And the moment the words were out of his mouth, he realized that he’d been holding on to just as much for just as long. It had been so strange to sit there on the cream-and-pink sofa, holding a tiny porcelain cup with long-since-cold tea as Claudia’s parents had clutched each other, as if needing support, as they explained how hard it had been for them following her death. How lost and awful they’d felt and how sorry they were for taking it out on him.

‘I hadn’t planned to, but I showed them the app. Claudia’s app. And they were so … pleased. Happy that something that could help others had come from such a tragedy. They had felt so helpless that they hadn’t realized how … difficult it had been for her. How far she had descended into drink and drugs. They asked after you, and the girls,’ he said, looking up into her glorious brown eyes. ‘They wanted me to say how pleased they were that you were all doing so well. And how sorry they were that they never reached out to you all.’

Lily waved the statement away, and he knew that they had not once placed blame with Claudia’s parents. Only perhaps themselves, in the same way he had.

‘I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it must have been for them.’

Henry nodded his agreement.

‘They also asked about me, about what I’d been doing with my life. What I hoped to still do …’ He trailed off, finally coming round to the real heart of what he’d wanted to tell her. Share with her. What he hoped might just be their future.

‘I told them about you.’

‘Me?’ Lily looked up, confusion in her eyes.

‘Yes. About your restaurant, about the changes to Hawke’s Cove. About the work you did with my father to help bring the estate kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century.’

She tried to dismiss the compliment. ‘I don’t know about that.’

‘Don’t think I haven’t realized just how much you’ve done at the estate. And not just for the wedding or in the herb garden … Or for my father. I told them that they could come and stay here whenever they wanted, as my guests.’

They’d looked unsure at the time, but he’d asked them to sit with the idea. For when – if – they ever wanted to come back and see some familiar faces.

The confusion was again in Lily’s eyes, and he didn’t miss a bit of the hurt that shone true either.

‘You can’t make that promise, Henry.’

‘Yes, I can,’ he assured her. Not out of stubborn determination, or contrariness. But then he remembered that he hadn’t told her everything.

‘Henry—’

‘I can, because I’ve also been in touch with the estate agents.’