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The launch seemed to have wings when it was carrying her away from the house and agonisingly soon they were back at the car park. Arlo offloaded the bags and then helped Wanda on to the jetty. Katie was the last to leave; she didn’t need a hand but Arlo held his out anyway and she took it. The touch of his fingers closing gently around hers was the final straw and she almost lost it.

‘Thanks.’

Releasing his hand, she walked briskly away and collected the bags waiting on the jetty. Everyone was ready to walk the few metres through the stand of trees to the waiting cars.

Pongo woofed.

‘That’s his way of saying goodbye,’ Arlo said with a wry press of the lips.

‘Bye, Pongo!’ Wanda said, kissing Arlo on the cheek. ‘I’ll be back.’

‘Goodbye. It’s been a pleasure to meet you,’ Athene said with a quick peck. ‘And you might bump into me again too.’

Arlo grinned. ‘I hope so. I know Greg does.’

Jess gave him a brief hug. ‘Bye. I love your house. Thanks for looking after us – all of us.’ Katie knew she meant Ned.

‘You’re welcome.’

Katie kissed his cheek too and he whispered, ‘Haste ye back.’

Tears sprang to her eyes but before she could reply, he strode away to the boat, Pongo at his heels.

‘I will haste back,’ she murmured. ‘I will …’

But would she? Would Arlo decide these past two weeks had been a brief period of madness while they were both licking their wounds after broken relationships? Would he decide that moving on meant moving on without her?

Only the thought of looking snotty in front of the others stopped her from bursting into sobs. She hadn’t meant their parting to be like this, and she certainly hadn’t expected it to hurt so much. They were leaving with hope in their hearts, so why did she feel that her world had caved in?

The engine faded and a final distant bark echoed around the lake before she tore her eyes from the water and trudged back to the car to join the others.

She said her farewells to Athene and Wanda, who were waiting for her by Athene’s car while Jess was checking her oil and water levels before the long drive south.

‘You won’t be checking that phone all the way home, will you?’ Katie heard Wanda say as she approached.

Athene spoke resignedly. ‘I’ve left it in my bag and muted the app especially for you, Wanda.’

Wanda smirked. ‘Good, though I was only joking. I shall sit back and relax. I know you’re a good driver.’

‘I’ll still leave it switched off until we stop at the services. Let’s just enjoy the scenery and do that novel thing called having a conversation, shall we?’

‘Sounds good to me.’

‘I want to hear all about these plans you have for joining a wild-swimming group at home. I might even give it a go myself.’

Katie stiffened her spine, threw on a smile, hugged them and waved them off.

Jess closed the bonnet and helped Katie slot her rucksack in the boot of the car between the muddy boots and a bag of books and cards she’d bought in Keswick. One of them was a vintage print from the 1920s showing the Island House before Arlo’s family had ever owned it.

The irony struck her hard. Athene, the archetypal London type, was coming back to the Lakes, Wanda was already booked to return, and yet Katie was leaving without any solid plans to go back. Something didn’t add up.

She gazed back at the fells and the winter sky, thinking of the trees shedding their needles in the house and of Arlo dragging them outside to be chopped up.

Jess stood by the open driver’s door, watching her.

‘Please. Don’t say it,’ Katie said.

‘Don’t say what?’ Jess asked.