‘Tell me about – I dunno – your first time. When you ditched your V-plates.’

He only briefly contemplates lying. ‘Still firmly attached. The V-plates.’

‘That’s cool. Saving yourself for the right person …’

Will stifles his amusement at an assumption that’s worthy of a thigh-slapping laugh. Instead, he goes for a swift change of subject. An enthusiastic discussion about Geek Love follows: how they’d write a sequel, who they’d cast in the film, what the soundtrack should be. Reflected in each other’s eyes, the sky morphs from grey to white, to pink, until finally a shaft of gold pierces over the marshes.

Will thinks about earlier, how he was adamant he’d defeat the note, prove its predictions wrong. But somehow, it seems, the note came for him, and now Danny is safe and Will is alone with the girl he’s in love with. It was just, what, five hours ago, that he was hiding in his bedroom? But it feels so distant now, like it was a different him almost. So much can change, yet so little time can pass, Will thinks. The memory of sitting in his room all that time ago reminds him of the record he left on the turntable. As the sun crowns on the horizon, he pulls out his phone and finds the song. Not vinyl, but it’ll do in the circumstances.

‘What is this?’ April asks softly, normally invisible freckles dusting her nose in the light.

‘Cool tune, innit?’

The harmonies build as the chorus kicks in.

Now the night is past it’s just the sun rising.

‘Yeah. Not heard it. It’s cool.’

‘They’re called The Beloved.’

‘How old?’

Will checks the date. ‘Just the thirty-two years.’

‘Amazing.’

‘“Timeless” I think is the word.’

The sun seems to stop at halfway, as though readying itself for a final push to declare this new day begun. If he could choose a moment when time could grind to a stop, this would be it, Will thinks. It seems to be so negotiable right now – time – so unknown, so unknowable. Never mind what the clocks say; there are moments, Will now realizes, hours or maybe just minutes, that matter more than whole years. And he knows that this – this right now – is one of those moments. Because at this moment there is only now. There is nothing else.

The half-circle shimmers at its edges. Will glances at April. At the same instant, she looks at him. They’re almost touching.

Will has no idea how to kiss a girl. No opportunities for practice have ever presented themselves. The thought of it is so exciting it pulverizes him with fear. But it’s not just inexperience or nerves that stop Will from closing the small gap between them. It is as well a curious sense of losing something to look forward to, of having nothing left to achieve, that holds him back.

‘Why you laughing?’ Will whispers.