The sky was grey and the horizon blurred with fog, a sea fret was settling in; Nell closed her eyes and let the sound of the tide, the gentle hiss as waves broke softly against the beach, wash over her.

‘Oh! Sorry!’

The dog didn’t so much run into Nell as bounce off her. She opened her eyes as the border collie, all salt fur and soft growls, circled her, a stick in its mouth. Maude skipped back out of the way; she wasn’t used to dogs, and without thinking Nell moved in front of her, trying to distract it.

‘Flossie! Floss!’ The dog chased its tail for a moment or two as a girl made her way up the beach, half walking, half running. ‘Sit, Floss!’

The collie finally dropped to the sand, and began to gnaw at the stick.

‘Sorry,’ said the girl as she drew closer, ‘she’s not dangerous or anything, but I think she might be a bit deaf.’

‘Maybe keep her on a lead then,’ Nell said, glancing at Maude, ‘not everyone is comfortable around dogs.’

‘Floss won’t hurt you.’ The girl smiled reassuringly. ‘She’s too lazy.’

‘Even so,’ said Nell as she turned away, ‘it might be the sensible thing to do, don’t you think?’

She concentrated for a while on following the high water mark and then crossed it, stepping over onto the wet sand, pock-marked with pebbles and shingle and broken shells.

‘That was a bit – rude,’ Maude said, catching up, ‘telling her off like that.’ She sounded impressed.

Nell glanced back down the beach, the girl was still there, the dog dancing around her.

‘I wasn’t telling her off. Was I?’

‘A bit. Yeah.’

‘Well. She should keep the stupid thing under control. Are you OK? You weren’t – frightened?’

‘I’m all right,’ said Maude. ‘Come on. Dad’s waiting.’

*

‘I win,’ said Chris, leaning back against a boulder at the foot of the cliff. ‘You two have been ages.’

‘You never said it was a race,’ Maude pointed out.

They stood there, the three of them, no one sure what to do or say next.

‘Right,’ said Nell eventually, ‘since we’re here—’

‘Seriously?’ Nell couldn’t tell if Maude’s incredulity was sincere or just part of the game. ‘I’m not, like, six, you know.’

‘Come on. Please,’ said Nell. ‘Just – I don’t know – three good pieces of sea glass. Stuff I can use.’

Maude rolled her eyes. ‘I should get paid for this,’ she said.

*