Penny smiled. Of course, it could be Wendy or Tom or something wrong with the children; but she didn’t think so. Only Colin’s timing would have been so spot on. She didn’t want to be that Penny any more, always keeping everyone happy, never thinking of herself. She wanted to be like Penelope, who had waited so long for the man she loved. She was feeling strong and powerful and happy for the first time now that she had found him.

And for once she wouldn’t let herself be submerged by her usual destructive thoughts. What if he was only using her for some undiscovered reason? What if she was making a fool of herself and would end up alone, her marriage in ruins?

Instead she put her arms round Nikos’s neck, having to lean up even though she was tall, and pulled his head down to hers.

‘I felt just like the broken glass, ignored and useless,’ she whispered, using words she could hardly believe were her own. ‘It’s meeting you again that has made me feel strong and beautiful.’

They sank together onto the wet sand, and Penny could think only of the touch of his hand on her breast and an overwhelming desire for him to make love to her.

‘Come and see the rest of the boathouses,’ Nell suggested to her daughter. ‘You’ll meet Demetria – she’s taken on a lot of the work for us. She may look like Melina Mercouri but don’t be fooled, she’s more like Sheryl Sandberg on speed.’

They arranged to meet Demetria an hour later. Naomi slept peacefully in her sling while Marigold, to Nell’s relief, sunbathed on their balcony.

The next-door boathouse was the one where Moira had suggested a beautiful old door for a headboard behind the bed.

‘What a clever idea!’ Willow snapped away with her camera. ‘I’d never have thought of that, but it really works.’

‘We didn’t have a lot of choice,’ laughed Nell. ‘All the furniture in the boathouse was donated by the village, and we just painted it.’

‘Like the teal dining table that Marigold hated so much?’

‘Exactly!’

Willow looked round, taking in the painted chest of drawers, the floor-length indigo curtains with their tie-backs made of fishing nets, the screen painted by Moira with a nymph being chased by a satyr which screened off the bath; the old wooden cupboard brought back to life with each panel adorned in a different shade of green; and how with all the quirky objects, the place still looked spare and stylish.

‘Did you do this, Mum?’ she asked, genuinely impressed.

‘Some of it. I really enjoyed it, actually.’

‘And this was why you wanted to stay on?’

‘We feel useful here. They really need tourists, and there’s something about Kyri that makes you want to get involved. It’s a very special place.’

‘More special than Sevenoaks?’ she teased.