I looked down towards the fence. My brother was still painting, but he’d nearly finished. He’d done a good job, or at least it looked like a good job to me. The rust had gone and the iron railings gleamed with their new coat of white. I noticed that someone had been in to weed the garden and sweep the terrace. The pool sparkled as if sprinkled with diamonds. The whole picture could have been a shot from a travel brochure.

Jago looked up at us and nodded a greeting at me. I half-raised my hand and smiled.

‘The fence is nearly finished,’ I said.

Edie sat up and looked down towards Jago. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I told my father we needed more work done in the garden, that maybe Jay could stay and help out, but he said there’s a man who comes in already.’ She sniffed and looked around the garden. ‘I don’t think he’s very good, do you? I mean, look at the grass.’

‘It looks like he spent time on the terrace. Maybe he’ll cut the grass next week. Anyway,’ I said, ‘my brother knows nothing about gardens.’

Edie leant forward and picked a daisy. She held it up and twirled it between her thumb and forefinger, so it looked like a tiny spinning plate.

Max came out of the house and waved at me. I waved back.

‘Lovely to see you, Tamsyn!’ he called over. ‘Do swim if you’d like to. It’s such a beautiful day.’

‘Thank you,’ I called back.

He smiled at me and my tummy glowed with warmth.

‘Urgh,’ Edie said then, as she cast the daisy aside. ‘He’s such a lech. I mean, look at him. The way he’s leering at you. And why’s he gurning like that? He looks fucking deranged. I know he only wants you to swim so he can perv at you in your swimming costume.’

‘That’s not why. He’s just being nice.’ I looked over at Max, wondering if Edie was right.

She made a guttural sound and mimed putting two fingers down her throat. ‘He’s so embarrassing. Jesus.’ She lay back down and put her headphones over her ears.

I watched Max sit down at the table and swill his drink around his glass. He glanced at me again and flashed another smile which I returned, before settling back on the grass and closing my eyes, basking in the warmth on my skin and inside me.

I was aware of Edie moving beside me. I half-opened my eyes and saw her sit up. She had picked another daisy and was picking off individual petals, her mouth moving silently. I tried to read her lips, but it was impossible.

‘Do you know how to make chains?’ I asked her then, shielding my eyes from the midday sun.

She discarded the petal-less daisy and picked another. ‘Of course. Everybody knows, don’t they?’