Looking for the flat key in her bag, Ella thought about sharing her concerns about Roman, but what was that going to achieve? And she didn’t want Roman thinking she was talking out of school. She was torn. Maybe if things got tougher for him he’d realise he could open up to her, and she was there to help.

After kicking off her shoes and hanging up her coat Ella had her afternoon mapped out: a walk with McCartney, followed by a spot of housework, a long soak in the bath and tea at the pub, but first she fired up her laptop and immediately logged on to Facebook, then typed in Roman’s name.

He came up straight away and she admired his profile photo. His privacy setting were watertight, his friends list not accessible, but Ella clicked on to his profile pictures. There were three altogether. The first one was of Roman pictured backstage with a band, wearing a T-shirt sporting the words Tour Manager, with all the band members pointing towards it. The second was Roman’s current photo and in the third Roman had his arm draped around a beautiful girl who wouldn’t look out of place on the cover of Vogue. A slim size eight with long brunette hair that hung below her waist. Her make-up was immaculate, her eyebrows pencilled to perfection, and over her shoulder she clutched a Louis Vuitton bag. The girl was tagged in the photograph and Ella clicked on her name… Megan Docherty. Ella was amazed to discover that this stunning young woman was Roman’s daughter. She was shocked to discover that he was a dad because he’d never given the slightest hint that he had a daughter. Ella wondered if Megan was an only child, and where was her mother?

Carefully clicking through Megan’s profile, Ella discovered she was nineteen years old, which meant Roman must have had Megan when he was just sixteen years of age. Ella was surprised. She knew at that age she had barely been able to look after herself, never mind being responsible for another human being, and wondered if Roman had found fatherhood difficult at that age. After looking through a few more images there seemed no trace of Megan’s mother – was she still in Roman’s life? Ella wasn’t sure and after searching for a couple more minutes, she uncovered very little. Why hadn’t Callie mentioned he had a daughter? Ella quickly pinged her a text:

Did you know Roman has a daughter?

Immediately the text delivered and seconds later the reply came back: No, has he?

Ella was a little astonished by the reply. Surely Roman would have dropped Megan into conversation at some point. He had been sailing the boat since The Lakehouse reopened, and six months was a long time not to bring up the fact that he had a child – that seemed a little strange to her.