We meet up at a café across the road from Manly Beach. Elliot is already at a table when I arrive, looking decidedly worse than Fliss did at six o’clock this morning. His normally tanned skin is washed out and pasty and he’s resting his darkly stubbled jaw on his hand. He smiles up at me, wearily.

‘Hungover?’ I ask the obvious question.

‘Not really,’ he replies, to my surprise, as I take a seat opposite him. ‘Miserable more than anything.’

‘Oh, El,’ I say with sympathy, reaching across to touch his hand. His eyes fill up with tears.

‘Christ!’ he mumbles, averting his gaze with embarrassment. ‘I should’ve stayed at home.’

‘No, it’s good that you came out. Have you ordered yet?’

‘Just a coffee.’

On cue, the waitress brings it over. I order a latte for myself and turn my attention back to Elliot, who’s in the process of upending three sachets of sugar into his drink.

‘How was last night?’ I ask, trying to lighten the mood.

He shrugs. ‘It was all right.’

‘Anything happen with Fliss?’

‘Nah, we just went dancing. She’s not into me like that.’

‘I think she has a crush on Lachie.’

‘He only has eyes for you,’ he replies without missing a beat.

‘So she does like him, doesn’t she?’

‘I don’t know, Bron.’ He looks awkward, all of a sudden.

I try to ignore the niggling feeling in my stomach as I pick up the menu.

‘Have you spoken to Bridget?’ he asks when we’ve ordered.

‘Last night,’ I reply quietly.

He shakes his head and picks up his coffee, taking a large, scalding mouthful and wincing. ‘It’s too soon,’ he states, putting his cup down a little too firmly on the wooden table.

‘She seems pretty sure about him.’

‘Yeah,’ he says bitterly. His blue eyes dart up to meet mine. ‘Why didn’t she ever tell me she wanted a kid?’ He sounds anguished.

‘I’m not sure even she knew it. But would it have made a difference? I thought you were set on not having children.’

‘Yeah, I was. I am. I just… I don’t know. We could have at least talked about it.’

‘And said what? She was happy with you, El. She was. But maybe she didn’t know what she really wanted until it was right there in front of her.’

‘I should’ve proposed to her sooner.’

‘Do you think it would have made a difference?’

Elliot doesn’t answer, but he looks downcast.

‘Maybe this is what you needed to hear to move on,’ I say gently, my thoughts jumping unwelcomingly to Alex.

I wonder if he’s moved on… Did he remarry? Does he have a girlfriend? Children?

‘Yeah,’ Elliot mumbles after a long pause, bringing my focus back to him. He doesn’t sound convinced. ‘I guess I just miss her.’ His voice is racked with emotion.

I reach across the table and cover his hand with mine, giving it a small squeeze. I don’t need to say it out loud. He knows I miss her, too.