Building SANDCASTLES

That first day when I met Daniel, I thought it would end in tears. How could it be otherwise? We were very different people with different expectations and different lifestyles.

At 30, my life was geared to the needs of my two young daughters. I spent my summer holidays taking Crystal and Rosie to swimming lessons and organising family barbecues.

Four years younger, Daniel was a free spirit. He’d just returned from backpacking around Europe, and I wasn’t ready to meet someone new.

My heart was still feeling battered and bruised after losing my husband several years ago, when Crystal was a baby. I hadn’t been tempted to date anyone else, despite well-meaning advice from friends and family that moving on was important, both for me and my daughters. Yet, somehow, my heart ignored everything else the moment I set eyes on Daniel.

I’d organised a family get-together on the waterfront to make the most of some unexpected warm weather. The children were building sandcastles and splashing in the sea. We adults sat enjoying chilled Chardonnay, appreciating