Nikos was smiling at her now, as if to encourage her, and somehow it worked. ‘In that case you won’t miss me, will you?’

‘Have you lost your mind?’

‘I think maybe I’m just beginning to find it. Now I’m afraid I can’t talk any longer. Someone’s waiting for me.’ And she put the phone down.

She had never put the phone down on Colin in their entire marriage. It felt wonderful.

Of course he would get straight on the phone to Wendy, but thank God, Wendy wouldn’t listen. So he’d go down to the pub or the golf club, where the entry requirements were being a misogynist and a bore, and moan to the other misogynists about what a shower women were.

Meanwhile she was on a beautiful Greek island with an attractive, apparently kind man smiling at her. Her mother would warn her that it would end in tears, and maybe it would. But her mother was dead, and for the first time she could remember, Penny felt very much alive.

‘Have you noticed what’s happening to Penny?’ Moira murmured to Nell at breakfast the next day.

‘No,’ replied Nell, trying to resist looking at her phone and seeing the latest update from Marigold the non-Granny. ‘What?’

‘You must have noticed. She looks like the first humans must have done when Prometheus brought them fire. Amazed and excited and also a bit frightened.’

‘Moira, what are you talking about?’ Nell enquired crossly.

‘Not another bloody cultural reference, Moira!’ Dora stopped filling her plate, which already held enough fresh fruit to feed six guests. ‘Have you still not twigged that we know nothing about Greek myths and care less?’

‘That’s a bit harsh,’ Nell corrected. ‘I got grade one in my Latin GCSE.’

They looked over at Penny, who was standing on the quay looking dreamily out to sea.

‘She’s falling in love with Nikos,’ Moira clarified. ‘God, my college says I lack empathy with my students, but I’ve got a damn sight more than you two!’

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Nell replied. ‘She’s been married to Colin for thirty years.’

‘Maybe it’s thirty years too long.’

Penny turned at that moment and gave them a dazzling smile. Without the hideous hairband she had stopped looking like a gauche schoolgirl; in fact, there were distinct blonde streaks in her hair from the sun, and a sprinkle of attractive freckles had begun to appear on her nose.

‘It’s true, she is different,’ Dora agreed. She looked at Nell to see what she thought, but Nell was rummaging in her bag. ‘Come on, Nell, put away the EnvyGram and think about Penny. Do you think she’s fallen for Nikos?’