‘Don’t do silly work. Have a set day and paddle in the sea. Millie saw a dolphin at the beach the other day.’
Gabriel squatted down beside her daughter. ‘A dolphin? Wow. Have you ever seen a dolphin before?’
Lily thought a moment before shaking her head. ‘I’ve never seen a dolphin. But I have seen a seal. It swims in the harbour and head-butts the boats.’
Gabriel snorted with laughter. ‘Does it really? I imagine that’s a seal with a bad headache.’
Lily nodded seriously. ‘I ’spect so. It’s a bit silly. Come on, then.’ She slipped her hand into his. ‘Let’s go to the beach.’
Gabriel got to his feet, his hand still in Lily’s. Nessa watched carefully. Her daughter was often wary with strangers but she seemed to have taken to Gabriel very quickly.
‘Sorry,’ she said, picking up her basket. ‘I know you’ve got work to do.’
‘I always have work to do.’ Gabriel glanced through the window at the sun glaring outside. ‘Though a trip to the beach does sound tempting in a heatwave.’
‘Please,’ implored Lily, pouting at him. ‘We’ll see dolphins.’
‘Lily, leave the poor man alone.’
‘Why?’ Lily demanded.
‘He’s busy.’
‘Too busy to see a dolphin?’ Lily spluttered.
Gabriel paused. ‘OK, I’d love to come and see this hidden cove for myself, just for half an hour.’ He glanced at Nessa and frowned. ‘If you don’t mind, that is. I don’t want to intrude on your day out.’
When Lily turned her hopeful face towards her, Nessa felt well and truly boxed into a corner.
‘No, that’s fine,’ she said, bending to pick up a bottle of sun cream and shoving it into the pocket of her shorts. ‘The more, the merrier.’
But it wasn’t fine. She didn’t want to show Gabriel the hidden cove. What if he decided to build a load of posh houses there that local people couldn’t afford?
She was worrying about nothing, she told herself as she led the way along the coast until they came to a path almost overgrown with high gorse. The cove was safe from Gabriel and his father – it was covered by the sea at high tide and surrounded by steep cliffs, so building there would be impossible. If only building on the Ghost Village was impossible too.
Squinting against the bright sun, she took hold of Lily’s hand and picked her way down the narrow path and onto washed, golden sand.