‘Oh yeah, and look what all those years of being with Charlotte did for me!’ Ben snapped. ‘She dumped me, remember!’

‘I know. Believe me, she regrets that now.’

Ben bit his lip, and looked out of the window onto the pavement beyond, where dozens of pedestrians danced balletically around one another, hurrying on their way. ‘Does she?’

‘Yes, of course she does. Her dad dying affected her really badly and she just had a bit of a panic. By the time she realized what she’d done, it was too late.’

‘How is she?’ Ben continued to stare out of the window as he spoke, trying to feign indifference.

‘She’s OK.’

‘Is she … is she still single?’

Freya smiled. ‘Yes. Believe it or not, you’re quite a hard act to follow, Ben Gordon.’

Ben gave a hollow laugh. ‘I thought she would end up with that guy, Luke, the one she worked with. She certainly talked about him a lot, just before we broke up.’

Freya shook her head. ‘No, they were just friends. Still are. He’s with someone else.’

Ben nodded and looked back at Freya. ‘It doesn’t matter now anyway.’

‘No,’ Freya agreed. ‘And she’s happy for you that you’ve moved on and that you and Bella have had a baby. She knows how much you wanted kids.’

‘Yeah, I think that was part of the problem. I did, she didn’t.’

‘It’s not quite that simple. It wasn’t that she didn’t want kids, I think she just wanted to be absolutely sure that you were the right one to have them with.’

‘Yeah, I get that. Oh well, it obviously wasn’t meant to be or it wouldn’t have gone wrong, would it?’ He stood up. ‘Anyway, I really need to be getting back to work.’

Freya stood up too and they walked out of the café together. ‘It’s lovely to see you, Ben, I’ve missed you.’

Ben reached down to hug her. ‘You too.’

‘And I know things are busy but will you give Matt a call when you get a chance?’

Ben nodded. ‘Sure. ’Bye, Freya.’

‘’Bye,’ she called after him, realizing as he was swallowed up by the crowd that she should have asked for his new number. As she watched him go, already on his phone, presumably to explain his whereabouts to a furious Bella, she had a horrible feeling she wouldn’t be seeing him again for a very long time.

Chapter Nine

‘So, what were you doing today that was so important you ignored my calls?’ Bella’s dark eyes blazed with a barely concealed fury.

‘I didn’t ignore your calls.’ Ben tried to eat his risotto but his mouth felt dry and it tasted a lot like cardboard. The atmosphere since he had walked through the door an hour ago had become increasingly icy. He knew if he told Bella the truth about his whereabouts when she was trying to get hold of him at lunchtime, it would only make things worse. ‘I was at work, Bella. I can’t just drop everything and take a personal call every time my phone rings. It’s unprofessional and it will get me into trouble. We can’t afford for me to lose this job.’