I have no plan for my day, just as I hadn’t for the past few, but actually, I quite like that. Back at home, I am always aware of David down in his study, clacking away on his keyboard as he sends poor old Evangeline off on yet another time-travelling adventure. His action fuels my own inaction, and makes me feel doubly guilty for doing nothing. I did try to work as a receptionist at Hayley’s mum’s dentistry practice in the village, but all the patients recognised me, and the pity in their eyes quickly became too much. I managed three weeks, before retreating to the safety and solitude of my bedroom.

Here, however, it’s different. Nobody knows me, nobody expects anything from me, and nobody but me gets to choose how much or little I achieve in my day. As a result, I have found myself exploring Queenstown and the surrounding area tirelessly – I even toyed with the idea of booking a ziplining trip, for heaven’s sake.

Thinking that I might take Anna’s memory book down to Queenstown Gardens for a day of reading, I am just chucking a few essentials in my bag when there’s a knock at the door.

‘G’day.’

I stare up at Kit, my first thought being that Bonnie must have returned earlier than expected, and that maybe she is even here with him now, in the passenger seat of that red jeep parked down by the kerb, come to tell me that I’m not wanted here, not in her town and not in her life.

I must have stuttered out a few words of response, because Kit’s friendly expression swiftly changes into one of bemusement.

‘What was that?’ he asks, folding his arms in the same way he did at the stables on that first day. They’re so large – more like felled logs than human limbs.

I cough.

‘Hey,’ I manage. ‘What brings you here?’

‘Well,’ he begins, waiting for me to cease my awkward fidgeting, ‘I was supposed to be spending the day with Griff, but the big, yellow-headed idiot had to work. I was in the area anyway, so I thought I’d pop by and see if you fancied a hike?’

‘A hike?’

When did I turn into a parrot?

‘Yeah, that’s right.’ Kit removes a speck of lint from the front of his grey T-shirt and drops it on to the wooden floor of the patio. ‘I’ve got the day off, and seeing as how you’re here alone and probably don’t know much about what there is to do around here, I thought I could show you around a bit, you know.’

‘Oh,’ I say, tucking away an imaginary strand of hair and fiddling furiously with the strap of my bag. What is it about this man that makes my entire vocabulary vanish into a black hole?