She didn’t know but she wanted to find out. ‘Angie, do you fancy going for a sunset walk?’ she asked.

‘Sounds romantic,’ Angie replied.

‘Well you’re dressed for it. Alan, are you and Jack okay to hold the fort for an hour or so?’

‘Of course,’ he said. ‘I’ve already promised to referee a game of water polo.’

‘Come on then,’ Sophie said. Angie nodded, wiped her hands on a tea towel and started following Sophie towards the front door. As they were about to open it, Indie barged through it from the outside, her face like thunder.

‘Indie what’s the matter?’ Angie asked.

Indie scowled in response and marched up the stairs, slamming the door.

Angie looked at Sophie apologetically. ‘I’d better see what that’s all about. Most likely she’s been on the phone with her boyfriend and they’ve had a row. Rain check on that walk?’

‘Of course,’ Sophie said, although she was disappointed. She watched Angie make her way up the stairs and considered what to do with herself. From outside she could hear the children splashing and shrieking in delight and occasional shouts from Jack and Alan, who were supervising. Sod it, she thought, I’m going out anyway.

She pulled on her trainers and let herself out of the house, making her way down the track and starting her ascent of the hill. As she navigated the rough terrain, climbing higher and higher and sweating under the glare of the late afternoon sun, she felt a rush of pleasure from the exertion and remembered how much she used to love swimming and the sheer physical effort of pushing herself to the limit. She tried to remember now why she’d stopped. It had all got a bit too much, the early morning starts, the constant training, and when she’d left home to go to journalism school, that part of her life had faded into her past like a distant memory.

She perched on a large, flat rock for a while, watching the sun dip down into the sea, and saw things with a clarity that she hadn’t felt in a long time. How long had she just been gliding through life, in her comfort zone, stuck in the mundanity of the day-to-day? When had she last challenged herself? When I get back from this holiday things are going to change, she told herself. No more plodding along, waiting for life to happen. It was time to seize it with both hands. She wasn’t sure what that meant yet, but she was going to find out. With a renewed purpose, she jumped off the rock and made her way back to the villa.

She knew from the minute she got back that something wasn’t right. The room’s atmosphere was thick and everyone seemed subdued, even the children.

She sidled up to Alan. ‘What’s going on?’ she asked him quietly.

‘Indie and Angie have had some sort of blazing row,’ he replied.

‘So why is everyone else looking like Christmas has been cancelled?’