‘That’s interesting. Caroline is a doctor but she put her career on hold to raise the kids.’ He looked thoughtful for a moment, as if something new had just occurred to him. ‘I expect your other half is well versed in how to support you, given your specialist insight.’

‘Of course. It would be remiss of me not to educate them in the matter.’

‘He or she?’

‘Excuse me?’

‘You said educate them, not he or she, so which is it, a he or a she?’

‘How is that relevant?’ She didn’t want to admit to being single right now.

‘Just interested.’ He didn’t seem at all embarrassed to be quizzing her on her personal life. ‘But it’s fine if you don’t want to tell me.’

‘It’s not that I don’t want to tell you.’ She stopped again because that’s exactly what it was.

‘It’s fine, Karene. I was being nosy.’

‘Why?’ The question was instinctive and she regretted it instantly.

Harry looked momentarily stunned. His eyes widened and he shook his head.

Karene watched him recover and felt her regret morph into something far more dangerous: hope.

Three weeks later, Karene received her first email from Henry, Captain Peterson, Royal Navy. She stared at the sending address for a few seconds before opening it, thrown by the formality. The subject title was ‘Conference Speaking’ and she half expected to find a request to attend some event and deliver a talk.

Karene

I hope you don’t mind my saying hello. I meant to contact you earlier to say how much I enjoyed meeting you and if you ever do want that interview, I would be happy to oblige.

Yours,

Harry.

Karene read and reread the short paragraph. For some reason she felt a lurch of some emotion deep in her gut. It was ridiculous. She dealt with powerful people all the time. She thought for a minute or two then tapped out a quick reply.

Well hello, Harry,

How lovely to hear from you. I too found our meeting very pleasurable, one of the nicest breakfasts I’ve ever had

Karene stopped, then deleted the breakfast comment. It sounded a bit too suggestive. She tried again.

Well hello, Harry

How lovely to hear from you. I too found our meeting enjoyable. I had hoped to catch you before you left to tell you how much I enjoyed your presentation on Ships, Sailors and Secret Missions. But sadly you’d already left the building – how very Elvis!

An interview sometime would be great, thank you.

Karene.