This was like talking to Hannah, Anne’s mother, all over again. She saw the ghost of her best friend in Anne's bright eyes. In their shared past as young women and mothers, Lottie and Hannah often talked about the serious things in their Sunday best down by the pier.

"Well, yer only sixteen, love. Plenty of livin' left to do. It's good to know yer own mind, though. And if yer mind stays this way, that's perfectly alright. My great aunt, bless her, she never married, found her own way, she did, up in Sunderland and seemed happy enough. Your mum would want ye to be happy, whatever that looks like for you. And I want ye to be happy too."