‘Personally, this sea air makes me want to eat for England,’ he finally said, his composure apparently recovered, ‘but one coffee coming right up. Americano?’

‘Please,’ I said, looking about me while he had his back turned. ‘That would be great.’

Even though my eyes had adjusted to the change in light level, the inside of the pub was still shadowy and completely unknown to me as I had never been inside before. The interior featured a lot of dark furniture, an immense fireplace, tall ship paraphernalia, tarnished tankards hanging above the bar and deep windowsills piled with artful arrangements of old books and stoneware beer bottles. Nothing looked as if it had been touched in years, but that all seemed to be part of the place’s traditional charm. Without the distraction of a screen in front of me, I was able to take in all of the tinier details and they were lovely.

‘One coffee,’ the guy smiled, putting a cup and saucer down in front of me. ‘And are you sure I can’t get you anything to eat?’

Now I thought about it, my time out in the sea air and on the beach had given me a bit of an appetite.

‘I’m doing sausage sandwiches and baguettes today,’ he added temptingly.

‘Oh, go on then,’ I caved. ‘I’ll have a sandwich, please. On wholemeal, if you have it.’

‘Of course,’ he said approvingly, ‘and you won’t regret it. Wynmouth has the best butcher for miles around.’

He was certainly right. The sandwich was delicious, and I felt pleased that I had spotted a couple of packets bearing the butcher’s logo in the fridge after Sophie had stocked it. Which reminded me of my original reason for popping into the pub. I wasn’t in the habit of letting a good-looking guy throw me off course, but then I was on holiday, so anything was possible, wasn’t it?

‘I meant to say before,’ I explained as I swallowed down the last delectable mouthful. ‘I’m Tess Tyler. I’m renting the cottage next door.’

‘Yeah,’ said the guy, shaking his head and sounding every bit as remiss as I felt. ‘Sorry, I guessed as much. My head’s a bit all over the place this morning.’

I wondered if that was as a result of the look he had given me when I arrived or, assuming that he was Sam the landlord, if it was because of the last-minute appointment Sophie had mentioned which had thrown this schedule.