Our first kiss had been perfect and I was pretty certain the second one had been too, although the influence of Sophie’s rum punch had ensured certain details weren’t quite as focused as I would have liked, but there was no doubting the quality of the third one.

‘Shall I let you into a secret,’ he said, punctuating each word with another kiss, ‘that night down at the beach huts all those years ago, was my first kiss too.’

‘Really?’ I smiled.

‘Scout’s honour,’ he smiled back.

‘Hey guys,’ I heard Joe say. ‘I’m sorry to break things up, but you’ve got barrels to sign for, Sam.’

Although disappointed to feel his hands move away, I knew we were going to have plenty of opportunities, and more private ones than this, to carry on where we’d left off.

‘I’ll see you tonight,’ Sam whispered. ‘And we’ll do more of this very soon.’

‘Lots more,’ I agreed, ‘lots, lots more and very, very soon.’

‘And don’t you even think about leaving Wynmouth,’ he commanded. ‘You go back to the cottage and unpack right now. Do you hear me? You need to stay put in Wynmouth for at least a few more weeks.’

I very much liked the sound of that and I didn’t need telling twice. Hope and I walked back to the cottage together, still giggling about the mistake I had made in assuming she and Sam were a couple, and when she left, I hastily unpacked again and switched my phone back on. I didn’t bother even looking at the older messages but focused on the last text which had landed from Dad.

Darling Tess, I know that me turning up here earlier and telling you everything must have been a shock. Please let me know how you are feeling as soon as you get this. Please also know that it was never my intention to hurt you, or make you think any less of your mother, I just couldn’t live with the secret any longer and felt you deserved to know the truth. I hope, in time, that you will come to understand.

It was a relief to be able to message him straight back and say with complete honesty that I was feeling surprisingly fine, even though I knew that the revelations about Mum would take some assimilating. It was incredibly sad to think that she had lived a lie for much of her life and I wished things could have been different, for all our sakes. Had she not died so young – and given what Vanessa had told Dad – then it might have been, but that was something I couldn’t dwell on. Nothing would be gained from wasting time grieving over the unknown.