There was something to be said for using a pole which could stretch over the width of the canal and tantalise the fish hiding in the weeds on the far bank. When you used a float it was buffeted about by the wind, by the movement of the water, by canal barges passing by – but with a pole you could be more accurate, less affected by outside influence. With a rod you needed to play the fish, to tire it out. With a pole, the elastic fitting on it did the job for you. Did that take the skill out of it? he wondered. There were infinite possibilities and permutations to fishing. No day was the same. Each time you dipped your hook into the water, you never knew what would be on the end – if anything. The anticipation of it was what kept him coming back for more. How anyone could ever think that fishing was dull was beyond him.

‘She’s still thinking of going to Peru?’ Ray asked.

‘Definitely.’ Why couldn’t Annie want to do something that didn’t take her so far away from home? Why couldn’t she have wanted to run the London Marathon or something? The usual things that people did for charity. Why couldn’t she do something that he could go along with. They’d enjoyed tackling Scafell Pike together – at least, the going-up bit. To be honest, he was surprised at how much she’d enjoyed it. Would the old Annie have been interested in Lakeland walking if he’d suggested it? Why couldn’t the new Annie be happy doing something like that?

Ray tsked. ‘You’re going to have to slap that down, matey.’

Greg didn’t think that he could. He didn’t think that he wanted to either, not really. It was just that she frightened him, this new Annie who’d become headstrong, determined, focused – and very fed up with him.

Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Lauren and Zak decided not to tell Jude what had happened. Not that anything did happen. Not really.

When Zak had woken, they’d had a lovely breakfast together in the hotel restaurant and then they’d gone out in the sunshine of Bath for the day. That was all.

Lauren had got her trip on an open-top tourist bus, then they’d gone to the Roman Baths together and, finally, they’d visited the new rooftop spa and had a lovely long soak, luxuriating in the warm, restorative waters. She had missed a text from Jude while they’d been bathing telling her that he loved her and, strangely, it hadn’t made her stomach churn to have been unavailable to reply immediately.