‘I grew up in Whitley Bay,’ Leah replied. ‘What did you expect?’ She dusted her hands together as if this was child’s play and took her second shot, which also decimated all ten pins.

‘Well, I consider that gauntlet to be well and truly dropped,’ said Marlon, when the scoreboard had finished doing its little celebration.

He took aim and his shot was good, but not as good as Leah’s. Two pins remained standing and at such a gap that it would be impossible to knock them both over with a single ball.

Clio watched to see how Leah would react to her clear superiority, but she just smiled and said, ‘Bad luck! I hate it when that happens.’

They played on, Marlon distracting Noah between his turns so that he didn’t lose interest. Once or twice Clio caught Leah watching Marlon, but she wasn’t quite sure what she was thinking. Was there something there? A flicker of something? She hoped so, but she couldn’t really tell. Leah might just be being polite.

They had played six of their ten goes and Leah had a convincing lead, but with Marlon not that far behind her.

‘Is anyone thirsty?’ asked Marlon, and Noah hopped up and down on the spot with his hand up as if he were at school. ‘Let’s go get some drinks, shall we, Noah?’

They placed their orders and Marlon and Noah set off. Clio watched them go, Marlon crouching down as he walked so that he could hear what Noah was saying over the din of the music. They returned with the drinks on a tray and the most enormous bowl of nachos, which Noah carried in front of him like a crown on a cushion.

Marlon set the drinks down and Leah reached for hers, but she caught one of the others with her sleeve and it started to wobble. With lightning reactions Marlon righted it, and as he did so he placed his hand on Leah’s.

And there it was! Clio had known she was right. As Leah acknowledged Marlon’s touch she looked him in the eye and Marlon, instead of moving his hand, let it linger on hers. Quickly Clio dropped her eyes so that they didn’t catch her looking, but then she caught a glimpse of Poppy’s expression. She had seen it, too. Poppy looked straight at Clio, a smirk on her lips, and raised her eyebrows. The pair of them shared a conspiratorial wink.

Leah won the game with Marlon a convincing second and the rest of them trailing in as much of a muchness.

‘Again, again!’ shouted Noah with boundless enthusiasm, even though the first game hadn’t really held his attention.

‘No, I think that’s enough,’ said Leah, and Clio was impressed at how Noah just accepted her word and didn’t moan.

‘How about some lunch?’ Clio asked.