Liv stood now, the sun creasing up her eyes into a cold watery squint. It was an epiphany, but she realised, she could never replace Rachel and she had to stop trying. She felt a small tear race down her cheek. It came from nowhere and at the same time, she knew it came from a deep well of emotion that sat somewhere in the very core of her. She could never replace Rachel and now, standing here with the gathering breeze about her, she knew, she was going to stop trying. In that moment, she closed her eyes, surrendering herself to what lay ahead – she would just accept it. She was a nurse. She wanted to help people. Wasn’t that what she’d told her father? Well, from now on, that was what she was going to do and let everything else take care of itself.

Somewhere in the distance she heard a loud bang. Light was beginning to fade when she opened her eyes and spotted a trail of early fireworks lighting up the indigo sky over the pier. They were a trail of green stars feathering out and falling down to the ground below. Like her ring. The ring Eddie had made for some wealthy client – Liv corrected herself immediately. And then she smiled, because for the first time, she could see that ring was little more than a sad imitation of something that was exquisite once, but that moment had passed. Without warning, another single golden firework shot up into the air and Liv felt a tiny glimmer of hope that everything was going to turn out exactly as it was meant to.

*

Liv couldn’t say why exactly, but when she woke the following morning, it was as if her night’s sleep had drained her rather than revived her. She’d drifted off, her thoughts filled with the evening spent with Finn O’Connell. It had been magical. And then, at the end, somehow she’d managed to completely mess it up. Maya told her she was crazy – the guy deserved a second chance. The two sisters had talked until the early hours of the morning, and by the time she went to bed, it was confirmed that she’d made a complete pig’s ear of everything.

This morning, Maya had dug out the old teapot that had once sat on their grandmother’s table in her little cottage on the side of the hill. She’d made real tea, with leaves and a strainer sitting on the side.

‘This is a treat,’ Liv said kissing her sister as she placed two mugs on the table for them. ‘But you should have stayed in bed for a while longer. There was no need; I’ll be off out the door in ten minutes to make it in time for my shift.’