The Summerhouse by the Sea: The best selling perfect feel-good summer beach read!. Jenny Oliver

      She surreptitiously ran her hand through her hair all the same, still under the spell of wanting to impress simply because he’d been famous.

      ‘I had the worst night’s sleep I’ve had in years,’ he said, reaching forwards to toy with the menu, tapping the laminated corner on the table. ‘You kept me awake.’

      Ava almost snorted. ‘Me?’

      ‘Yes.’ He tried to catch the waiter’s eye. ‘God I need a coffee. You need a coffee?’ He turned back to Ava who said, ‘Yes,’ still unsure what he was doing at her table. Tom signalled to the waiter then sat back, rubbing his neck as he thought about what to say. ‘I think that maybe yesterday I wasn’t quite as supportive as I could have been.’

      She raised a brow.

      Tom shook his head. ‘And I don’t think Val would have been impressed.’

      ‘No,’ she said.

      ‘No,’ he agreed. ‘She’d have killed me. I felt pretty bad. All night. That’s what kept me up. I think she was haunting me,’ he said, his expression giving the sense of a smile just lurking below the surface. ‘So. Well . . .’ He held his arms wide. ‘Sorry.’