‘I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen again,’ he told me. ‘I don’t want there to be any more drama in Wynmouth involving the Upton family. There’s been more than enough of that in recent years and it’s time things settled down.’

His words were music to my ears.

*

That evening in the Smuggler’s was one of the best I’d spent since I arrived back in the village. Sam and Joe were ignoring the furtive glances which were being thrown in their direction and if not completely comfortable in each other’s presence they were doing a mighty fine job of making the best of it.

Their conversation was still a bit stilted, but that was a vast improvement on non-existent. I wondered if some of the way Charlie didn’t seem to have a problem being around Sam had rubbed off on Joe, and if Joe hadn’t left Wynmouth in the first place whether they might have been at this point years ago. Not that I could blame Joe for wanting to get away because I myself had made a dash for it when life and work had got too much – and I didn’t have the added complication of seeing the person I was in love with going out with the person I was trying to avoid.

‘Did you, by any chance,’ Hope asked me, when Sam was serving at the other end of the bar, ‘have anything to do with this pair finally finding they could rub along?’

‘No,’ I said, ‘not really. I might have got Joe to have a think about a few things, but to be honest, after my last faux pas, I’d decided I was going to stay out of it all.’

Hope couldn’t stop smiling.

‘Well,’ she said. ‘Whatever the reason behind this positive shift in their relationship, I’m truly grateful for it.’

‘It was a clever move on your part to ask Charlie and Joe to help with that barrel,’ I pointed out.

Hope shrugged, but looked pleased that it had all turned out all right. I wondered if she would be as happy if she knew Joe was still carrying a torch for her.

‘I didn’t think a bit of male bonding over a practical task would be any bad thing,’ she smiled.

I knew that it was going to take a whole lot more than a bit of male bonding to make things properly right, but fingers crossed what we were witnessing was a healthy and long-lasting move in the right direction for Joe and Sam’s relationship, even if Joe was going to struggle to get used to seeing Hope on the arm of his former best friend.

‘Right,’ Joe said to me, just a little while later, ‘I’m going to head home.’

‘What, already?’ I frowned, unable to keep the disappointment out of my voice.