‘Well, you did that, all right!’ she cried, half laughing, a sob of shock escaping her as she looked up to see Emil, closer now but still hanging back, holding his son’s skateboard. He had his baseball cap on, but no shades; she could see his eyes, those eyes . . .

‘So, are we good? Is this all good?’ Kris murmured, scanning the seemingly happy reunion. ‘Cos we can go to the hotel or we can stay here with you. For support. Back-up. Whatever you want.’

‘. . . It’s fine, this is good,’ she murmured, smiling down at Linus as he beamed back at her. A sunbeam that had landed in her arms.

‘Okay. Well, laters then, we’ll give you some time,’ he whispered, kissing her temple.

‘Later, alligator,’ Tove said, touching her arm lightly.

Bell looked back at Linus again, barely aware of her friends leaving. ‘You’ve grown! My God, I can’t believe how much you’ve grown! Just straighten up.’ She measured the top of his head against her jaw. ‘Oh my God, half a neck! You were down here when I saw you last!’

‘I know!’ he laughed excitedly. ‘Dad thinks I’m going to be taller than him.’

‘Well, I think he might be right.’

She glanced at Emil again, her heart beating fast. He was another few steps closer. He’d travelled halfway around the world, only to stop short the last six feet? Still, she couldn’t talk to him yet. Not yet. She needed time to recover, to process what was going on.

‘How was the voyage?’ Linus asked, helpfully bringing her attention back to him again.

‘Oh, long! Tiring! We’ve been resting since we got here. We did it in nine weeks in the end. As feared, we hit the doldrums in the ITCZ.’

‘The what?’

‘The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone. Remember I told you about that once? It’s near the equator.’

‘Oh.’ Linus nodded thoughtfully, clearly drawing a blank. ‘Guess what!’

‘What?’

‘We flew economy. Dad’s never flown coach before. But Mamma made him. She said it was a condition for this holiday. And we watched films all the way over. Back-to-back, we didn’t stop, did we?’

‘Nope, we didn’t,’ Emil sighed.

Bell couldn’t stop a bemused smile at the thought. She could see, now he was closer, he looked exhausted.

A few fat drops of rain fell onto the ground – weighty, forceful – and she eyed the sky again. She figured they had less than a minute –

‘Where’s Mats? I want to see him.’

‘He’s, uh . . . busy,’ she said quickly. ‘But don’t worry, you will. He won’t be long.’

Linus eyed her warily. ‘Is he still your boyfriend?’

‘He never was, Linus. He was my special friend, remember?’

‘Bell, I’m not a baby. I know that’s just a different way of saying he’s your boyfriend.’

‘Oh!’ She tried to look put out. ‘Well, for me, it means he’s sort of like a boy best friend. More than a normal friend, not quite my brother.’