When he arrived at The Mimosas, a pretty name that seemed to him to be trying to compensate for the less-than-pretty brick-built cottage, it was to find Genevieve three-quarters of the way down a bottle of wine, sitting out in her garden in the twilight looking balefully at the corner of her home, propped up for safety until the builders began the necessary dismantling, underpinning and rebuilding.

‘Hey,’ he said, pulling up a mismatched garden chair to join her, leaning down to brush her lips with his. ‘Feeling down in the dumps about the cottage?’

‘Yup,’ she answered flatly, putting down her wine glass to accept Nelson’s panting, pawing expressions of adoration. ‘Amongst other things. Like, whether we’ve got a future.’

Aaron had been about to go and get himself a wine glass but instead he dropped into the chair in surprise at this opening gambit. ‘Where did that come from?’

She sighed, still tousling Nelson’s grey hairy ears. He’d taken up station with his head on her lap and looked well happy with the situation. ‘I’ve been thinking about it ever since Clancy came up with the idea of me moving into the B&B. You were so relieved! You obviously don’t want me to move in with you.’ Her eyes glittered in the fading light.

He put his hand over hers, feeling bad that she’d read him so accurately and it had hurt her. ‘But you love your cottage.’

She shrugged. ‘Does that mean I’m forced to live alone in it for the rest of my life?’

‘Well, no,’ he acknowledged. ‘But we’d never talked about living together and suddenly you were hinting that we should, and as if it would become a permanent thing. Taking such a major step out of expediency, because your cottage needs work—’

‘—is not happening,’ she finished for him, her voice tight with tears, forehead furrowing with misery. She gulped a mouthful of wine.

‘I didn’t put it like that—’

But she wasn’t listening to him, just gazing at the sagging corner of her house as if it held all the answers. ‘We’ve been together a year. To be absolutely clear – do you ever foresee us taking our relationship to the next level?’

‘Hey,’ he said gently, patting the hand that lay unresponsive under his. ‘What’s going on? I feel as if I’ve missed half a conversation.’

‘Do you ever foresee us making our relationship more committed?’ she insisted.

‘I don’t discount it,’ he answered carefully, as she was clearly intent on making him lay all his cards on the table. ‘We’ve had a great relationship and, if you’re asking me to be honest, then I’m happy as we are.’

She turned to face him. ‘Clancy says women shouldn’t be defined by the love of a man, but I’m going to ask you. Do you love me? And yes or no are the only acceptable answers.’

Aaron tried to get a grip on the conversation, which felt as out of control as a kite in a hurricane. He hated upsetting Gen but that familiar prickle of resentment at being made to feel the bad guy was there too. He made his voice gentle. ‘Backing me into a corner isn’t going to help this situation.’