‘Kind of, we had to winch a sixty-foot yacht into a dry dock. They ran it aground and knocked a big hole in it.’

I nod along like it makes perfect sense to me, but I’m too jittery to pay close attention to what he’s saying.

‘What are you doing down here anyway? Day off?’ he asks.

‘I skived off work.’

‘Aren’t you the boss? Can’t you do that whenever you want?’

‘Technically I could, but I don’t. First time ever.’

‘Look at you living dangerously.’

‘I know. I’m not sure what’s next.’

‘It’s a slippery slope. Let’s think, maybe it leads to doing drugs or joyriding.’

‘Not sure on the drugs front, but we could steal a boat? If only your boat worked, we could have taken her for a spin.’

‘I think much like you skiving off work when you’re the boss, taking your mate’s boat out for a sail, especially when you’re going to make them sail it, wouldn’t technically be stealing a boat.’

I laugh and my heart aches. It’s moments like this when I’m reminded of the Joel I once knew and loved, and it makes me start to fall for him all over again, and I don’t want him to leave now. Since my conversation with Miles, it’s made me realise that I’m not entirely sure if all of those feelings ever really went away.

‘So, um, did Soph tell you about next week?’ He slips his sunglasses down over his eyes.

‘About you getting married?’

He takes a deep breath and nods. He puts his hands in his pockets only to take them straight back out again.

‘That’s quite the commitment,’ I say.

‘It’s not how it looks. It’s just so I can work out there. The company that Verity works for seem great and they’re interested in my CV but they can’t sponsor me for a visa.’

It slowly sinks in.

‘So you’re marrying her to get one?’

‘We looked into the different options a while ago before … the summer. It seemed like the simplest way and now Verity’s got her job and she wants me to work towards getting mine there …’

I try and nod along like it makes sense but it doesn’t and I can’t stop the pain in my chest. It doesn’t matter whether he is marrying her for convenience, or if it’s more than that as Soph suggests, the end product is still the same – he’s still leaving.

‘And you want to go?’

‘It’s a good opportunity.’ He shrugs. ‘A new start.’