Her brothers were expertly manoeuvring a football around the apple trees, while Nick sat a little way off, reading a book. She wished she knew what he was thinking.

‘Tom?’ Tim brushed grass off his bony feet. ‘He’s a great kid.’ He smiled. ‘Maybe you’ll get to meet him one day.’

‘Has Nick met him?’ Pansy asked.

Hearing his name, Nick turned his head.

‘Yeah, Tom’s been round to the house,’ Nick said laconically, as if it was nothing.

‘Wow,’ she said. ‘You’re so lucky.’

Taisie frowned at her, and Pansy caught her eye, mouthed, ‘Sorry’, then rolled over and dropped her head into her folded arms. Taisie sat up, leaning back to feel the sun on her face. She was wearing a bikini and she felt Nick’s eyes on her, but when she looked, his head was in his book. Tim, though – he had seen. Taisie wrapped her arms around her knees and pulled them close.

Tim was a cross between David Beckham and Hugh Grant. He was old, like forty-five or something, but he was totally gorgeous. Even the twins were impressed and envied Taisie’s easy relationship with him. She had known him for years, but it was the first time he’d treated her like an adult. The best thing was, Nick was jealous of his dad. It was blatantly obvious. When Tim made any sort of fuss of Taisie or the twins, he went beetroot. Nick made her feel all cringy and angry, but his dad confused her. Often, the only way of getting through that was to be rude to him. Sarcasm helped too.

‘Who’s Tom Gale?’ Lorna asked.

‘Mum, you know who he is,’ Freya said. ‘He was on Parkinson last week.’

Lorna shrugged. ‘I don’t remember. But I’m sure he’s wonderful.’

‘He is,’ Taisie said, deciding to give Tim the benefit of her support. ‘He’s a real artist, not someone who’s going to come and go in a flash. He’s got this great single out now. I’ve got it on my MP3 player. We can listen to it later if you like.’

Tim stretched, and his T-shirt rose, showing his hips above the waistband of his shorts and the arrow of hair below his navel.

‘Loving your midriff, Tim,’ she said, raising her eyebrows. ‘Kind of you to share it with us.’

He laughed. ‘Yeah, I know, I’m not sixteen any more. I should keep it under wraps in case I shock the kids.’