Not like Nell at all, although they had the same sort of accent; educated, but with the soft flattening of the vowels. And the biscuits – homemade – had been very nice. ‘Evie seemed all right too, not, you know, snobby.’ Maude glanced back at the cottage; a proper house, she thought, with a proper mum.

They took the shopping into the kitchen and Maude watched as Nell began to unpack it. She was looking tired, and a bit pale. Once upon a time Maude might have felt sorry for her, but now – not so much. She watched her put a bottle of Diet Coke in the fridge, then made a point of getting it out again and opening it.

‘Glass,’ said Nell as Maude raised the bottle to her lips. She thought about ignoring her, but settled for a barely audible sigh as she did as she was told.

‘What’s for dinner?’ she asked.

‘Can’t you wait? You must be full of biscuits.’

‘It’s all the sea air.’ She opened a cupboard, pulling out a box of crackers. She bit into one, scattering crumbs all over the flagstones. ‘Were you really at school with Carolyn?’ Maude asked, because Nell hadn’t seemed pleased to see her at all.

‘I don’t know,’ Nell said slowly. ‘Probably, yes. But I don’t remember her.’ She looked embarrassed, and a little anxious. ‘It’s a bit – awkward, really.’

‘Well,’ Maude said, ‘it was a very long time ago.’ She looked out of the kitchen window and up at the bankside beyond. ‘Can we eat out there tonight?’

‘It might be uncomfortable, don’t you think?’ said Nell. ‘There’s no table, we’d have to eat off our knees.’

‘We could have a picnic.’

‘We could. Tomorrow, perhaps, if we plan what we want to eat.’

‘Did there used to be houses there?’

‘Where?’

Maude gestured towards the drying ground and Nell drew close to the window, pushing it open a little further. ‘I don’t think so,’ she said. ‘There might have been something, but it would have been terribly cramped.’

‘I can see a wall.’

‘There’s a fence.’

‘Inside that.’

‘Can you?’

‘I think so.’ She frowned. ‘There’s something there, anyway.’ She slid past Nell and opened the kitchen door.

‘Maude. Maudie, what are you up to?’

‘What does it look like?’ Maude scrambled up the bank as quickly as she could before Nell could catch her.

‘Don’t,’ Nell said, ‘It’s too steep.’

Maude snorted as she opened the little gate, then stepped into the drying ground. But Nell was right – it was steeper than she expected and the ground shifted beneath her feet; she lost her balance for a moment, wheeling her arms out before steadying and edging carefully down the incline.

Nell had come out as far as the fence; she looked pale and cross.