By mid-morning on Friday there was the tiniest hint of a break in the cloud and when I spotted it, I wasted no time in setting out to chase it. I pulled on the raincoat which hung on a hook just inside the door, grabbed the umbrella beneath it and rushed out. I didn’t care if I was in for a soaking; if I stayed cooped up for much longer, I would go completely stir crazy.

‘Tess!’ called Sophie when she spotted me on the lane which led down to the beach.

I waited for her to catch me up.

‘Hello, Sophie,’ I smiled.

‘Oh, my goodness,’ she tutted, swapping the basket she was carrying from one hand to the other so she could link her arm through mine before I had a chance to take a step away, ‘don’t you look down in the dumps?’

‘Do I?’ I swallowed.

‘Yes, you do,’ she declared, squeezing me closer.

It was an intimate way to greet someone you barely knew but, after we had taken a few steps, I told myself to unclench and found I didn’t actually mind her unexpected proximity. The further we walked, the more comforting I found her unreserved friendliness and I made no attempt to untangle myself. Sophie was probably about the age Mum had been when I lost her and her maternal manner was cheering after the miserable couple of days I’d suffered.

‘I can see it in your eyes,’ she told me. ‘But with the rain we’ve had, I’m hardly surprised. Almost half your holiday gone, and you’ve been plagued by bad weather almost since the moment you arrived.’

She was right, and I immediately found myself hoping that Sam would let me stay on, because it was depressing to think that I’d spent the best part of the first week back in Wynmouth laying on a sofa wrapped in a blanket.

‘It’s not always like this here, you know?’ Sophie nudged.

I did know.

‘Come along with me to the café,’ she insisted, ‘and I’ll see if I can find something to put the smile back on your pretty face.’

‘All right,’ I agreed, ‘but only if you let me carry that basket.’

Sophie swapped it for my umbrella, which we thankfully didn’t need to put up, and together we carried on towards the beach. Just as I had guessed, her business was housed in the spooky, boarded-up building I remembered from former holidays, but it looked nothing like the last time I had seen it. In fact, I soon discovered there was absolutely nothing even remotely scary about the place at all.

‘Here we are,’ said Sophie proudly. ‘This is my little business.’

‘Oh, my goodness!’ I laughed, feeling overwhelmed as I took it all in. ‘I was not expecting this!’