‘I—’ She took a physical step back at this interpretation of events. ‘I thought she needed you.’ She didn’t say ‘… more than I did’ because it wasn’t true. There was ‘need’ and ‘need’, that was all.

He thrust his fingers through his hair. ‘Holy hell, I wish you and I could have just found time to talk.’ He took a couple of deep breaths and then continued in a gentler tone. ‘I had to be there for her until she had her results but she didn’t get those until Christmas Eve. I saw you leaving the village late that afternoon and the evening shift was crazy. I knew – or thought I knew – I’d be alone with you on Christmas morning so I planned to talk to you then. As it was—’ he threw up a hand in a hopeless gesture ‘—I didn’t get that chance. But as soon as Hayley realised you’d left she coolly made arrangements to stay with my parents because she doesn’t need the level of care she got from me now her last drain is out. She was determined to free me to come after you and Mum backed her up. Said Hayley was doing what she thought right – and her and Dad thought she was right too. They’ve even taken Doggo.’

‘Wow.’ Lily wasn’t quite able to absorb it all and readjust her thinking. She’d been so certain that Hayley had a long, hard road ahead and would need Isaac until she could get her support elsewhere. ‘So you’re leaving to take your instructor courses?’

Ignoring the question, Isaac scooped up the Christmas present wrapped in blue paper sprinkled with gold stars. ‘This is for you.’

Automatically, she took the box-shaped gift, fumbling when it proved unexpectedly heavy.

Hastily, he put one of his hands beneath it, brushing against her and making her jump. ‘It might be better to unwrap it on the table.’

She let him place it on the polished wooden table top, then, wonderingly, she eased the paper apart at the seam. Under the paper was a plain brown box and she had to pull off the tape that secured it shut. Inside was a cloud of white tissue paper.

She pulled it aside to reveal wood and carvings.

She stared. ‘It’s a cuckoo clock,’ she breathed. Packed snugly around the little wooden chalet with a stack of logs outside were the chains, weights and pendulum that had made the parcel so heavy.

‘A Lötscher. I’m probably the only person ever to bring a cuckoo clock into Switzerland. I ordered it online and had it delivered to the pub.’ Most of the frustration had left his voice now and uncertainty had taken its place.

With one trembling fingertip she touched the little door sheltering the cuckoo. ‘It’s the one I loved in the shop in Zürich. It was incredibly expensive though.’ She glanced at him.