‘Yes,’ I resolutely carried on, ‘I do, because my life has been nothing but a disaster from the moment you walked back into it.’

He didn’t catch my faux pas and I bit my lip to stop myself adding another revelation to the drama the day had become. All I had wanted when I came back from the café earlier was to sit and quietly think about all the things Dad and Sophie had told me, but now this post-pub argument was going to be the cause of even more stress. I could feel something was coming and cursed myself for lingering in the cottage when I could have been long gone.

‘Please, Tess,’ said Charlie, sounding far more reasonable than his sibling. ‘It would really help if you could just give us a minute.’

The words were sincerely spoken and, as I was the person responsible for letting the cat out of the bag about the farm sale, I supposed I did owe them something. I looked at Charlie’s forlorn face and felt my resolve to refuse Joe’s demands crumble a little.

‘Please,’ Charlie said again.

I let out a long breath.

‘Where exactly is it that we’re going?’ I asked, as I reached for the cottage keys.

This wasn’t going to be the last time I locked the place up after all then.

‘To the Smuggler’s,’ said Joe, peering through the window as a van pulled up.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ I gasped, taking a step back again. ‘After what happened earlier?’

‘A hell of a lot has happened since earlier,’ he said mysteriously. ‘Trust me.’

Given his track record, I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

‘Are you expecting a parcel?’ Charlie asked.

I took delivery of the phone I now didn’t need and the three of us walked back up the lane to the pub. The brothers were far keener to cross the threshold than I was, and I felt my heart kick in my chest as I discovered the place was even more packed than the evening I had arranged for the Sea Dogs to entertain us.

‘Is this everyone?’ I heard Joe ask Sam.

‘It’s as many as I could rally at such short notice,’ Sam told him.

‘Okay,’ said Joe, puffing out his cheeks, ‘thanks.’

Sam nodded, looked at me for the briefest moment and then turned back to the till. The pair sounded almost civil and that was the last thing I had been expecting. When Joe had said back at the cottage that a lot had happened since earlier, he clearly wasn’t wrong. Exactly how long had it taken me to pack my bags? Long enough for the pair of them to come to some sort of tolerance agreement, by the looks of it. At least I could rest easier knowing I hadn’t been dragged in to witness a barroom brawl.