‘I was.’ Jarvis nodded, recalling that intense level of hurt. ‘Looking back, it all feels a bit daft. I think I’d never really got upset or angry over my dad leaving, and then to have Merrin, my first kind of girlfriend, marry someone else . . . it was all too much. All of my sadness and all of my rejection came out in one big gulp and it was hard. But Merrin, even though she’s a sweet, lovely girl, she was never for me. We were kids when we knocked about together and I think she was one of the only people to be kind and take an interest in me back then, but nothing happened, really. It was a non-event and I overthought it. It felt like the end of the bloody world, which is more than a little embarrassing. My mum said at the time, “Love can be fickle,” and I didn’t know what that meant, but she was right. When I started spending time with Ruby, it’s like I saw her for the first time, despite having known her for years, and that was it: I loved her – properly, properly loved her.’

‘You old softie, Jarv!’

‘No shame in that.’ He sipped his pint. ‘Not that I’m talking to my mother at the moment.’

‘Not talking to Nancy? What’s she done to deserve that?’

‘She’s rented out my bloody room! Got herself a lodger.’

‘Well, why not? It’s money in the bank and there’s plenty of folk who want a room with a view like yours.’

‘Yes, but that’s the point – it’s my room. Supposing I want to leave Ruby for a night in protest if we have a row.’

‘Jarv, mate, have you met your mother? She’d march you straight back to Ruby’s doorstep with a thick ear!’

‘You’re probably right, but I dunno, I don’t like the idea of some stranger sleeping up there. It was my space. The place Ben built for me.’

He pictured his teenage self mid-renovation, with Ben barking orders that kept him occupied, gave him purpose. And there it was again, that punch to the gut.

‘And now you don’t need it, cos you are a grown-ass man,’ Robin teased.

‘Suppose so, but it still don’t feel right. I’m glad Ben knew we were having a babby, he was excited right enough; used to talk about all the things he was going to do with the boy. Take him fishing, of course, and to the stands at Truro FC.’

‘You know it’s a boy then?’ Robin asked.

‘No! That was just Ben’s intuition.’ The mention of him was enough to fire a bolt of grief that speared him. Jarvis looked towards the door. ‘I keep expecting him to walk in. I keep looking for him down at the harbour or in here.’