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‘Who?’ She looked at the balcony rail and, for a moment, thought the impossible. ‘Oh, I – think that’s a young gull. It’s still got some of its baby plumage left.’

‘Still looks mean, though.’

Zennor smiled. ‘They always look mean – it’s their default setting. But if you take your eye off that biscuit for a second, he’ll swoop. You know, I think that might be one of Eric’s offspring.’

‘Eric?’ her mum asked, clutching her biscuit tighter.

‘The seagull who used to visit me. Unfortunately, he had an encounter with a bin lorry recently.’

‘Oh dear. And you think that’s one of his babies?’

‘Who knows? I’d like to think so. I like seeing them. They need to live, the same as all of us.’ The young gull stared at her, every bit as unblinking and ruthless as Eric, and she felt proud.

Her mother looked dubious. ‘Hmm. The gulls are one of the few things I don’t miss about Cornwall but you’re right, we all have to live, I suppose. It’s lovely to feel the sun on my face … It’s true what they say. The light isn’t the same anywhere else.’

After eating the biscuit, she pushed her empty plate away and took Zennor’s hand. ‘Would you like to tell me what’s made you so upset?’ she asked gently. ‘You’re not yourself. You’re holding something back and it’s hurting you.’

At the gentle touch of her mother’s hand in hers, Zennor almost burst into tears there and then, but she managed to keep her emotions in check a while longer. She had so much to say, and she knew there would be more than enough tears before she’d finished.

‘It has been a … difficult few months. We’ve been so busy with work but that’s good. I love being busy and the agency is doing well. It’s other stuff.’

‘Ah.’

‘Yeah. Matt’s back in St Ives – and Trev – and there’s been something weird going on with Sybil …’

Her mum grimaced. ‘Matt, Trev and Sybil? That sounds like a lot of trouble landing at once.’

‘Yeah. When you arranged to come down here, I had no idea what was going to happen next … and none of it is good. In fact, I don’t really know how I’m going to tell you this.’

‘Just start.’ Her mum folded her hands in her lap, strangely calm.

‘OK.’ She took a deep breath. ‘First of all, Matt bought our office building and has been doing it up. Then Trev took over the St Piran’s.’

Her mum gasped. ‘The hotel where you got married?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Both of those things seem too close to home to be coincidences – too close to you.’

‘Maybe. Where’s Trev’s concerned, I agree, and I had thought it was – weird that he decided to buy the St Piran’s. It seemed as if he was trying to relive the past somehow – like literally own it. I could be reading too much into that.’

She scoffed. ‘I doubt it. That sounds like Trev.’

‘You never really liked him, did you, Mum?’

‘I didn’t say that. And even if I did think it, I wouldn’t have let on. You were in love with him, and he was your fiancé. It wasn’t for me to voice my doubts and, frankly, I’m hardly the best person to offer advice on a lasting marriage.’

‘You and Dad were married a long time.’ Zennor came out in goosebumps because she knew that the moment was coming. ‘Was it always … a happy marriage?’

Her mum sighed. ‘For you to even ask that question, I assume you’ve worked out the answer. And if you mean did either of us have affairs, then yes, your father did.’

‘When did you … realise?’ Zennor asked.

‘I’d suspected there might be someone else for a while and one day …’ She hesitated before going on. ‘One day I saw a message I shouldn’t have and that confirmed it.’

‘Oh. Mum … I found out, too, just yesterday.’

‘That it was Sybil?’