‘Don’t give me that,’ she insisted. ‘What is it?’

Malie gestured to Zoe, her hand waving before her.

‘Well,’ Zoe paused, ‘I’d wanted to wait until after the wedding, but I’ve got some news.’

‘OK, enough with the dramatic pauses. Get to the point already,’ Lily cried impatiently.

‘I’m …’ She broke off, a huge smile brightening her beautiful features. ‘I’m coming home. Actually, I’m kind of already home.’

‘It was you!’ Lily cried as Zoe’s words settled about her. ‘Oh my God, you’re home! And Malie is home now, and V’s only in London!’ The words rushed out of her as Lily realized that finally, after all these years, her friends were back. Her heart soared and she felt tears press against the backs of her eyes.

‘Don’t start,’ Malie warned. ‘Don’t, because you’ll set me off and I’ll ruin my mascara.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Lily turned to Zoe.

‘Oh, hun, we knew you had so much on your plate with the restaurant and the wedding, we didn’t want you to get sucked into our drama as well.’

‘Drama?’

‘Finn bought the old Merrow’s Rest property and we’ve been doing it up.’

‘Has my mum been helping? She had paint brushes and rollers—’

‘She’s been a godsend.’

‘You made my mum keep a secret from me?!’ Lily demanded, her voice reaching impossible pitches which made Victoria wince.

‘She wanted to. And she agreed that if you’d known …’

‘I would have taken that on too?’ Lily interjected sadly. For the first time, she’d realized that her friends had been half managing her in recent months. Or at least, felt that they’d had to. Perhaps Henry and her mother were right. She’d taken on too much to cover the need, the yearning for something else. In an instant she remembered her thoughts in the shower the night before. That she wanted more and it was beginning to get harder to ignore. It was sounding like a battle cry within her head and heart.

Zoe nodded. ‘But I’m soooo pleased you know now. Mostly because I’ve been dying to bring Finn to the restaurant! Seriously, V hasn’t stopped talking about almond croissants for at least a week and now they’re all I can think about.’

‘Well, I don’t have almond croissants, but I do have something else,’ Lily replied, digging into the cool boxes and retrieving the food that she’d prepared.

Boxes full of little canapes and smoked salmon, dips and crisps – because, who didn’t love a crisp! – and potato salads, mackerel pâté for old times’ sake, and more and more things that she could barely remember making in the chaos of the afternoon, while promising to give her thoughts a bit more time. She had some decisions to make, she realized, but now was not the time to do it.