He stalked towards the bustling restaurant overflowing with the breakfast rush. People passed him with happy smiles and what he presumed were full bellies as he pushed open the glass front door. The smell of freshly pressed coffee and delicious sweet pastries hit him like a wave as he tried to ignore the few stares he received from the locals. And then it all dropped away the moment his eyes landed on Lily.

She looked glorious. His hungry gaze ate up the way she had her head thrown back and was laughing at something her manager, Kate, must have said. The light blue shirt she wore v’d at the neck, outlining the curve of her chest and exposing more of that smooth creamy skin, and she was wearing … shorts. White shorts that lovingly hugged her perfect thighs, exposed the bareness of long legs he’d been wanting to see for what felt like forever. The dark waves of her auburn hair were loose and rippled down her back as she leaned forward to say something to Kate – until she stopped, the words stalled on her tongue as she noticed him staring at her.

For just a moment, he caught the way her eyes flared, in surprise and then joy. It stopped his breath, and short-circuited his brain. They softened slightly, as if there was a secret shared between them, and he felt it. Felt the connection he’d been trying to deny since the night she gave him the key to his father’s gifts.

‘Who is My Dream Wedding, and how bad is it if they cancel?’ he blurted out without thinking, without even saying hello.

In an instant, her features morphed into shock. The whole damn restaurant seemed to stop. The waitress who had been carrying plates towards the back wobbled and dropped them, the sound of the china smashing on the floor louder for the silence that had suddenly descended.

‘What?’ Lily’s voice cut through the silence as a trembling horror fills her gaze.

Oh God, he hadn’t thought it would be this bad.

Mrs Whittaker appeared at his side, looking far too gleeful, thrusting some change onto the counter and mumbling about being on her way.

‘Someone called Jenny Langford called my mobile and said she had to cancel. Family emergency, lots of tears and drama and—’

Lily had turned a horrible shade of pale.

‘Are you—’ He’d tried to ask if Lily was OK, when Kate bustled from behind the counter.

‘Emma, one coffee. Strong. Kev?’ she called to the kitchen behind the counter, where a young kid shoved his head over the pass. ‘Brandy? Or whisky. Whatever’s nearer.’

Kate came round the counter and grabbed hold of Lily’s arms, pushing her back into the seat she had half risen from.

‘What’s going on?’ Henry demanded.

‘Oh God, oh God, oh God …’ It was as if that was all Lily could say.