He wondered if he should attempt to apologise. He wondered if there was any way of making up to Marnie for the way he’d behaved, for all the ways he’d let her down; all those envelopes with their childish handwriting on the front that he’d never opened, but couldn’t quite bring himself to throw away. He’d left them on his desk in his room in the university halls where they gradually became buried and eventually they’d been lost or someone had torn a strip from the edge to make a spill to light a joint. Sooner or later the letters had been destroyed or discarded, and Will had been able to pretend they had never existed.

Marnie filled a small pan with water and placed it on the cooker. She took a mug and spoon from the drainer, and a jar of coffee granules from the cupboard beneath the sink. When the water boiled, Marnie made the coffee and passed the mug to Will.

It smelled better than the coffee in the guesthouse.

Marnie stood with her back to the kitchen window watching Will sip his drink. She was wearing the knitted hat, pulled down over her head. Her eyebrows were dark and fine, her features sharp and neat. Was there some small resemblance to Alice, or was that only Will trying to make the pieces of the jigsaw fit?

‘It reminds me of your mother, being here, in the cottage,’ he said, feeling his way forward.

Marnie looked away.

‘You must still think of her a lot.’

She winced.

‘Sorry,’ Will said.

Marnie squeezed past him, heading for the front door. He reached for her arm, ‘No, wait, Marnie, don’t go rushing off. I want to talk to you, I want to explain. I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m sorry, Marnie! Please, can’t we talk?’

She shook off his hand, opened the door.

‘Wait! If I see the lost dog, what should I do?’ Will asked.

She hesitated, then put a hand in her pocket and gave him a lead.

‘You’d better give me your number too.’

With bad grace, Marnie took Will’s phone and tapped her number in. She passed it back to him and went out of the door.

He watched her walk away.

54

Marnie greeted the dogs and sat for a moment or two in the driver’s seat staring out of the window.

She’d put Alice’s precious Quality Street tin to the back of her mind in the chaos of losing Luna, but now she remembered. The tide was going out and she could be at the cave in five minutes. If she was going to get the tin, now would be as good a time as any.

When she reached the place, she found it deserted. She let the dogs out and Tessy ran wild on the rocky foreshore. As always, Mister stayed close to Marnie.