‘I thought your mum was coming over,’ I said, relaxing in the warmth of the car.

‘She’s on her way,’ said Seth. ‘I thought I’d take Jack swimming first.’

‘Good idea.’ He was in the back, white headphones over his damp hair, holding his iPad. ‘Hi, Jack,’ I mouthed.

He gave me a wave and I waved back, overcome at the sight of his friendly face. ‘I’d really like to go to that pantomime, sometime,’ I said impulsively.

‘It’s on until January, I checked.’ Seth’s gaze was steady. ‘What happened?’

I glanced back at Jack, his feet dancing up and down in their blue and white trainers as he lifted his head to gaze out of the window.

‘It’s OK, he’s listening to music.’ Seth gave me a heartfelt smile that I had to look away from. I was teetering on the verge of crying. ‘I’ve introduced him to Bruce Springsteen and he seems to like it.’

I cleared my throat. ‘Good choice.’

‘You look… nice.’ His eyes swept over me.

‘I look ridiculous.’

‘Tilly!’ He scanned my face, as if checking I was being serious. ‘You couldn’t look ridiculous if you tried.’

‘You don’t have to keep this up you know.’

‘Keep what up?’

‘Saying nice things, being complimentary, saying I’m amazing and so forth.’ I shoved my handbag in the footwell with the rest of my bags. The clasp wasn’t closed and Bridget’s lipstick rolled out. ‘You’re not obliged to be nice to me, Seth.’ He glanced at me again in astonishment. ‘And you should keep your eyes on the road.’

‘I’m only doing twenty miles an hour, and there’s no one else around,’ he said. ‘Tilly, I’m not saying things just to be nice, why would I?’

‘You know why.’ I tipped my head back at Jack. ‘I’m happy to help out, if that’s what I’m doing, while your mum’s here. You don’t have to flatter me all the time.’

‘Flatter you?’ His lips twitched. ‘I didn’t realise that’s what I was doing,’ he said. ‘Look, I know we met under unusual circumstances, but even if I’d met you some other way, I’d still like you, Tilly.’

Great. Now he was being kind because I was coming across as insecure and needy – two things no one had ever accused me of being.

‘If we’d met any other way, you wouldn’t have looked at me twice,’ I said, unable to stop myself. ‘I’m hardly your type.’ Brilliant. Now it sounded as if I wanted to be.

‘I don’t have a type of female I want to be friends with,’ he said. ‘And I’d like to think that’s what we are now.’

Friends. Of course we could be friends. What was wrong with being friends? Especially as he was seeing my sister and might marry her one day. We’d be practically related if he did.

‘Sorry,’ I said, on a wave of exhaustion. ‘I’ve had a really weird morning.’

‘So, tell me about it.’

Checking once more that Jack was absorbed by The Boss, I gave Seth a rundown, surprised to see his hands tighten around the steering wheel when I mentioned Rufus grabbing my arm.

‘Christ, Tilly, he sounds like a total creep.’

‘He is,’ I said, admitting it for the first time. ‘I don’t understand why my dad thought we’d be good together – or why I did, to be honest.’

‘I’m sure he wouldn’t have if he’d known what this bloke was really like.’ Seth parked outside the cottage and switched the car engine off. ‘He definitely wouldn’t want you to keep seeing him.’

‘I’d had some doubts,’ I confessed. ‘But Bridget was impressed I was in a “grown-up relationship”,’ I scraped quote marks, ‘and I convinced myself it was normal to not be sure, because I hadn’t been seeing him for long enough to really know.’ I released a sigh, realising how lame it sounded. ‘That’s why I agreed to go to his brother’s wedding, to get to know Rufus better.’ I checked Seth’s reaction, and saw him listening intently. ‘Not that I’m blaming my sister.’ I shook my head. ‘I’m an idiot,’ I said. ‘I convinced myself I just needed to try harder to like him.’

Seth surprised me by saying, ‘We’ve all been there.’ He pulled the key out of the ignition and tapped his knee with it. ‘I kept telling myself I should marry Gina, because on the surface she was everything a man could want, but my gut kept saying she wasn’t the one for me.’ He lightly touched my sleeve. ‘I know you spoke to her the other night, by the way.’

My head whipped up. ‘You saw my note?’ I’d completely forgotten to mention it.

He nodded. ‘If I’d known she just wanted closure, I’d have called her,’ he said, a regretful twist to his lips. ‘I’m sorry you had to deal with it.’

‘I didn’t have to,’ I said. ‘She sounded nice.’ I wasn’t sure nice was the right word, and judging by the look Seth gave me, he wasn’t convinced either. ‘How did she know you were out with Bridget?’ I said.

‘She didn’t.’

‘A good mamma for Jack?’

He shook his head, a smile still hovering. ‘She obviously meant you.’

My face began to burn. ‘Are you going to make me a cup of tea before your mother arrives?’ I flung open the car door and got out, welcoming a shot of cold air to my face.

‘My pleasure,’ he said.

Jack tugged his headphones off and raced inside to greet an ecstatic Digby, who’d brushed against wet paint judging by the badger-like stripe down one side of his fur.

‘You leave your front door unlocked?’

‘The team are still here,’ said Seth, as I followed him inside. ‘I decided to leave them to it for a couple of hours.’

Sure enough there was the sound of a ladder clattering upstairs, followed by a shout of, ‘Watch what you’re doing, Mick, or you’ll have me over the banister.’

Seth bent to remove his boots, pretending to shield his eyes from the swirly-patterned carpet. ‘They’ve got a mate in doing some rewiring, then there’s just the hall to do and they’ll be out of here by Christmas Eve.’

‘What about your lovely bathroom?’

He grinned as he hung up his parka. ‘That’s a job for next year,’ he said. ‘Regardless of what my mother thinks.’

I hoped he’d let me design it, but it didn’t feel like the right time to ask.

‘Dad, can I have something to eat?’ Seth flattened himself to the wall as Jack pelted past after Digby, who was carrying a half-shredded ball in his mouth.

‘There’s some vegetable lasagne leftover from last night.’

Jack nodded as he chased Digby back into the living room.

‘Vegetable lasagne,’ I said, slipping off Mum’s jacket, which was too tight around my armpits. ‘I’m impressed.’

‘I was surprised he liked it.’ As he took in the sight of me, head to toe, I wished my tights would evaporate, or at least transform into something fleecy. Mum’s dress had long sleeves, and the cottage was warm, but my body temperature had dipped.

‘Here.’ Seth unzipped his thick black woollen cardigan and handed it to me. ‘Put it on,’ he ordered.

I gratefully pushed my arms in the sleeves and zipped it up to my chin. ‘This is getting to be a habit.’

‘It suits you.’ He nodded his approval. ‘You don’t want to catch a cold right before Christmas.’

‘Not when I’ve still got work to do at the café,’ I said, feeling like myself for the first time all day – including the bit that was worried that work was at a standstill. ‘Now, where’s that cup of tea?’

In the end, Seth warmed up the vegetable lasagne in the microwave, and the three of us ate at the kitchen table, while Digby chewed his rubber bone on the mat in front of the fireplace. It was an oddly domestic scene, and when Felicity appeared in the doorway, her face registered horrified surprise – as if she’d stumbled across a vicious crime scene.

‘Well, isn’t this cosy?’

‘Hello, Mother.’ Seth made an effort to sound welcoming, but looked resigned.

‘Hello, Grandma.’ Jack wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, which drew a frown as Felicity put down her leather bag, unwound her tartan scarf and unfastened what looked like a shooting jacket.

‘Napkin, Jack,’ she scolded.

‘We haven’t got any.’ Seth handed Jack a sheet of kitchen roll, which he scrunched up and put on his plate.

‘Hello, Felicity,’ I said in a friendly manner. ‘Would you like something to eat?’

She looked at me as though I’d offered to trim her toenails. ‘Is it your place to ask?’

‘It’s the servant’s day off,’ I couldn’t resist saying, and Seth pressed a hand to his mouth to hide a smile.

‘What’s a servant?’ Jack enquired.

Felicity seemed about to speak when Digby flew at her, growling deep in his throat and we watched, transfixed, as she stared him down until he retreated to the door with a whimper.

‘Please can I play with Digby in the living room, Dad?’ Jack was already down from the table.

Seth nodded and ruffled his hair. ‘Of course you can.’

‘You’re too soft with him,’ said Felicity, when Jack had fled with Digby hot on his heels. Still wearing her coat, she peered into the hall then shut the kitchen door.

‘What are you doing?’ Seth had half-risen, but sat back down again.

‘I need to talk to this young lady in private,’ she said, as if I wasn’t there, and when she fixed me with a penetrating gaze, I wished I wasn’t. ‘Why are you wearing my son’s cardigan?’

Was that all? ‘I was a bit chilly,’ I said, fingering the zip. It was cosy in the kitchen, as Seth had got the fire going in the grate, and I’d unfastened the cardigan while we were eating.

‘Rather dressed up for a nanny,’ she said, eyeing my outfit underneath as though I’d rocked up in a cocktail dress. ‘Wouldn’t you say?’ This last bit she directed at Seth.

‘Please don’t be rude to Tilly.’ He was tight-lipped as he gathered our plates and stood up. ‘Why does it matter what she’s wearing?’

‘It matters because this woman is an imposter.’

I wondered whether she’d been reading some Agatha Christie, because surely no one spoke like that in real life.

‘Imposter?’ Seth’s voice was drenched with disbelief. ‘This isn’t Murder on the Orient Express.’

It was as if he’d caught my train of thought, and I threw him a little smile, which Felicity caught.

‘Why are you smiling at my son like that?’

‘Sorry?’

‘Mum,’ Seth began, but Felicity was jabbing the air in front of my face.

‘I know you’re not a nanny.’ Her eyes had narrowed to slits. ‘I looked you up.’

‘Mother, if you keep talking to Tilly like that—’

‘Don’t you care?’ Lifting her chin, she glared at him, her face tight with annoyance. ‘This woman has wormed her way into your life under false pretences.’

Seth put the plates down and rubbed the crease between his eyebrows. ‘She hasn’t,’ he said, with weary forbearance.

‘What did you find online?’ I was genuinely curious. I wasn’t active on social media, I didn’t have a website, and I hadn’t done anything interesting enough to warrant my name coming up in a Google search.

‘You don’t have a website and you’re not on social media, which rang alarm bells for a start,’ she said, finally thrusting her coat off and draping it over the back of a chair. ‘Although I did come across a photo of you in a so-called design magazine with some friends, one of whom was smoking weed.’ I knew the picture she was referring to. It had been taken the night I was out with the group of designers I’d studied with, one of whom had just won an award. ‘It wasn’t weed, she was vaping,’ I said.

‘That’s just as bad as smoking.’

‘Technically, it isn’t.’

Felicity was wearing a crimson turtleneck, and pushed the sleeves up as if preparing for a fight. ‘And you’re not registered anywhere as a childminder, or a nanny.’ There was a lot of emphasising going on.

‘That’s because—’

To stop Seth saying ‘she’s not’ I said, ‘Why do you think I’m here, then?’

That seemed to throw her. ‘That’s not the point,’ she blustered, brushing a loose strand of hair off her forehead.

‘You said I was here under false pretences.’

She opened and closed her mouth then said, ‘You obviously know my son is famous in some circles and have insinuated your way into his life to either take advantage of him, or his son.’ We’d moved into bad movie territory now.

‘Why on earth would I do that?’

‘You might be planning to kidnap Jack and hold him to ransom, or work some magic on my son to get him to marry you.’ OK, we’d moved into the realms of very bad television drama.

‘That’s ridiculous,’ I said.

She fingered her pearls and darted a look at Seth, who’d tipped his head to look at the ceiling as if hoping he could shoot right through it. ‘Look at him!’ The words blasted out like bullets. ‘He’s a catch for any woman, but he’s been badly hurt once before and I don’t want that to happen to him again.’

Seth’s head came down, and as his eyes grazed mine before meeting hers, I registered his surprise. ‘Mum, it’s not like that.’ He spoke more gently than I felt she deserved. ‘Tilly’s here for Jack and, no, she’s not a trained nanny, and I’m sorry I let you believe that she was, but Jack likes her, and so do I, and that’s all that really matters.’

‘Of course it isn’t,’ she snapped, as if ashamed by her show of vulnerability, and I wondered suddenly, what it must have been like for her, knowing Seth was racing around a track somewhere in the world, perhaps waiting for a call to say he’d been hurt – or worse. Perhaps she hadn’t been able to bring herself to watch. I wasn’t sure I could have, in her position, and felt a small and unexpected swell of sympathy.

‘I would never do anything to hurt Jack… or Seth.’ I didn’t look at him as I said it, and wondered whether it would help to mention Bridget. Explain that Seth’s social circle was widening, and might include his future wife and stepdaughter.

Wow. That would be weird. Seth would be Romy’s stepfather.

But I didn’t get round to saying anything else as she picked up her bag and strode to the door. ‘Well, now you’ve finished taking me for a fool, I think it’s time I checked on my team,’ she said. ‘Registered workmen, with business cards and a good reputation,’ she added, presumably for my benefit, colour on her cheeks. ‘And then I’ll go and sit with my grandson, if that’s OK with you.’

‘Of course it’s OK with me,’ said Seth, scratching the back of his neck. ‘You don’t need to be so dramatic, Mum.’

‘Don’t tell me what I need.’ She rounded on him. ‘I’ve given you every opportunity to do the right thing by Jack, and instead you’re…’ she swept an arm between us ‘… sitting around, playing happy families with a woman who doesn’t even have a job, as far as I can tell.’

Why did people keep saying that?

As she ran upstairs – no doubt to find fault with her team – I pushed back my chair and stood up. ‘I should go.’

‘Please don’t.’ Seth shoved his hands through his hair, his face crumpled with misery and embarrassment. ‘I’m so sorry about that.’

‘I don’t want to give her any more reasons to think Jack would be better off with her.’

He let his mouth twist into a wry smile. ‘She’ll find plenty more, if she puts her mind to it,’ he said. ‘And you can’t go home, you don’t have any transport.’

‘I can walk to the café from here.’ Even so, I didn’t move. ‘I’ve work to do, anyway.’ Why did I keep saying that, when there was nothing I could do?

‘Dressed like that?’

‘Eighties couture is the new overalls.’ It didn’t make much sense. ‘I’ll manage.’

Seth gripped the worktop behind him. ‘I’m sorry Mum said that. About you not having a proper job.’

‘It’s not the first time I’ve heard it today.’ I zipped Seth’s cardigan back up. ‘It was Rufus’s parting shot, too.’

‘Mum was just lashing out.’

‘They’re both right, though. Apart from doing up the café, I don’t have a proper job.’ I dropped back on the chair and looked at the table. ‘It was one of the things that Bridget had a bee in her bonnet about, and that’s why she thinks I’m giving your cottage a makeover,’ I said. ‘It was part of my business plan …’ I said business plan in a silly, posh voice ‘… to become a bona fide, full-time interior designer.’

‘Is that what you want to do?’

I considered his words. ‘It’s what I think I should do. Don’t get me wrong,’ I said, looking up as he started to speak. ‘I really enjoy it, but I like doing other things too, like walking tours in the summer, and I was thinking I might take that swimming instructor’s job you told me about at the pool. I’d rather take design jobs by word of mouth, if they appeal to me, than get all websitey and businessy.’

‘What’s wrong with that?’ Seth sat opposite, and while I knew he was just being polite because… well, because I was Jack’s saviour, I found myself saying, ‘I feel guilty, I suppose.’

‘Guilty?’

‘Because I had it easy growing up, compared to Bridget. Dad was working all hours – he hadn’t won any awards back then – and money was really tight. The nice holidays didn’t happen until after I was born.’ I paused as Digby came in and gulped water from his bowl. ‘Bridget was always ambitious and driven,’ I said, when he’d gone. ‘She thinks I’m a lazy, over-privileged brat, which I suppose I am.’

‘That wasn’t the impression I got.’ Seth’s smile was one of puzzled amusement. ‘I mean, I got the whole “exasperating kid sister” vibe, but she’s obviously fond of you.’

‘She was in a good mood because she was having dinner with you.’

‘I don’t think it was just that.’ He shook his head. ‘If you don’t want to work full-time, then don’t,’ he said. ‘If we’re in a position to choose what we do with our lives, why shouldn’t we, providing we’re not hurting anyone else?’

I struggled to find an argument and failed. He made it sound not only possible, but desirable. ‘The guilt though…’ I let the words trail off.

‘Guilt can be a good motivator, but it seems to me you don’t need one.’ He prodded the table for emphasis. ‘You have a gift for doing the right thing at the right time… what?’ he said, as I covered my eyes and groaned.

‘We’re back to me being on the beach at just the right moment,’ I said, but when I peered through my fingers he was vigorously shaking his head.

‘No, it’s not that. You make people happy.’

‘Rubbish.’ Even so, his words ignited a warm glow in my stomach that I did my best to ignore. I laced my fingers together and studied my nails. I’d forgotten to paint them for the wedding – not that it mattered now. I wondered how Rufus had explained my absence to his brother, and decided I didn’t care. ‘But thanks for being nice.’

A look of mild frustration crossed Seth’s face, but before he could speak there was the sound of drilling upstairs and Felicity stuck her head around the kitchen door.

‘There’s no need to stay now I’m here,’ she said, with chilly restraint. ‘You probably have things to do.’

Ignoring Seth’s urgent protest, I pushed my chair back. The toxic atmosphere would ease if I left. ‘I’ll get my bags from the car and be out of your hair,’ I said.