I wave my arms frantically at him and I shake my head, pleading with my eyes for him not to reveal I’m with him.

‘I’m actually reading a really good book … I know, me reading a book,’ he chuckles. ‘It’s getting to a really exciting part though, so I best go, but I’ll update you with a better ETA when I know it.’

He hangs up his phone and puts it on the table, face down.

‘Right then, are you going to tell me why you’re really on this train, or do I have to guess? Because right now my guess is that you’ve finally realised you’re wildly in love with Joel and you’re going to go and break up the wedding.’ He laughs and picks up his water bottle and starts unscrewing the top. My face falls at his words. Douglas slams the bottle on the table. ‘Edie, don’t tell me it’s true? I was just joking.’

‘Shhh.’ I look around self-consciously; there aren’t that many people in our carriage, but I don’t want them to think I’m some wedding wrecker. I let out a deep sigh. ‘I just want to speak to Joel before he marries Verity.’

‘Because you love him?’ he says, softly, with a slight nod of his head.

‘Because I love him.’ I scrunch my eyes up. It’s terrifying to say.

‘I was always surprised that you two never did get together back in the day. Joel had the biggest crush on you and I always thought that you liked him too.’

‘We did, we had a connection. But it didn’t really work out then.’

‘And now you’re saying that this connection hasn’t gone away?’

‘I’ll admit it was awkward seeing him again at first, I was still angry at him for breaking my heart. But the more time we’ve spent together recently, the more I’ve felt that spark growing between us,’ I say, thinking about the events over the summer. ‘But I kept thinking it was all one-sided, that given how we left things back at Hartland’s seventeen years ago, there was no way he liked me then or now. Then I received an email from Joel.’ I’m starting to lose Douglas. He’s blinking rapidly, trying to keep up. ‘It’s all a bit of a long story.’

‘I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, your guard again here. We’ve just had an update and the good news is that they’re going to be able to move the train. The bad news is they need another engine to do it, and we’re going to have to wait for it to arrive from Southampton.’

‘Looks like we’re not going anywhere for a while, so you’ve got plenty of time to tell me.’