‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I couldn’t see him anywhere.’ Finn wrapped her in his arms and pulled her close to him. Somewhere in the distance she heard the sound of a siren, pealing through the busy Dublin streets towards them.

‘Oh, no, not Pete…’ A shot of pain ripped up through Liv and she shivered with the ferocity of engulfing sadness that seemed to shroud her so instantly that everything went completely black.

21

They had swapped places. That was Liv’s first thought when she woke up in her hospital bed the following morning. Finn O’Connell sitting forward on the hard chair, holding her hand, waiting for her to come round.

‘Oh, thank goodness. I have to call someone to tell them you’re awake.’ He started to get up.

‘No. That can wait. Tell me first, was it a dream? Did that really happen?’ she asked, but maybe she already knew, because the aches she felt in her body were nothing compared to the gaping hollow that had opened up in her heart.

‘A dream?’ He looked around the room a little awkwardly, as if he wasn’t fully sure what to say. ‘I’m so sorry. Your friend – he seemed nice, Pete?’

‘Ah, yes, Pete.’ Liv smiled thinking of him and for a moment she wondered where he was, but then, as if someone had picked a tuning string at her heart, she knew instantly what had happened. ‘He’s gone, isn’t he?’

‘I’m so sorry. They still haven’t found him. It’s as if he just…’

‘Disappeared.’ She felt a fresh surge of anguish rush up in her, catching her breath so ferociously that for a moment it felt as if she was drowning all over again. It was like a wave that when it crested, she knew would wash her out with the most consuming grief. But then, she remembered what had happened underneath those emerald stars. As images of Pete and Rachel came back to her. It was tempered with something else too, something she’d probably never be able to explain, but she knew, wherever Pete was now, he was finally happy. ‘He’s with Rachel now. That’s what he wanted; he told me so just before the fireworks started.’ She found herself smiling, despite her tears. Finn slipped his arm beneath her shoulders, pulled her up towards him.

‘Oh God, Liv, I’m so sorry I couldn’t save him too.’ She could feel his regret slipping with every word from him.

‘No.’ She held him a little away from her. ‘You don’t understand. He’s with Rachel now. They’re both happy. I know they are. They were always meant to be together and now they are, forever.’

‘Oh, my darling, darling Liv.’ He kept saying over and over again. He was holding her so closely; she had a feeling he would never let her go.