Charlie stopped on the stepped path they were treading towards the south side of the hill, where they intended to have their picnic. ‘Holly,’ he said, drawing her to him, ‘I promise you that I will do everything I can to help Harry to get access to the medication he needs. And not just because you’re living on my patch, but because health has always been the area I wanted to explore, should I ever have got to this point.’ He stroked a tendril of hair back from her face and kept his palm pressed to her cheek. She looked so beautiful to him, and she would have done wherever she was, but set against the stunning backdrop of the counties-wide view from Willowbury Hill, she looked like some goddess, something not entirely of this world. Cursing himself for the flight of fancy, he struggled to focus on what she was saying.

‘I know you mean well, Charlie,’ she said. ‘And I know you’ll try to do as much as you can. The fact that you care is what makes you such an asset to this place.’

‘I promise I’ll do whatever I can,’ Charlie murmured. ‘Now, are we going to find a place to eat this wonderful picnic? It feels like a long time since breakfast.’

Holly smiled. ‘Sure.’ She gestured to a spot just to the right of where they were standing. ‘If we sit over there, we shouldn’t get in the way of any other walkers.’ She wandered over and they threw down the picnic blanket.

Charlie set the picnic basket down and they began to unpack it.

A little time later, both were sitting companionably, sipping a glass of chilled Sancerre and looking at the breathtaking view that stretched from Brent Knoll and Steep Holm island to the west, through to Dorset in the south, and behind them, to the north, the faint outline of the Quantock Hills. With such a beautiful vista, it wasn’t surprising that soon Charlie felt himself relaxing again, trying to push away the unsettling thoughts about his work, and the real world, losing himself in this scenery, and this moment, with Holly.

He put down his glass carefully on the dry, sun-cracked ground next to the picnic blanket and turned to Holly. ‘I can see why you love it up here,’ he said. ‘It feels, I don’t know, timeless, somehow.’

‘It’s definitely the place to come to get away from it all,’ Holly replied. She smiled. ‘And I do occasionally lead a deep-vision meditation session up here, weather permitting. Perhaps you should come along some time.’

‘Deep-vision meditation?’ Charlie asked. ‘Sounds, er, deep.’