‘She looked really happy.’

‘You’re too soft with her,’ Ray intoned. ‘That woman walks all over you. I told you, you need to put your foot down.’

Ray had, indeed, told him that on many occasions. But was that really the way to run things? Greg had offered a lifetime of quiet, loyal steadiness, and it had worked for many, happy years. But it wasn’t working now.

What would he do if he was fishing? He wouldn’t just sit there moping. He wouldn’t keep on casting with the same bait, sitting in the same fruitless spot. He’d try something new, move on down the river. Anything to interest the fish in his bait. Perhaps that’s what he had to do now?

Ray sucked in a breath. ‘If I was you—’

Suddenly, Greg put down his rod and turned to his friend. ‘Tell me, Ray, how many times have you been divorced?’

His fishing companion looked taken aback. ‘Three. Four if Marla carries on the way she is.’

‘Then why, exactly, am I taking my relationship advice from you?’

Ray opened and closed his mouth, rather like the perch that was testing the bait at the end of his line.

Greg snatched up his own rod, broke it in two and hurled it in the canal. ‘That’s what I think of your advice.’

He had things to do – he could see that now. And if he hurried, if he moved more quickly and more decisively than he’d ever done in his life, he might just manage it.

Chapter 115

Chapter 115

I didn’t get much sleep at the hotel. It’s a scuffed, well-used airport box, noisy with people coming and going all night long. Where are they going to, I wonder, with their smart wheeled cases and their scruffy backpacks? Are they feeling as anxious, as stressed, as sick to the stomach as I am now? Is their trip a big, bold adventure for any of them too?

We sat in the lounge bar until late and then I shared a twin room with Minny and, bless her, she chattered excitedly until about three o’clock before she finally fell asleep. The bed was as comfortable as lying on a pile of housebricks and I really missed Greg. One night away from him and I’m already questioning how I’ll manage for the next two weeks on my own.