Free Summer on the River by Marcia Willett

Lab gently with his foot. ‘Otto, isn’t it? He doesn’t chase the waterfowl?’
    The dog raises his head and looks up at him with an expression that is at once reproachful and expectant. ‘Just tell me what you want me to do,’ he seems to say, ‘and I’ll try to oblige.’
    â€˜Certainly not. He’s very well trained. He’s a rescue dog. His elderly owner died and I took him on. She was a client, an absolute sweetie, and I always promised her I’d look after Otto if anything happened to her. His proper name is Othello.’
    Ben leans down to smooth Otto’s head; his hand is gentle, long-fingered. She wonders if he’s married; attached.
    Before she can speak, one of the waitresses calls out, ‘Ben?’ and he raises his hand in acknowledgement. She brings his coffee to him and he nods his thanks as she puts it on the table and dashes away.
    â€˜And the little girl?’ he asks casually. ‘She seemed to think she knew me.’
    â€˜Ah, Maisie.’ Jemima pushes her plate aside, picks up her mug of coffee. ‘Well, poor little Maisie has a problem. Her father abandoned her and her mother just before she was born. Said he wasn’t ready for the responsibility and upped and left them to it. Miranda’s been a very protective mum, very “you and me against the world”, but recently Maisie’s begun to ask serious questions about her father. She’s started primary school and loves it, and Miranda decided that she should know the truth.’
    Jemima hesitates, uncertain whether she should be telling this stranger these intimate details and then decides to go on. After all, it isn’t a secret.
    â€˜Poor Maisie,’ Ben is saying. ‘And poor Miranda. That’s a very difficult situation.’
    â€˜Mmm. Maisie’s taken it rather badly, behaving as if it must have been Miranda’s fault that he went, and now she looks for him everywhere. It’s driving poor Miranda round the bend.’
    â€˜I can imagine.’
    His ready sympathy warms her heart. She summons up her courage and asks casually: ‘Do you have children?’
    He answers easily, with no embarrassment. ‘I have a daughter, Laura. She’s twenty-two. She just got a languages degree and she’s off backpacking with friends. Her mother and I are splitting up, which is why I’ve come back to Dartmouth. I’m a freelance photographer so I can work almost anywhere.’
    His directness silences her for a moment. She is confused by her feelings, by her attraction to this man.
    â€˜Well, I have no experience of marriage or children,’ she says after a short pause, ‘apart from my half-sister’s two, so I don’t know how to help with Maisie at the moment.’
    â€˜Small girls can be incredibly complicated,’ says Ben. He shows no reaction to the information she’s deliberately given him. ‘But then so can big ones. I suppose they’re getting on each other’s nerves.’
    â€˜Yes,’ says Jemima, surprised by his intuitiveness. ‘That’s exactly right. Miranda is hurt that Maisie has not immediately rejected her father because of his behaviour to her mother – and to her – and Maisie is upset that her mother wasn’t able to keep hold of her father for her. It’s very odd.’
    â€˜And very destructive. It’s all to do with loyalty, isn’t it?’
    â€˜Yes. Look, this is really weird. Why am I telling you this five minutes after I’ve met you? It seems a bit disloyal to Miranda really.’
    Ben shrugs. ‘How long does it take to feel you can trust someone?’
    She snorts derisively. ‘And have you never made a mistake about that?’
    â€˜Of course. But it doesn’t stop you being optimistic about it.’
    Jemima laughs. ‘OK. But I must go. We’re taking on a cottage at Dittisham and I’ve got to check it