‘The exteriors are looking brilliant.’ Penny held out her phone to show the photos. ‘But we’ve still got to furnish the interiors.’ She expected Dora to say, ‘How the hell are we going to do that when we’re just leaving?’ But Dora didn’t.

Penny was just about to ask who the newcomer was when she turned round.

‘Look who’s back on her feet!’ Dora winked at them broadly.

‘Moira!’ Nell gasped, surveying the new-look Moira. She was wearing a smart black dress, and her bird’s nest had been tamed and cut into a loose, shiny bob. It was little short of a miracle. ‘If this is what your bug did for you, I’ll come down with it too!’

‘Actually,’ Moira smiled, ‘it’s all down to Eleni, the doctor’s wife. She used to be a hairdresser. She’s obviously dead bored, and decided to do a makeover on me!’

‘Well, it certainly worked,’ Penny marvelled.

‘And I’ve been doing lots of thinking while I was ill.’

‘Right . . .’ Penny and Nell chorused nervously.

‘Pirates!’ Moira exclaimed. ‘This place doesn’t make nearly enough of its piratical history. I think there should be pirate cruises, and I’m going to talk Takis into turning the beach bar into a venue called Treasure Island. It’s only for a while. Just a gimmick to get some of the boat trips from Santorini to stop here and give the island some business. We can mix cocktails called Black Dog, Long John Silver and Billy Bones.’

‘I wouldn’t advise one called Black Spot,’ Dora grinned. ‘As far as I remember, that means certain death.’

‘That’ll go down really well, then!’ Moira insisted. ‘Nell, you can do the food,’ she offered graciously.

Dora looked round at them as if they were mad. ‘Apart from the fact you don’t like alcohol . . .’ she began. ‘And we’re going home,’ she added without any conviction.

‘Don’t worry about that,’ Moira interrupted gaily. ‘Eleni’s won me over with this amazing dry red from the central valley.’

‘Get her,’ Nell teased. ‘Moira O’Reilly, wine buff.’

‘Good God, this Eleni’s only had you for a few days and she’s turned you into a lush!’

‘Actually, I think it did me more good than the antibiotics.’

‘I didn’t think you could drink on antibiotics,’ Penny remarked.

‘The doctor said that was nonsense. Maybe it’s a Greek view.’

‘As I was saying,’ Dora continued more forcefully. ‘Has everyone forgotten we’re flying back soon?’

‘I’m not,’ announced Penny. There, she’d said it.

‘I might not either,’ endorsed Nell. ‘I mean, I’m retired, so no one cares what I do.’

‘Moira? Surely you have to get back to college.’