“I guess, but we had no choice. My grandad died unexpectedly. The choice was all move here or my dad trying to run the farm on his own. It was never really discussed. Besides, all the actual schoolwork is done now, isn’t it? It’s just revision and exam practice. They are using the money from selling our old house to pay for my school fees at Seahaven. It’s also a great move for my brother. He was in a mainstream school back home, but the place he’s at now has much better provision for his special needs and he’s happy there. It was the right thing to do.”

Her life is so different to mine. Is it weird that I wish I had hers? Parents who think about what might be best for their children. Framed happy memories on the walls and yellow ribbon.

“Is it hard – with your brother, I mean?”

“It can be, but that doesn’t matter. I mean, he has good and bad days, but then we all do. His bad day is just as much a part of him as mine would be. I don’t see him as any different. I mean, if you think about it, most days it’s easier to get on with him than it is to get on with someone like Eloise.”

“You have a good point there,” I say.

“You probably don’t get it though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, look at your life. You have everything you could want – money, luxury, private school, a housekeeper to cook and clean for you – a fucking pool, for god’s sake! Wall-to-wall privilege. You don’t have to worry about anything.”

“Money doesn’t make you happy though.”

“No, but it’s a good place to start. I see how much my parents struggle sometimes. Not just financially, but with my brother, his mood swings as he gets older, that kind of thing.”

“From where I’m sitting, you are still much better off than me.”

It’s getting dark outside now, the air cooling rapidly as the sun disappears, and I realise that if we don’t go in soon, we will be getting dangerously close to bumping into the guests for my parents’ dinner party in our wet swimming costumes.

“We should go in.”

“Yeah, sure.”

We walk back to the house against a soundtrack of rumbling waves in the distance, ominous in the darkness and in stark contrast to the silence between us.

*

We let ourselves into the kitchen, which is a flurry of activity, with Martha making sauces, dressing salads and buzzing around.

“There you are!” she says. “Your pizza is ready – take it up with you, but best you make yourself scarce. Everyone will be here soon.”