And now, all over again, the magic is working its spell and he lingers to look at the miracles of light and landscape. He thinks back to his last homecoming, when he walked Reggie out to the point and met Cara with her dog. He guessed that Cara knew that he was playing away, but he managed to avoid any difficulties then and he’s praying that he can do it again now with Amy. There was no way he was able to pull it off with Becks but then she’s trained to spot a lie at fifty paces. He grimaces a little as he recalls the way she reacted when she saw that text from Al. Up till then it had been so good, just like that first weekend when he went back to London to prevent her from coming to Salcombe. He was too slow when Al’s text suddenly pinged in, and she was on it before he fully realized what was happening. Two large glasses of Shiraz dulled his reactions and Becks was grabbing his phone, reading the text, scrolling up to previous messages.

Cosmo pulls away from the gateway, instinctively shutting down on the scene that followed, trying not to remember the names she called him. He was unable to counter her razor-sharp interrogation and although he convinced himself she would change her mind, that he could talk her round, he was obliged at last to accept that it was completely and utterly over.

Now he has Amy to face; to explain away his sudden flight last Saturday and the phone silence he’s maintained simply because he didn’t know what to say to her. Even on his visits to Becks’ flat, while he collected his things together and pleaded with her to be reasonable, he was still trying to think of some scenario that might satisfy Amy should Becks continue to refuse to relent.