It was if he’d slapped her. Jacquie’s tanned cheeks flushed white.

‘You think it’s easy coming over here, knowing you can’t stand the sight of me? Wondering every day if you’ve managed to let the ocean kill you? Well, it bloody well isn’t!’ She was so angry she was shaking.

‘Jac . . .’ He was hopelessly inadequate in the face of her emotion.

‘Have you thought about how Mum and Dad will feel when you vanish?’ she interrupted him.

‘Look, I appreciate that you’re worried about me –’

‘Worried?’ she exploded. ‘Rob, we’re fucking terrified for you! It’s been a year now and as far as I can tell you’ve shut everyone out – friends, family, work . . . the whole bloody world. You haven’t been on an expedition since the accident. Hell, you haven’t been outside of Margaret River in six months!’

‘Look,’ he said firmly, ‘I am just trying to figure things out.’

Jacquie gave a shrill laugh. ‘And how long is that going to take? Face facts, you’re broke, Rob. The bank’s about to take everything and you’re just sitting here in a pile of smelly laundry. For God’s sake, brother!’ Her eyes flashed with contempt. ‘You used to follow your dreams and make them happen. Now you’re a shadow. A zombie. I can’t stand watching it anymore. It’s like both of you died in that cave.’

Her words thumped home like the well-aimed jabs they were. And because it was unbearable, he found himself lashing out blindly.

‘Why won’t you say her name, Jac?’

Her stare was incredulous. ‘You mean, Natalie?’

‘Yes,’ he snapped. ‘Natalie. My wife. The woman that everyone in this family seems so bloody keen to forget. Well, I can’t. And I won’t.’

Jacquie’s eyes widened. ‘Rob, I loved Nat like my own sister . . . Mum and Dad loved her, too.’ She reached out and gripped his hands. ‘You know that. What’s going on?’

Self-pity threatened to erupt out of him, and Nash fought hard to smother it.

‘Jac, I know you want me back the way I was,’ he said unsteadily. ‘But I’m not that person anymore. Can you understand that?’

She bit her lip. ‘Of course, I understand. And we’ve been waiting for you to heal in your own way, but it’s not happening. You’re stuck, and we can’t just stand by and watch you fade away.’

‘It’s gone too far,’ he admitted. ‘But you have to let me live my own life. OK? Hey, come on, please don’t cry, Jac.’

Jacquie was an intense soul, but the raw pain of her sobs as they hugged was unusual.

‘Is something wrong, Jac?’

‘I’m worried for you. For Mum and Dad. I don’t know how it’s all going to work out.’

‘What do you mean?’