‘Thank you,’ Son-of-Adonis whispered and Misty warmed to him. He was polite as well as cute. If he was a new student…

‘We’re here to enrol Bailey for school,’ Adonis said, and she smiled her pleasure, but she was also thinking, Where is Frank? And why did this pair have to arrive now when she felt like a chlorinated wet sheep?

‘I know I should have made an appointment,’ Adonis said, answering her unspoken question. ‘But we only arrived in town an hour ago. The closer we got, the more nervous Bailey was, so we thought the sensible thing would be to show him that school’s not a scary place. Otherwise, Bailey might get more nervous over the weekend.’

‘What a good idea. It’s not scary at all,’ she said, warming to the man as well as to the son. ‘We like new friends, don’t we, girls and boys?’

‘Yes.’ It was a shout, and it made Misty smile. In this sequestered town, any newcomer was welcomed with open arms.

‘Are you here for long?’ she asked. ‘You and your…family?’ Was Mrs Adonis introducing another child to another class?

‘There’s only Bailey and me, and we’re intending to live here,’ he said, stooping to load Bailey’s paintbrush with brown paint. Being helpful. But Bailey checked Strawberry’s photograph again, then looked at his father as if he’d missed the point. He dipped his brush in the water jar and went for red.

His father grinned and straightened, and held out his hand. ‘I’m Nicholas Holt,’ he said, and Misty found her hand enveloped in one much larger, much stronger. It was a truly excellent handshake. And his smile…

Manly Good Looks didn’t begin to cut it, she thought. Wow! Forget Greek Gods. Adonis was promptly replaced with Nicholas.

She was absurdly aware of her braid, still dripping down her back. She wanted, quite suddenly, to kill Frank. It was his job to give warning of new parents. Why wasn’t he in his office when he should be?

She didn’t have so much as powder on her nose. It was freckled and it glowed; she knew it did. Her nose was one of the glowingest in the district. And five feet four inches was too short. Where were six inches when she needed them? If Frank had warned her, she might have worn heels.