‘Oh, thank God for that. I mean, that poor guy, but…’ He took a deep breath, steadying his voice when he spoke next, so he sounded again like the old reliable friend she’d come to depend on to be strong when she couldn’t be. ‘Look, just ring me when you want to be collected, yeah?’

‘I…’ Liv thought for a moment. She was meant to go home tonight, but she looked down at the man lying on the stretcher before her. She couldn’t just leave him. He’d saved her life – how could she just get in a car and celebrate Christmas when his life might be hanging in the balance?

But then she thought of Eddie. Eddie, who vowed he’d never get married. It had all been part of the deal – grabbing what she could have when Rachel had lost everything. She was so looking forward to Christmas this year, more than she had since… well in a very long time.

Liv closed her eyes for a second, felt as if the world had somehow closed in on her. She took what felt like a monumental deep breath and said:

‘I…’

2

‘I should be ready to go in an hour or so.’ Liv moved away from the policeman and into the freezing midnight air. She glanced back at the man on the stretcher. She had made her statement, done all she could do for him. He would be in the best of hands; she could make sure of that before she left. But she had to go home, she just had to. She had waited long enough, and God knows, with Eddie, if he’d worked himself up to ask her to marry him, she couldn’t jeopardise that in any way. For too long there had been that banter between them. Eddie joking that she’d never tie him down, while she smiled and held on tightly, knowing that under it all, he needed her and loved her as much as she did him. But she’d always hoped that one day they’d get married. She just needed to wait until he was ready, not throw him off course with nagging him about it. That was part of the deal with Eddie, smoothing over everything so he’d get on with things. It was just the way he was.