‘She wasn’t bothering you, was she?’ Carolyn looked pained.

‘No,’ said Nell, ‘not really. It’s just that Maude’s a little uncertain around dogs. I might have been – overprotective.’

As if on cue, Flossie appeared, her claws skittering over the tiled floor; she shook herself vigorously, yawned, then seemed to notice the visitors in the house for the first time. As she advanced, Maude drew back.

‘Oh, she won’t bother you, will you?’ Carolyn, bent down to stroke Flossie’s head. ‘She’s the most dreadful pushover really.’

‘I can put her in the other room if you like.’ Evie said.

Maude shook her head. ‘That’s OK.’

‘Evie, sweetheart, would you mind clearing a space on the table?’

‘I really am sorry,’ Nell said, again, ‘I think I might have been a bit – forceful earlier.’

‘Please don’t worry about it. She was pushing her luck, she thinks everyone on the beach is fair game.’ Evie picked up a Moses basket and put it on the table, gathering up the piles of ironed clothes and dropping them inside. She smiled at Maude who was still keeping a careful eye on Flossie and lowered her voice conspiratorially, ‘Mum’s right, though, she’s a soppy old thing really, she won’t bother you.’

‘Goodness,’ said Nell, more to fill the growing silence than anything else, running her fingers over the basket’s woven wicker handle. ‘I haven’t seen one of those for years.’

‘It used to be mine.’ Evie flicked a glance at her mother, who was busy decanting milk into a china jug. ‘Apparently.’

‘And mine before that,’ said Carolyn, setting the jug and cafetière on the table. ‘It’s for a baby,’ she said to Maude, as they sat.

‘Yes,’ Maude said. ‘I know.’

*

The conversation stuttered on. Carolyn had clearly kept in touch with more school friends than Nell had. Stories of marriages, divorces, births and – increasingly – health scares, left her feeling mildly bewildered. Some of the names mentioned were familiar, but many were not – and Nell began to doubt that she had ever exchanged more than a few words with Carolyn Wilson during their time at school.

‘I don’t know how you keep up,’ she said.

‘Facebook.’

‘She has more friends than I do,’ said Evie, reaching across the table and picking up a biscuit.

‘You’re not on there, are you?’ Carolyn said to Nell, sliding the plate away from her daughter and towards Maude, smiling approvingly as the younger girl helped herself.

‘God, no.’

‘Not even as a business?’

‘Well. Yes.’ Nell shouldn’t be surprised, she supposed, that Carolyn seemed to be aware of what she did for a living – given the way she had kept up with half the sixth form – but she felt a moment’s discomfort. ‘But I don’t – there’s nothing personal on there. Chris deals with all of that.’

‘What business?’ asked Evie.

‘I make jewellery,’ said Nell.