‘Finish every last drop. I need my man hungover tomorrow, because it’s the only thing that makes him manageable on a flight. Otherwise, he’ll be crawling into the cockpit and trying to convince the pilot to let him fly.’

‘Hey, I’ve got over—’

‘Twenty hours of flight time under your belt. Yeah, we know. The guy living down the road knows too,’ Mina concluded.

‘My wife, ladies and gentlemen,’ Ben exclaimed to the room. ‘Such a delight.’

‘I usually just slip him some Valium,’ Henry joked to Mina.

‘I’m saving that for the birth,’ Mina said, waiting for Henry to stand for a hug.

‘Fair,’ he replied, pulling himself out of the chair and taking her into his arms, a slightly awkward fit around her bump. ‘Thank you,’ he half whispered.

‘Anytime. Seriously, Henry. Anytime,’ she said, smiling up at him. ‘Sweet drinking, boys.’ With that she disappeared from the room.

Ben walked over to the side cabinet, withdrew two crystal cut tumblers, and placed them on the table in front of the sofa. He screwed off the cap of the bottle and poured two distinctly unhealthy shots of SangSom.

‘You’re not messing around,’ Henry exclaimed.

‘Neither is my wife. She wasn’t joking about the hangover.’

Henry took the glass when offered and inhaled the sweet scent of rum, so familiar and so much more welcome than all the wine in the estate.

Ben watched him over the rim of his own glass.

‘How’s the office?’

‘Don’t give me that crap,’ Ben replied without malice.

Henry sighed.

‘What’s going on?’

‘I’m selling the estate.’

Ben raised his eyebrows and nodded. ‘OK.’

‘Just like that?’

‘If it’s what you really want.’

‘Of course it is. Why the hell would I want to stay here? Why on earth would I want to keep the one place that—’

‘Was your home?’

Henry glared at his best friend.

‘Look, I get it. I do. There’s a lot of bad memories and mojo here.’

‘That’s putting it mildly.’

‘There are no good ones? Really?’

Henry was about to shake his head but stopped. Inexplicably, Henry saw Lily, walking amongst the vines in the sun, turning to smile at him over Natalie Jameson’s shoulder, a soft light in her eyes. He remembered how she had slapped away his hand from the basket, and how she had teased him in the restaurant, telling him to aim higher. And then, from just a few hours ago, how he had felt to see Ben and Mina at the door, the teasing banter filling the rooms with new memories. New memories that had him shaking off his friend’s question. A friend that clearly saw too much.

‘Anyone I should know?’ Ben asked.

He never could really get anything past him. ‘She’s … someone I used to know.’