‘There was every need.’ Maya sat down opposite her, putting two slices of toast before her and digging into her own already half-eaten slice. ‘I’m afraid I have to go back to Ballycove today. Emergency sitting of the district court and, apparently, the accused has asked for me specially.’

‘That’s great; well, maybe not for whoever is in the dock, but you know what I mean…’ Her sister had a funny old job.

‘Yeah, I know, it’s an ill wind. Still, it looks like I’m getting a good reputation and that’s only going to be good for the business.’ Maya smiled. ‘But the thing is, I’m going to drive back this morning so I thought I’d drop you into work and then go straight from there.’

‘Yay! Which gives me an extra twenty minutes.’

‘I wanted to talk to you, before I go.’ Maya stopped, dropped the slice of toast and rubbed her hands together to take any crumbs from her fingers.

‘Oh, oh, this doesn’t sound good.’

‘It’s… Finn O’Connell.’ Maya passed over her phone. ‘When you went to bed last night, I couldn’t help it. I…’ She pulled the gift that Liv had been supposed to be holding in safe keeping for him from behind her back. ‘Sorry, I had to see for myself.’

‘Oh, Maya, how could you?’ The paper had been ripped off and presumably she’d already looked inside. She should have handed this back to Finn last night, but Liv had forgotten all about it until now.

‘The thing is, Liv, once you stop being mad at me, you might actually thank me.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Or maybe not.’ She bit her lip in that way she always did when she knew she was walking on eggshells, but being Maya, there was no way she wasn’t going to see her footsteps through. ‘The thing is.’ She flipped open the case and Liv gasped.

‘It’s my ring.’ Liv was too shocked to cry, but she knew that the ball of emotion that had lodged in her throat would have its way whether she wanted to cry or not. ‘I don’t understand.’ All this time, she’d been carrying around the ring, she’d believed Eddie had made for her.

‘It’s not for Mena.’ Maya placed it into Liv’s shaking hands.

‘It’s not?’ She was confused; of course it was for Mena. It said M on the ticket.

‘It’s not.’ Maya leant forward, pulled out the ring and held it up before them both. ‘See, there’s an inscription.’

‘Oh, God.’ Liv didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but hysteria probably tipped the balance towards a sound that startled them both. ‘It’s bloody tiny. You can’t make out what it even says.’ She dropped the ring; suddenly, it might as well have been on fire.