‘Hmm. He thought I didn’t notice him pulling Bobby’s tail that time. You know he’s never been a biter, but sometimes I think that’s a shame. Let’s hope the new baby turns out nicer. Anyway,’ she goes on, ‘you’re probably loving your time alone, and I don’t want to disturb you—’

‘You’re not disturbing me,’ I say quickly as Chrissie comes out, beams indulgently at the devil’s spawn and starts to peg out washing. Great. Now he can lob clods of earth at Tim’s zingy white Calvins. ‘But I thought you were away with Hamish?’ I add.

‘Oh, that hasn’t happened,’ Penny explains. ‘Engine trouble, apparently, and Hamish is up to his elbows in grease. And I thought, it’s a beautiful day. Far too lovely to waste sitting on a stinky old boat that isn’t going anywhere …’

‘You’re right about that,’ I agree, making my way into the house now.

‘It’s the perfect day for a chilled glass of white, in fact.’

I smile. At just gone 2 p.m., the idea isn’t completely abhorrent. ‘That sounds excellent.’

‘Well, come and join us!’

‘Us? Who are you with?’

‘Friends of yours.’ I catch laughter in the background. ‘I ran into Shelley and Isla in Kelvingrove and we’re waiting for you now. But hurry up, darling – you certainly have some catching up to do.’

Chapter Fourteen

Forty-five minutes later

It’s not that I’m desperate for company. However, I manage to shower, dress, do my make-up and be out of the door in record time, and by the time I arrive at the pub, my friends are all chatting away like old buddies, at an outside table in the dappled sunshine.

Despite only having met them a couple of times, apparently Penny zoomed right over and persuaded Isla and Shelley to join her for wine. A bottle juts from an ice bucket on the table and Bobby is lying contentedly at Penny’s feet. It turns out that, while I’ve been lonesome at home, Shelley has also been at a loose end as Laurence, her partner, is away visiting his parents, and Shelley couldn’t face going; apparently her mother-in-law can talk for about seventeen hours without drawing breath. Meanwhile Isla ‘had to get out’ as living with three teenagers is proving testing. So why didn’t anyone call me?

‘We thought you’d be loving having time on your own,’ Shelley admits.

‘We didn’t want to interrupt your reverie,’ Isla teases.

‘I wasn’t in a reverie,’ I retort. ‘I was being pelted with clods of earth by the kid next door while I was downward dogging.’

‘The one whose parents let him play with matches and cooking oil?’ Shelley asks.

‘That’s the one. His mum believes everything is a “learning experience”.’