The Venetian night sky was bright with stars, the breeze warm and the moon was bathing the canal in a silvery beam as Grace sat down on the padded seat next to Ellis in the middle of the magnificent gondola, her suitcase safely stowed at their feet. Looped around her index finger was the ribbon tied to the balloon that was wafting above their heads in the breeze. Ornate lampposts, each with three bell-shaped lights encased in pink glass, gave the view a halcyon feel, making Grace wonder if Connie had also ever been here on a night like tonight. Perhaps Giovanni had brought her to Mario’s Ristorante for pasta and prosecco to celebrate her birthday too. Ellis had explained that Mario’s father had first opened the restaurant in 1910, so it was entirely possible. And thrilling for Grace to imagine herself walking – or should that be floating – in Connie’s shoes all these decades later. Music drifted in the air, lovers strolled arm in arm along the sides of the canal, laughing and teasing. And it was so calm and peaceful and so very different to London, Grace thought. The gondolier, dressed in traditional dark jeans, striped top and a straw boater, handed them a blanket to slip over their knees and then pushed his oar into the water to steer them majestically on their way.

Soon they were in the Grand Canal and Grace gasped on seeing the famous Rialto Bridge floodlit in twinkly gold lights, people standing on the intricately carved stonework, waving to them as their gondola passed underneath. On they drifted, taking in the atmosphere, the lights, the noises; the sheer ambience was mesmerising, not to mention Ellis’s solid thigh, which was pressed against Grace’s leg underneath the blanket, making her wonder if she should shift along a bit. But there wasn’t really anywhere to go on the narrow gondola and, besides, it felt rather nice. Grace hoped Ellis’s girlfriend wouldn’t mind her taking just one teeny-tiny moment to imagine being here with a boyfriend of her own. Not Phil. Not Matthew. But someone like Ellis. Charming and kind. And who made her feel like the only woman in the world.

And then she saw it.