He leans back against the bridge’s railing, his attention entirely on me and not at all on the view he claimed he wanted to see. “What was that like?”

I consider it, and for once, I don’t give the glib version. “It was not good at first. I missed my home and my dog. I even missed my mother and her endless conquests because all of that was familiar. When I was sent here, I hadn’t seen my father for three years, so he was just as much of a stranger as someone on the streets. The climate was wrong. The accent was wrong. Everything was wrong,” I say, mimicking a teenage boy’s whine.

He chuckles but keeps his gaze fixed on me. He seems calm, but his fingers tap on the railing and I know that turbulence I’d sensed remains.

“So how did you adapt, Mags?”

I shrug. “Ack. It was many years ago. I struggle to remember.”

“I’m sure you do. It must have been at least a century.” I glare at him, and he laughs before leaning against me, his soapy scent rising from his warm body. It’s a funny scent. Innocent and wholesome. “Tell me,” he chides.

“I adapted,” I finally say. “It’s what I have always done. I made good friends, and first and foremost amongst them was your brother-in-law. They taught me to enjoy London. Time and the years have cemented my enjoyment into love.”

“Will you always live here?”

We are suddenly back to that odd breathless question of before, and my heart starts to pound. I look at the beautiful still surface of the water gleaming under the evening sky. “Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on the circumstances.”

I suddenly want him to ask me what those circumstances would be, but instead, he says softly, “I suppose you’ll adapt to wherever you are. I wish I knew how…”

I nudge him. “You wish what?”

He smiles at me, and I sigh because I know I won’t get any more from him now. “I wish I had an ice cream.”

“Well, we must go and buy you one, I suppose,” I say in my best long-suffering voice. I lean down and let Endof off his lead.

“Is that wise?” Laurie says in an alarmed voice. “He’s not the best-trained animal.”

“That was the previous Endof. This is the new version who has received a great deal of training from me. I think you’ll find quite the difference.”

I let go of the dog’s collar. “Now, Endof, let us show Laurie what you can do. Ouch, you foolish dog,” I exclaim as he tears away from me and races off the bridge. He hesitates and then gambols over to the grass nearby.

“Endof, come back,” I call sternly. “Right now.”