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brushing hers, sending a rush of heat through her body as she remembered the previous night. He shifted on his seat and she wondered if he too was thinking about it.
    The pastry was buttery and flaky on her lips, crumbs dropping onto her jeans, and brushing them off, she raised her head to see him watching her. Wrenching his gaze away, he ate his own croissant, staring through the front window; he was still angry about yesterday. What else did he expect, though? That they would sleep together once and all their problems would melt away? It didn’t work like that.
    Wiping his fingers, Daniel switched the engine back on and released the handbrake. Carly turned away from his set profile, staring out the window at the snowy fields, gleaming crisp and white beneath a bright blue sky. It seemed such a shame that they couldn’t talk the way they used to, but stared instead directly ahead, as if they feared catching either other’s eye. It was tempting to raise the topic of the night they shared again, just to get a reaction out of him, but she’d wounded him enough already and his pride didn’t really need another rejection. She swallowed a hard lump in her throat; she wouldn’t cry in front of him. Glancing back, the dinghy bounced behind them, mast lowered and sticking out from the blue cover.
    “Did you tell Shane about the damage?” she said.
    He glanced at her sharply, then in the rear view mirror. “Yes, I have to drop it in at the builders first, then go on to meet him. He’s waiting for us in the Padstow sailing club.”
    “Was he all right about it?”
    “Hard to tell over the swearing.” He smiled. “He’s not best pleased with me.”
    “What will happen?”
    “Without the gold medals, I’d have been thrown out the team, but I think the sponsors will forgive me.” He changed gear and looked at her. “Do I sound arrogant?”
    “Just truthful, results are everything. You’re only out if you can’t perform, I know that.”
    “Who told you?” He stared straight ahead.
    “Shane, to give him his due. He came to my bedsit, the one the council gave me, and explained that they would have to cancel my bursary and training, I think he cried more than I did. I knew it was going to happen, but that didn’t take away the sting, to go from rising star to unwanted burden.” She dropped her head, remembering the humiliation.
    “Do you mind seeing him now?”
    She hesitated. “I might wait in the car. I have seen him since though, he sent me the college brochure and said if I didn’t choose a course, he’d enroll me on knitting for beginners.”
    Daniel laughed. “Sounds like him.”
    “He was right, I felt so much better when I had something to do.”
    He nodded, flicking the indicator to turn into the boat builder’s workshop. “Stay in the warm, I’ll unhook the trailer and leave it in the main shed.”
    He slammed the car door behind him and she turned to watch him out the back window as, wearing only a thin shirt, he spoke to two men, before leaning over the back of the car. The vehicle shuddered as they removed the trailer and she watched him walking alongside it, one hand on the gunwale, as the two builders wheeled it away.
    “Aren’t you cold?” she said, when he climbed back in.
    “You’ve gone soft.” He smiled, starting the car, then glanced at her quickly, his eyes filled with meaning. “I like you that way though.”
    “Is that a roundabout way of saying my bottom’s bigger?”
    “Seemed pretty good to me.”
    She smiled. It was relief to acknowledge the previous night without an argument. He drove into the sailing club car park and backed into a parking space.
    “Sure you don’t want to come in?” he said.
    “I’m not going to defend you, you’re on your own, Daniel Edwards.”
    “All right, keep the heater on and help yourself to coffee.” He jumped out and she watched him stride to the converted pub that housed the sailing club. In summer, ivy grew over the thick grey