Maude could have waited, thought Nell, they could have had just a few more minutes talking on their own. But no, here she was again. She had a gift for it; for inserting herself between the two of them.

‘Has he got a case?’ Nell asked. ‘Will he be able to stop us expanding the gallery?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t think so, but it’s hard to tell.’ Chris sounded tired. ‘I’m sorry, love. I’d much rather be there with you guys.’

‘Really?’ said Nell.

‘Really.’ He lowered his voice. Sam was hovering nearby, no doubt. ‘I miss you, you know?’

‘Yeah.’ She glanced at Maude. ‘Me too.’

They hadn’t even said goodbye properly. Nell remembered when they’d first met. The excuses she’d made to spend time with him; the painful lurch she’d felt in the pit of her stomach if she ever bumped into him by accident. The knowledge, the absolute certainty of it; this is him, the one.

The disbelief when she’d discovered he was married.

‘Oh, please don’t start all that.’ Maude said.

‘What are you two going to do today?’ Chris asked.

‘I thought we’d take a walk, maybe go and see Gina’s shop,’ said Nell, ‘if Maude likes.’

‘Can’t you sort out a new phone?’

‘Easier said than done, love. There’s nowhere here that can replace it. I think we’ll have to take a bus to—’

‘No buses,’ said Maude, ‘I’ll be sick.’ She almost sounded pleased at the prospect.

‘Or, you know. We could just wait until you get back,’ said Nell.

‘Right,’ said Chris, but it sounded like he was speaking to someone else. ‘Sorry, guys, I have to go. I’ll ring this evening, yeah?’

*

When Nell was growing up, Gina’s shop had been a butcher’s, an old-fashioned shop front with blue and white tiles beneath the large window, and a family name painted over the door. It was unrecognisable now. She sold joss sticks and scented candles, Tarot sets, jewellery and woolly hats, and various bits and pieces that might be described as ‘alternative’. Nell could practically hear her gran spitting out the word – hippy.

‘Hello there.’ Gina was sitting behind the long, low, wooden counter, knitting. ‘How are you today?’

‘Fine, thank you.’ Maude said. She turned to Nell. ‘Can I look around?’

‘Of course, that’s what we’re here for.’

Maude made her way to the back of the shop, and began to inspect the little figurines, elves and faeries, wizards and dragons that were jostling on the shelves for space and attention.

‘How’s business?’ Nell asked.

‘Slow. But it’s early in the season yet.’ Gina wound up her knitting and put it to one side. ‘It’s very nice to see you two, though.’

Maude picked up a model of an elf wielding a silver sword. ‘Can I have one of these?’ she asked.

‘No.’