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Sybil looked from Matt to Zennor. ‘Well, I’m not dying but the fact the two of you have both rushed over here to see me does make me wonder if there’s something the docs aren’t telling me.’

‘We’re just worried about you,’ Zennor said gently.

‘Shall I phone Mum and Dad?’ Matt asked, touching her hand.

Sybil frowned and then groaned. ‘Ouch. That hurt, but why on earth would you do that?’

He shrugged. ‘I just thought you might want them to know.’

‘Or your friends from swimming club,’ Zennor offered, since Sybil met the group every week for lunch after a dip.

‘No. No, please. Don’t make a fuss. I’m already incredibly embarrassed to be wasting the doctors’ time. And I had to be brought here by the community hall man. I bet they won’t book me again after this episode. I was lucky I didn’t keel over in front of forty kids and their parents.’

‘Yes, they will book you again. They’ll understand,’ Zennor said.

‘You think?’ Sybil tried an eyebrow raise and winced. ‘Younger people do tend to regard someone of my age as decrepit.’

‘Well, you do play up to the witchy wise woman thing,’ Zennor said.

‘That’s just an act. It’s not the real me, as you both well know. Ow. My bloody head is sore!’

Zennor looked to Matt, who looked helpless. Sybil did seem to be rapidly returning to her old self.

‘OK. How long do you think you’ll be in here?’ Matt asked.

‘Not too long. I’m waiting for the doc to come back and give me the OK to leave.’

It was over an hour before Sybil was released, with Matt driving her home by way of Zennor’s flat to collect her car so she could follow him to Rosemergy. When she’d got home Eric had been pecking at a packet of biscuits she’d accidentally left out. Zennor was in too much of a rush to shoo him off, even if she’d had the heart, and by the time she rushed out, she could hear her neighbour cursing him, doubtless as he flew off with some of their food.

Finally, she reached the Shack and settled Sybil in her sitting room with a cup of tea.

Matt offered a blanket.

Sybil squealed in horror. ‘No. No! It’s twenty-five degrees outside. I don’t need a damn blanket. Argh. I’m sorry. Look, all this fuss is so unnecessary. If you must know, the doctor said my faint was probably caused by dehydration. I’d got that bloody cloak on and it was hot – and the truth is, I daren’t drink too much before a show in case I need a pee in a hurry. If you know what I mean.’

Matt’s eyes widened in alarm at this snippet of personal info and Zennor had to smother a laugh at his reaction.

‘I’m aware that’s too much information, particularly for you, Matt, but you have driven me to it.’

Matt held his hands up in surrender. ‘OK. I’m only trying to help.’

‘For once, he is,’ Zennor said. ‘And I’m staying here tonight so you can go if you like, Matt,’ she said with a smile for him in case she sounded too dismissive.

Sybil sat up suddenly. ‘There’s no need to stay. I don’t need a babysitter!’

‘No, but the doc said you shouldn’t be on your own tonight. They wouldn’t have let you out with a head injury otherwise.’

‘What they don’t know won’t hurt them.’ Sybil sighed. ‘I suppose I have no choice in the matter.’

‘Zennor’s right. You shouldn’t be left alone,’ Matt said.

‘Now you’re both ganging up on me. Whatever is the world coming to?’ She attempted an eye-roll and grimaced. She nodded at Zennor. ‘Won’t you need your toothbrush and pyjamas?’

‘Already got them,’ Zennor said cheerfully. ‘I picked up my overnight stuff when I collected my car.’

‘Hmm. I noticed you’d changed. That’s a new dress, isn’t it?’

‘I treated myself,’ Zennor said, blushing as she remembered the scene that had led to her wearing the too-small T-shirt.