‘I’m getting a little chilly; I might head back and get a sweatshirt from the lodge,’ says Miles. ‘Do you want me to grab you one, Edie?’

‘Oh, yes please.’

‘I might come with you.’ Brett stands up. ‘I’ll grab a blanket for Alfie.’

‘And I need a wee,’ says Soph. ‘Can I leave Alfie in the pram with you guys?’

‘Of course,’ I say, watching them all head off before I turn back to Joel. ‘I still can’t forgive you for leaving me hanging on that charade, by the way.’

‘Sorry, I just couldn’t resist. I forgot how competitive you get. Poor Miles, he really did try as well.’

‘I suppose, although sometimes I wish Miles and I were more on the same wavelength. Seeing Brett and Soph together, especially in that last game, it makes me realise how out of sync we can be at times.’

‘These things take time. Brett and Soph have had seven years to figure things out.’

I stretch my arms out behind me and my fingertips graze the concrete of the firepit behind me. I turn and look at it.

‘Do you think this is actually the same firepit that they built when we were here?’ I run my fingers along the edge, wondering.

‘Surely they would have upgraded it over the years.’

‘There’s only one way to find out.’ It’s getting a little darker now, but it’s still light enough to see and I start to walk around the edge.

‘You don’t really think it would still be here, do you?’ he says.

I stop and bend down when I find what I’m looking for.

‘See! Here it is.’

Whilst I can’t really make out the lines of the thumbprint like I once could, I can still see the outline of a little heart shape.

‘I can’t believe it. It’s crazy how people walk past this all the time, and yet only we know that this exists,’ he says, as he walks over. He bends down next to me and we put our thumbs in it at the same time. They brush against each other and it’s like my whole body has come alive. ‘Still here after all this time.’

I know he’s talking about the thumbprints but a part of me wonders if he’s talking about our chemistry too.

‘Why are you two on the floor? Has something happened? Where has everyone gone?’ Douglas is balancing glass bottles of lemonade in his arms and Joel stands up to help him.

‘Nothing to worry about, I just tripped, and Joel was helping me up. The others nipped back to the lodge; they’ll be back any second.’

Joel nods. ‘Typical Edie, still clumsy.’

I’m not sure either of us needed to lie about what we were doing, but it feels like it should just be our little secret, just like it always was.