Edie discarded the magazine on the desk then moved to leave the study. Before she reached the door, she stopped, and glancing over her shoulder said, ‘Eleanor took a bottle of whisky upstairs.’

He didn’t reply. Instead he nodded. Then he sighed and stood up. He walked past her and out of the study. She followed him and watched him pick up his car keys from the table in the hallway before going out of the front door. A moment later his car engine fired. Edie went and lay down on the sofa. With her hands tucked beneath her cheek she stared through the window at the boy in the garden as he worked on the fence.

Edie must have dozed off. The next thing she was aware of was a knock on the door which made her sit up with a start. It was Tamsyn.

‘I’d forgotten you were coming,’ Edie said a little sharply which made Tamsyn flinch and look downcast, so Edie added, ‘I’m glad you’re here though. How was work?’

Tamsyn rolled her eyes. ‘I nearly died of boredom.’

They lay on the grass and talked. Edie found it hard not to watch Jago working. He was undoubtedly beautiful and Tamsyn’s chatter faded into the background as she studied the slope of his shoulders, the way his hair brushed the neck of his top, his delicate wrists encircled with worn black leather cords. He wore faded jeans which hung off his narrow hips and DM boots, scuffed and dull, and every so often, when he reached down for something, his T-shirt lifted to reveal a strip of tanned skin above his waistband. She had to remind herself he’d shown no interest in her at all and that she had no intention of lusting after someone she had to fight to attract. Total humiliation.

‘Edie? Did you hear me?’

Edie realised Tamsyn had asked her a question. ‘Sorry?’

Tamsyn laughed. ‘You haven’t been listening.’

Edie nodded. ‘I have. Just not the last thing you said.’

‘I was saying that one day I’d love to stay the night. Maybe we could watch a horror film or something. I’ve never seen one before. Jago has a few in his room we could borrow, though they’re Betamax not VHS, but maybe you’ve got a Betamax somewhere? They’re pretty full-on. What do you think?’

Her face shone. Eyes bright. She was like a Labrador puppy now she was relaxed and her confidence had grown. Edie thought about the evening ahead. Her father and mother not talking. Her mother drinking herself to sleep. The hours Edie would spend alone in her room, staring out of the window, wishing she could walk along the corridor of moonlight on the sea.

‘All right,’ she said. ‘That sounds cool.’