He threw the weed for Mister and then put his arm round Marnie’s shoulder. She liked the weight of it. She liked the feeling of belonging. She understood how Alice had wanted to belong to someone. She would always be in Marnie’s heart.

‘Are you happy?’ Gabriel asked.

‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘Are you?’

‘If you’re happy, then I’m happy,’ said Gabriel.

He kissed her and she kissed him back.

They were at the beginning of something that was going to last.

Marnie had a feeling it would be something good.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Sarah, Yvonne, Rose, Becky, Nia, Ellie and everyone at Boldwood Books. I’m so proud to be part of this amazing team.

Thank you to Alison, Marianne, Vicki and Pat for all that you do and for being wonderful.

Thank you to the book community: authors, bloggers, librarians, booksellers, reviewers and especially readers. I couldn’t ask for a kinder or more supportive crew.

Thank you to Martin for agility training – any mistakes in this book are my own – and to all my crazy, brilliant agility friends and their dogs. We have so much fun together!

Thanks as always to my family and friends.

This story was inspired by a visit to the real-life town of Severn Beach in South Gloucestershire.

Although it’s situated approximately in the same location, Severn Sands is nothing like Severn Beach and is entirely fictional. The geography to either side of this made-up town also does not represent what’s there in real life but is an amalgamation of different stretches of the coast, from the fossil cliffs at Aust to the beach at Berrow and everywhere in between. Most of the places on which the fictional locations are based exist, but not where they’re found in this book. I hope people familiar with the area will forgive me.

Reading Group Questions