‘Yeah, and selfish. And foolish. And a whole load of other things. But luckily for me and my sister, we stayed with my aunt and uncle who are the opposite.’ And she’d made sure she never worried them or put a foot wrong. As she’d grown older, a deep, dark hidden part of her had been cross that her parents had put their adventures ahead of their daughters and she had determined that she would never act in such a foolhardy way. Mina was the impulsive one, so it was up to Hannah to be the sensible one and it hadn’t been so hard to fall into that mould. Hannah liked to know where she was, what she’d be doing next, and what her plans for the future were. Coming to Ireland had been the riskiest thing she’d ever done in her life and now she was paying for it, because she was starting to question her view of herself. Why should she let herself be defined by her parents? They were long gone. They’d made their own decisions. Perhaps she should start doing the things that she really wanted to do instead of always erring on the side of caution to reassure herself and others that she wasn’t like them.

The more time she spent with Conor, the more she liked him. Genuinely liked him. This close proximity helped to make him less of a fable and less out of reach. When she’d met him in Dublin he’d been a person from another world – sophisticated, smart, and good looking… and way out of her league. Now she’d got to know him, he was very human and down to earth and he seemed to enjoy her company, and would often come and sit in the lounge with her in the evenings. He’d fallen into a routine of making coffee for her in the mornings and as she drank it would settle into the sofa by the wood burner for a quick chat, which invariably meant that they walked up to the kitchen together.

It was almost as if he were determined to prove that they were just good friends. What if she didn’t play safe, could she handle the fall out in the long term? Somehow she didn’t think she could.

After a quiet weekend when she’d visited Aidan and Sorcha and walked the entire length of the beach with Izzy, Hannah was all set for week three of the course and headed up to the hen houses to start the day.

‘Morning, Hannah.’

Adrienne’s low-toned greeting made Hannah jump.