As I left the warmth of Stuart’s office and headed back out into the cold December day, my mobile pinged that I had a text. I glanced at the message. It was from Marcia. Pop in if you have time, am home. Have news for you about Grace and Billy. I put the phone away. Looking for past life lovers was the least of my concerns. OK, I’d had a moment of wondering about it on hearing about the imaginary friend from my childhood, but I wasn’t going to waste time pursuing it, especially now that I had more pressing things to do in the here and now. My next job was to visit the team of designers I used when I needed a particular piece of jewellery made up. I owed it to them to fill them in on what was happening. Most of them displayed their own designs in the shop as well as doing my commissions. They weren’t going to be happy.

14

Why Bea? And why now? If I am honest, the connection was always there, a sense of familiarity, but it wasn’t the right time for either of us. She makes me smile. I like her company, her face, her eyes; more than that, the spirit that lives inside of her. I can see us together and hope that she will too. In the meantime, a few issues still to deal with, cutting a few ties to places and people, then I will be ready. In the meantime, there’s a dog by the door, and he’s waiting for a walk.

15

‘End of an era,’ I said to Marcia as I took a seat at her dining table early in the evening.

She went to the fridge, got out a bottle of wine and poured two glasses. She hadn’t asked if I wanted one, didn’t need to. ‘Endings can be beginnings. End of a chapter, beginning of a new one.’

‘End of my first fifty years, beginning of the next fifty. I didn’t really think about it when I was away, but it’s hit me since we’ve been back. Fifty, half a century old.’

‘None of us looks it and we probably don’t act it either,’ said Marcia. ‘Fifty is the new forty and all that.’

‘Thanks to hair dye, for me anyway. You still don’t have a grey hair, and believe me, I’ve been checking. I remember when I was younger, fifty seemed so old, and so many that age seemed to look it: the same hairstyle, comfy cardis, slacks with elasticated waistbands.’

‘Well, we’re not going there.’

‘But with everything that’s happening, it really does seem like the end of one part of my life.’

‘Does it have to be an end? Do you want a change? No one knows the jewellery business like you do.’