‘It was a bit awkward at the start, what with having been bounced into going and all that . . .’ I made my voice sound jokily snippy, and Clio muttered her ‘sorry’s again. ‘But then it was fine . . .’ I remembered the unexpected kiss behind the lighthouse, the exhilaration of running back through the waves to get to safety, Marlon standing in his underwear in my kitchen. ‘And then it was lovely.’

Clio tutted. ‘Lovely? Lovely?! Is that the best you can come up with? Well, it’s not good enough. I need details! Look. We clearly have far too much to discuss over the phone. How about I pop over tomorrow evening? I can help with the children’s tea. I can even pick Noah up from school for you, if you like,’ she offered, but I heard doubt starting to creep into her voice, as if she was worried that she’d overstepped some invisible line. And she was right. My natural instincts were pulling me back, too. I wasn’t used to anyone offering to help me or thinking ahead on my behalf. It almost felt as if accepting Clio’s offer was exposing some weakness on my own part. But that was silly. Noah loved Clio. Poppy happily tolerated her in her teenage way, and I could really use a girly night in.

‘Okay,’ I heard myself say. ‘That would be great.’

With tea cooked, eaten and cleared away and Noah bathed, read to and in bed, Clio and I settled down on the sofa. I was aware that Poppy was still loitering somewhere. She was at that age when she didn’t know whether she fitted with the children or the grown-ups. Of course, I knew exactly which camp she fell into, and this wasn’t going to be the kind of conversation that a thirteen-year-old needed to earwig on. Luckily Poppy seemed to get that too. She sloped off to her room and I heard her door close, firmly barred against intruders. We could chat without fear of interruption.

We started with Marlon.

‘Should I arrange another meet-up?’ asked Clio eagerly.

‘I can use a telephone!’ I said.

I’d meant it as a joke, but Clio seemed to pull back, like a snail into its shell.

‘Of course,’ she said quietly. ‘I didn’t mean to . . .’

‘I’m teasing,’ I said, and Clio smiled a little sheepishly at me, but there was a wariness in her eyes. She really didn’t want to mess this up, I could tell. It was so endearing and it made me feel far more special than I had any right to feel.