‘It was just delicious, wasn’t it?’

‘Oh, yes. I don’t know what she’s added, but she really went to town to make our evening together at Lark Lodge special, didn’t she?’

Robyn smiled, thinking back to the previous night…

They walked, hand in hand, down to the dining room. Gayle had knocked on their door and told them to head down there when they were ready. Robyn noticed that Olive was nowhere to be seen and guessed she was upstairs with Nick in his room. She heard the television on in Nick’s room as they passed by, and smelled a rather lovely Chinese takeaway wafting in the hallway. She realised that Nick must have taken it up to his room before they emerged. She smiled. She could just imagine Olive begging for some food.

Robyn and David walked into the kitchen to a frown from Gayle. She turned around and waved a wooden spoon at them. ‘What are you doing in here?’

David quipped. ‘It’s the kitchen. We always eat in here.’

Robyn nodded in agreement. She loved Gayle’s country kitchen, with its old-fashioned, oak-fronted kitchen cupboards, Aga, and large oak table in the centre of the room. She grown to love it when she went to live at Gayle’s after her accident on Christmas Day, when she’d had nowhere else to go and no one to turn to. She knew she’d be forever grateful to Gayle for taking in a stranger and giving her a home just when she’d needed it.

Robyn had such fond memories of sitting at the table with Marty, Nick and Gayle’s mother, Doris – with Olive being very naughty and begging at the table. To repay Gayle for her kindness, Robyn had redecorated her house, keeping many of the original features and adding some of her own ideas.

Strictly speaking, they weren’t her own ideas. She’d copied them from the intricately designed doll’s house she’d found under a dustsheet in the basement of The Lake House. She wouldn’t have been in that house if Marty hadn’t taken her on a tour. He had found a key under the doormat by the back door. She’d taken a keen interest in the house, although she didn’t know why.Perhaps it was because she had something in common with the wealthy heiress, Eleanor Campbell-Ross; they’d both been involved in an accident on Christmas Day. Or perhaps it was that the house had been abandoned soon after. She doubted the family would return. And who could blame them? That was why she’d been surprised to be asked to revamp the interior of the house.

Annie had suggested that the family wanted it refurbished because they were going to sell the place. Robyn remembered feeling strangely protective of The Lake House, telling Annie that she felt they’d never do that. But when she’d got the commission, she had become absurdly anxious about meeting the family. Annie had told her not to get overwhelmed or intimidated just because the Rosses were so wealthy. But it wasn’t that she was worried about. She’d used the designs from the doll’s house at Lark Lodge. What if they found out? She wasn’t sure how they would react. Would she lose the commission? Or worse, had she done something illegal by stealing Eleanor’s ideas?

‘I told you both that dinner is in the dining room this evening,’ Gayle said. She walked towards them, waving her spoon. ‘Now scoot.’

They both backed out of the kitchen as Robyn said, ‘Hi, Doris.’ Gayle’s mother was sitting at the kitchen table.

‘Something smells delicious – doesn’t it?’ commented David.

When Robyn didn’t answer, David turned to her. ‘Everything all right, Robyn?’

‘Oh, yes – of course. Why wouldn’t it be?’

‘You look a bit preoccupied.’

Robyn didn’t want to tell him that she had a lot on her mind; not least the thought of returning to the boathouse. She wondered what David would think if she suggested staying the weekend atLark Lodge. Perhaps Gayle didn’t have any new guests arriving.

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ David said, pausing outside the dining room.

Robyn doubted that very much.

‘You want to stay here for the weekend.’

Robyn’s mouth dropped open. ‘How did you know?’

David lowered his voice. ‘Look, I’m not blind. I don’t know why but for some reason we … you were happier here.’

‘I wanted to move in together.’

‘Then what is it?’ He leaned against the dining room doorway and stared at her. ‘It’s me – isn’t it? Since we moved in together, you’ve changed your mind. That’s why you keep going to Lon—’

‘Oh, my god. Of course it’s not you. How can you say that after …?’

David nodded knowingly. They both knew what she was talking about. As soon as he’d stepped into their room and discovered her there, they had been mad for each other. It was as though they’d been apart for weeks, months even, and they’d just found their way back to one another. It didn’t make sense. She’d only been gone a few days. Or perhaps it did. Robyn raised her eyebrows. They hadn’t spent such a passionate night together since they’d set up home at David’s boathouse in June a month earlier.

Robyn knew – and she guessed David knew too – that they’d been drifting apart. She knew that was why her trips to London, especially the latest one, when she’d insisted on going alone, were worrying him no end. The fact that he’d said they could spend the whole weekend at Gayle’s suggested he understood that she’d been unhappy since moving into the boathouse.

David said, ‘It’s my boathouse – isn’t it?’

Robyn caught Gayle standing in the kitchen doorway withfolded arms. ‘And why aren’t you two in the dining room like I told you? Stop hanging around in the doorway.’

Robyn grabbed David’s shirt sleeve. ‘Come on.’