Max hung his head. He should tell her about Maddy and the girls, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Part of him still didn’t want to believe it was over. It felt like unfinished business. They’d been separated against their will. But it was in the past and Maddy made him happy. They were good together. Did he really want to chase a life that was never meant to be? His heart snagged imagining how it would have been, Ali, the baby and him together. But he couldn’t imagine life without Maddy and his wonderful daughters.

‘Is it serious, you and this bloke?’ He looked up at the white puffy cloud above their heads, reminding him of one of Chloe’s drawings.

‘He looks after me.’

The words pinched.

‘We were good together, Ali,’ he said. ‘It was special, you can’t deny it.’ What was he doing? He mustn’t fall under her spell.

She didn’t reply. The keys tumbled onto the grass. Max picked them up. He turned them over in his hand and gave them back to her.

‘I’ve tried so hard to forget you, to move on.’ He pressed his forehead.

‘You should have.’ She stretched her slim legs out in front of her.

‘Have you? Honestly?’ He looked for her reaction. ‘Is that why you’re here? Because you couldn’t?’

‘I wanted to find out from you what happened back then. I was curious to see how you were. Why you never tried to find me.’ She fiddled with the key fob, sliding the plastic frame back and forth a fraction. ‘Where do we go from here?’ She dropped the keys back in her bag.

‘Wherever you want us to.’ He reached for her hands, soft and delicate.

She let him hug her and a lifting sensation filled his chest.

‘I don’t know, Adam. It’s been so long. We’re different people now.’

‘Just stay in touch. That’s all I ask.’

‘I need to get back.’ She slipped on her sandals.

‘Let me see you again.’ He knelt in front of her. He must have lost his mind, but he couldn’t stop himself.

Ali turned away. ‘I don’t think my boyfriend would be too pleased.’

‘Take my number, here.’ He scribbled it on the lid of his cigarette packet and tore it off. ‘If you change your mind. If you need to talk…’

‘I already have your number, remember?’ She took out a mirror and checked her hair. ‘I’ve managed without you for six years, Adam.’

‘Are you saying you feel nothing for me, none of the old spark?’

‘Drive me home, Adam, please.’

Outside her maisonette he pushed a hundred quid in rolled-up twenties into her hand. ‘Here, treat yourself, buy something nice.’

She took it and went inside without looking back.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Max: April 2017