God, this is torture.

“Suze!” I call as discreetly as I can. “You need to see something!” Suze swivels her head in shock and makes a furious batting-away gesture.

“Bex, this isn’t the moment! Can’t you see that?”

“Yes, it is! Suze, honestly…Sorry, Tarkie, I’ll be two secs….” I hurry up to Suze before she can refuse again and show her my phone.

Derek Smeath’s wrinkled face is beaming out from the screen. He’s standing in a dark wood, shining a flashlight up at a tree which has a nail hammered into it. As I zoom in, you can see a metal tag, reading: OWL’S TOWER.

“That’s not…” falters Suze, her eyes widening in shock. “No.”

“He’s there right now. It’s super-healthy, Suze,” I whisper, scrolling through the photos of thick, leafy, flourishing branches. “It’s here for the duration. Like you and Tarkie. It’s strong and thriving and majestic. It’s not going anywhere.”

Tears spring to Suze’s eyes and she gives a tiny sob, then clamps her mouth shut. I put an arm round her shoulders and squeeze. This has all been so hellish.

“But—” At last she manages to speak and gestures at the screen in bewilderment. “How on earth—”

“Tell you later. Er…hi, Tarkie!” I add awkwardly, with a little wave. “How are you? So…I’ll leave you guys to it….” I back away. “Sorry for interrupting….”

“Tarkie.” Suze suddenly dissolves into full-blown sobs, as though she can’t keep up a front anymore. “Tarkie, I am so, so sorry….”

And then Tarquin’s arm is around her, strong and firm, and he leads her away to a quiet spot in the garden of a nearby café. Luke and I look at each other, and I feel a shiver pass over me. I hope everything turns out OK between them. I mean, I think it will. Tarkie’s here. They’ll talk it out.

But it just shows. Things can disintegrate so easily. Only one mistake…

“Luke, let’s not have affairs,” I say abruptly, grabbing his arm for comfort, and Luke’s face twitches as though in amusement.

“OK,” he agrees solemnly. “Let’s not have affairs.”

“You’re teasing me!” I pinch his arm. “Stop it! I mean it!”

“I’m not teasing you. Really.” He looks at me again, and I can see something deeper in his gaze. Like an acknowledgment, like he gets it. “Let’s not have affairs. And let’s not use some bloody stupid tree code either,” he adds, with a glint in his eyes. (Luke thought the whole Owl’s Tower thing was nuts. It’s really not his style.)

“Agreed.” I nod, and Luke bends to kiss me. And I find myself squeezing him back so tightly, I probably wind him or something. But I don’t care. It needed doing.

—

It’s a bit like waiting for a baby. We go into the café garden, staying well away from Suze and Tarkie, and we order drinks and make small talk. The garden’s quite big, with rocks and trees and shrubs, so I take a photo of Mum next to a boulder, and Minnie sitting on the boulder, and a lizard which we spy in the shade. And Mum says brightly, “You see, Becky, darling? There are lots of things you could do, if you wanted to. You could be a wildlife photographer!”