The truth was, I hadn’t made a wish. I’d been so pre-occupied with keeping my temperature in check, that I hadn’t had time.

‘That was fun,’ said a girl next to me as she pushed her extinguished sparkler into the bucket of sand. ‘Are there any more?’

‘Afraid not,’ I said.

‘We’ll have to buy more next year,’ remarked Sam, as he breathed in the evocative but not unpleasant acrid tang the sparklers had left behind.

I liked the thought of Wynmouth celebrating the solstice again next year, even though I wouldn’t be there to join in with the fun.

‘Smells like autumn,’ said Hope, as she wandered over, with a big grin on her face. ‘Don’t you think?’

‘It does,’ I agreed, ‘we’ll all be wanting toffee apples for breakfast at this rate.’

‘I have a spicy baked alternative to those,’ said Sophie as she began refilling everyone’s cups with yet more punch. ‘Remind me to give you the recipe, Tess.’

‘I will,’ I said, throwing caution to the wind and holding out my cup for a refill. ‘Thank you.’

‘Are you going to play?’ Hope asked Sam with a nod to where his guitar case was propped against a deckchair.

‘I’m not sure,’ he said, ‘perhaps later when everyone is too tipsy to take much notice of my mistakes. It’s been a while. One thing I am sure of though, is that we need to move the party further up the beach before the tide catches us.’

By the time we had moved everything and were settled on to the sand in front of the café where I’d never seen the sea reach, there weren’t many of us left. Multiple stars were beginning to shine and someone had lit a small fire in a brazier in celebration of the season. I helped pass around the blankets and sleeping bags to the hardy last few which would help stave off the developing chill.

We all found a comfy spot and Sam began to quietly strum a melody on his guitar and sing a few words. I didn’t hear any bum notes as I closed my eyes, thinking that I probably shouldn’t let Sophie top my drink up again. I couldn’t remember if I’d three or four cups now, or possibly even five. I breathed slowly and deeply, thinking that there was something very hypnotic about the lapping waves, the crackle of the fire and Sam’s surprisingly soulful voice.

I sat and listened as he softly worked his way through Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’. I remembered how much I had loved the video which had accompanied the release and how I had wondered whether I would ever find someone who would feel like that about me.