‘Does he grow grapes too?’ Dora demanded.

‘He has a small vineyard in the centre of the island.’

‘There seems to be no end to his talents. How old is this paragon?’

‘About the same age as you ladies, I would guess.’

‘Not a toyboy mayor, then?’ Dora pursued. ‘Oh well, nobody’s perfect.’

Ariadne arrived with the wine and they sat for a moment in companionable silence, listening to the small waves lapping on the shore and feeling the warmth of the afternoon sun on their backs.

Nell let out a long sigh of contentment. ‘Takis, this place is magic. In fact,’ she looked round at the others, ‘it’s just like Zanthos when we first went there all those years ago, isn’t it?’

‘All we need is a jukebox with “Black Magic Woman”,’ agreed Dora.

Takis got up and went inside the cabana. A few minutes later, he emerged with a battered tape machine.

‘Good God!’ Dora shook her head. ‘I didn’t think those still existed in the age of downloads and Spotify.’

He pressed a button and a halting version, not helped by the tangling of the tape, of Carlos Santana’s voice crackled out of the loudspeaker. ‘Don’t turn your back on me, baby . . .’

They all sang along, laughing with remembered delight, until Penny’s yogurt and honey arrived.

‘I have added a few of our own walnuts, kyria,’ Cassandra said as she put the bowl down. ‘Tell me what you think of them.’

Penny took a mouthful and closed her eyes. A look of bliss suffused her entire face.

‘Even better than I remember,’ she announced. ‘Takis, I have died and gone to heaven.’

Takis smiled back. ‘No you haven’t, Penelope. Your friend ate undercooked octopus, and you were taken off the big ship and left on an enchanted island called Kyri. It’s just a pity that no one else has heard of it!’

Four

Back in their simple but pleasant hotel rooms, Nell got out her phone. This time, she couldn’t resist checking Instagram and looking at what Marigold had posted. She’d been amazed they had wifi, but according to Takis, this was another masterstroke by the lone-wolf mayor.

Sure enough, there was the ghastly Marigold, beaming out with baby Naomi, Nell’s granddaughter, in her arms, and looking deeply pleased with herself as usual. Nell was honest enough to admit that she probably overreacted to Marigold, but it was very hard to accept that your own daughter seemed to prefer her mother-in-law to you. Admittedly Marigold and her henpecked husband Ted had a lot more to offer. While Nell had to watch what she spent, Marigold lived in a mini-mansion with swimming pool and tennis courts, and was eager and willing to have them to stay whenever Willow wanted. In fact, Nell, suspected, she’d quite like to have them full time.