‘As long as it isn’t “how are you?” again because I think we know the answer to that one.’

‘The night of the blind date, you wanted me to cancel it. Knowing what you know now and feeling how you feel now, do you wish I’d listened to you and called it off?’

I shook my head. ‘No. What’s that cliché? Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? I’d sell my soul to have her with me still and be marrying her tomorrow, but if all we could ever have was our two-and-a-half years, I’d rather have had that than never to have known her at all. You did the right thing, bro. You did the right thing.’

Jack released a shaky breath. ‘I wondered if that was part of the reason why you’d moved to London. Because you were angry with me.’

‘Christ, no! It was just too hard being in Whitsborough Bay without Nikki. She was everywhere. At home, at work, at the beach. I needed a break.’

Within a couple of months of getting together, we’d both given notice on our rented flats – no emotional loss as they were blighted by our exes and their indiscretions – and had bought a top floor apartment in a Victorian terrace overlooking North Bay. On the one-year anniversary of our blind date, we picked up the keys to a bright orange restored VW campervan and I handed them to Nikki. When she spotted the engagement ring dangling from a ribbon attached to the keyring, she squealed like she’d done the time I caught my first wave standing.

Four months ago, the day after my birthday, I handed over the keys of our flat to a property management company ready for my first tenant, then drove the campervan down to London ready to start afresh. New home, new hospital, new people. I’d genuinely thought that London – a place with no connection to Nikki – would be a good location to help me move on.

The relief on Jack’s face was obvious. That thought must have been eating away at him for ages. It had never entered my head that he could be feeling guilty for my pain.

‘Do you fancy giving surfing another go tomorrow?’ I asked.

‘Where?’

‘Kent.’

He shrugged. ‘Not really, but I will if that’s what you want.’

‘It is. And I think it’s what Nikki would have wanted.’

‘No laughing at me in a wetsuit this time. I’m not fit and toned like you.’

‘Sorry, Loki, but Thor has few pleasures in his life at the moment. You can’t take that away from him.’

Jack grimaced. ‘I can’t believe she got everyone at work to call me Loki and you Thor. Abject humiliation! Okay, you win. You can laugh a bit, but then you need to show some respect for your elders. Deal?’