audience!