‘Ah, the good old diversion ploy. Okay. Danny is in love, and I’ve had to sit him down to explain the birds and the bees again.’

‘Dad, no. He hates it when you do that. You’ve been doing it since he was ten years old.’

‘Yes, and does he have any children? No, he does not. I knew girls would fall over themselves with him, and that he would be careless and stupid. He’s still both those things, but he’s not a father and that’s a win to me.’

‘God, I remember when you did that to me,’ Jack said.

‘And I only had to tell you once. You already knew what it meant to have kids. You took care of Danny and Holly a lot more than you should have.’ It was an old story, and Jack didn’t really want to talk about it.

‘I think Danny knows that there are no birds and bees involved by now, you know.’

‘Yes, but I love the way he squirms when I force him to listen to me. It’s one of the perks of being a father.’

Jack laughed. ‘You’re evil. What about Holly?’

‘She’s working far too much. You know how she is. Perhaps I should send her to you for a while.’

‘I don’t think she’d come. You know what final year medic students are like. The pressure is horrendous.’

‘Well, I’m going to try before she works herself sick. At least she used to go down to your restaurant for a meal once in a while. Now she lives off crisps and coffee. It’s not healthy. Which is ironic for a doctor.’

Jack talked a few minutes more, then the ferry docked at the island.

***

His phone pinged as soon as he entered the house. Jack dropped the shopping on the table before he looked at the message. Fedra. Again. This time she threatened legal repercussions. He smiled. As if he hadn’t checked that before he’d held the book back. The restaurant could go to hell before he returned the recipes.

Good luck with that, he texted back.

After Roland’s betrayal, he had decided to keep the book. It was, after all, his creation.

Jack put the mobile on the table, ignoring the angry beeping from another one of Fedra’s messages.

Instead he went down to the beach. He changed to his new swimming trunks inside the boathouse and carefully lowered himself into the water.

‘Bloody hell,’ he muttered.

It was freezing. He managed to hold back a yelp as he ducked under and took a few strokes. The sensation of cold quickly disappeared. The water was surprisingly clear and he could see the bottom was covered with seaweed and rocks.

He laughed when he spotted a few crabs scatter away from him. Somehow all the tension in his shoulders and back melted into oblivion.

Before he knew it, he had swum to the other side of the beach. He turned around, remembering Ninni’s warning about strong currents, and kept close to the shore.