I sat back down and noticed for the first time that all eyes at the table were on me. Except Jennifer’s – she was studiously buttering slices of baguette, eyes on her task.

‘Is it me,’ Alistair said breezily, spearing a large slice of ham with his fork, ‘or is it getting hotter every day?’

Chapter 40

40

I took a plate of bread, cheese and fruit down to the pool after lunch. Some building of bridges was needed if Lucy was going to listen to me, and it was a talk that we needed to have. I didn’t really know where to start – how to make her understand without telling her outright – but I had to try. At sixteen, she was still at the stage of thinking she knew all there was to know about the world, while actually knowing almost nothing. Which was sweet and wonderful on some days, quietly terrifying on others.

She was sitting on one of the loungers, facing me on the far side of the pool. I gave her an apologetic smile as I came down the steps, squinting in the bright sunlight.

The smile froze on my lips.

Alistair was sitting on the lounger behind her, rubbing suntan lotion into her shoulders.

Everyone else was upstairs, clearing the lunch things away. It was just the two of them down here.

I quickened my pace around the pool, watching as she lifted her ponytail clear of her shoulders and tipped her head forward to expose the nape of her neck. Alistair, in his usual black Speedos, squirted more lotion into his hand and massaged it over her collarbones.

‘Hey,’ I said to my daughter. ‘I brought you some lunch.’

She took the plate from me with a sheepish smile.

‘Thanks.’

Alistair continued to rub the lotion into her shoulders and upper back, her skin shining in the bright sunlight.

I picked up the bottle of Soltan.

‘Do you want me to take over, Lucy?’

Alistair wiped the last of the liquid on his thighs.

‘All finished,’ he said with a grin.

‘Thanks, Ali,’ she said, sipping from a glass of wine.

I gestured to the plate of food. ‘Have some lunch, too.’

‘Sure.’

Alistair stood up with a grunt and moved back onto his own sunlounger.

‘My work here is done.’ He gave Lucy a smile. ‘Soltan man at your service.’

I hesitated. ‘Actually, can I have a word with you, Lucy?’

‘What about?’

‘Shall we go upstairs? You can bring your lunch with you.’

‘Why?’

‘I want to show you something.’

‘Show me what?’

‘It’s . . . a bit private.’

‘Ah,’ Alistair said, holding his hands up. ‘Women’s business. I shall take a large step back at this point.’

He settled back onto his lounger and picked up his phone.