He used the time alone to run over the cover story he had agreed with Hannah on the drive down. They had decided to keep it as simple and as close to the truth as possible, saying they had met on the beach in Wells after Tank knocked Hannah over, just changing a few small details. Firstly they would make out that the incident had happened months earlier and also they planned not to mention that Liam was writing a book about Eileen Wickham. It was safer, they decided, if they stuck to saying that he was simply a writer.

Jane loved the idea of having a celebrated author in the house, Liam discovered a short while later while being interrogated over the tea that Geoff had made, and he suspected she would be dining out on it for ages, telling all of her friends that Hannah was dating someone famous.

Not that he would ever consider himself well known. A few of his books had been big hits, but people tended to know the titles and the stories, not the man who had written them, and that was exactly how he liked it. Privacy was important to him.

Over the years, he had become a pro at diverting questions and avoiding any prying into his personal life, learning how easy it was to distract people if you gave them the opportunity to talk about themselves, and this wasn’t going to be an issue with Jane. Although she had bombarded him with questions, clearing dying to know everything about her daughter’s mysterious boyfriend, he had brushed her off, smoothly giving enough of an answer to pacify her curiosity before twisting the conversation back onto her. And Jane, he quickly established, loved talking about herself.

Eventually they were able to escape, Tank in tow, and the look of relief was clear on Hannah’s face as she led him up to the stairs to her old bedroom. The room had been redecorated since she had left, she told him, closing the door to give them a little privacy, and her mother was now using it as a second guest room.

He glanced at the double bed, knowing they would be sharing it, though he had no intention of having sex with her while they were under her mother’s roof.

Actually, scrub that. He should never have slept with her in the first place. It just complicated everything. What Hannah needed this weekend was a friend, so he would try his best to be supportive. He wasn’t going to lie though. He was expecting a long and frustrating night.

The plus side for him being here (not that he would ever tell her) was that he was also getting to see the dynamics of the family at play. It was all good background research for his book.