‘Look, at any time, please, you can just tell me to shut up and go away, so long as you let me know when you’re feeling stronger and I can come back. And if you ever want to talk, I’ll always be here for you.’

‘I think that’s the kindest thing anyone’s ever said to me. I don’t want you to think I’m a wimp: I did get myself through college and university, and set up my own successful veterinary practice. I’ve got balls, DJ.’

He laughed. ‘I believe it.’

‘So, ask me a question.’

‘Can you tell me something about my father. Just something?’

Shelly took a shuddering breath and, once again, ballooned her cheeks as she let it out. The action calmed her and she found herself dreamily thinking of the young man she had loved so passionately. ‘David was the most amazing guy. A few years older than me, which was exactly what I needed. However, that was what my father objected to. I was sixteen and he was twenty-four. We were so compatible, so happy together.’ She told him how they met outside the jeweller’s shop. How David had been balm to her wounds. ‘He was the sweetest, kindest man on earth, and incredibly handsome, like you. He told me later that he fell in love with me from that first moment in the high street. It was a moment in my life when I most needed love.’

‘It sounds as though he was a romantic.’

She closed her eyes and nodded. ‘David was a softy with a huge heart, and so grateful to me for helping him with his dog.’

‘His dog?’

‘A golden retriever, Pat . . . Pat the dog, get it?’ They smiled at each other. ‘That was so typical, your father had a great sense of humour. He’d had Pat for thirteen years, but she became poorly and he had to have her put to sleep.’ She remembered how upset he was. ‘It broke his heart. We took her to see all her pups before that final trip to the vet’s. Years later, I wondered if it was all a plan of David’s to get me to put my own grief aside. “Will you really help me take Pat to say goodbye to her puppies?” he asked as if it was a mammoth feat, when really it was just a kindness.’ She took a sip of her shandy, remembering that day of sadness and incredible closeness.