Given the furtive looks we exchanged over breakfast the next morning, I knew Ned and I were both feeling guilty about how our wonderful evening spent decorating the tree had ended. I had lain awake long into the night admonishing myself for leaning in and reciprocating and the tired expression Ned wore was all the evidence I needed to know that he had too.

Between us we managed to make vague small talk, but the silences between the stilted words dragged on and when my phone went off, I pounced on it, grateful for the distraction.

‘Wow, that’s great,’ I smiled, as I read the most recent text which had landed.

There was another too, which had arrived a little earlier and I hadn’t noticed before, but I would read that later.

‘Good news?’ asked Ned, looking up from his porridge.

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Fantastic, actually. It’s a message from Wren. She’s going home this morning and has asked if I can drop a couple of things from the hut round to her cottage.’

‘That sounds very positive.’

‘It does,’ I agreed. ‘Obviously, Theo doesn’t want to leave her alone.’

‘Of course.’

‘And she has a commission she was working on and which she can finish at home. I think she needs the distraction, but can you spare me? It’s going to be busy today, isn’t it?’

‘Easily,’ Ned eagerly confirmed.

I daresay he wanted to keep me away from Maya as well as the trees, but he needn’t have worried. Given how guilty I was feeling, I was hardly going to throw myself across her path. In fact, I was grateful for the opportunity to stay off-site.

‘What I mean is,’ he amended, turning slightly pink, ‘is that I think it’s more important that you help Wren, than hang about here all day.’

‘I agree,’ I said, sliding off the stool and trying not to feel slighted by his turn of phrase. ‘I’ll go and get ready. Could you write down Wren and Theo’s address for me?’

‘Of course,’ he said, reaching for the shopping list pad and pen.

Wren and Theo lived in one of the tiny former fisherman’s cottages which were built along a narrow one-way lane alongside the pub and on the walk down to the beach. As the weather was so bright, I parked my car, which had been more than a little reluctant to start, in the village with a view to walking to the house. From what I could remember, there was no parking nearby anyway.

I planned to pick up a couple of things from the shop on the way, but first I read the other message which was waiting on my phone and was from my former colleague, Caitlin. As I scanned what she’d typed, I let out a long breath which could have been the result of annoyance, but was in truth, relief.