“And you’re the best negotiator.”

“I used to think I was, although apparently that skill has left me lately. Let’s hope that’s about to change.” He paid the driver, sweet-talked the woman at reception, and minutes later they were upgraded to a suite overlooking the river.

Christy knelt on the window seat and looked at the magical sparkle that was London at Christmas. “I can’t believe this view. It’s spectacular.”

“You see?” Seb dropped their cases and joined her. “Sometimes life chews up your plan and delivers something better instead.”

“This wasn’t life, it was you.” She stood up, put her arms round his neck and kissed him. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. I’m not done. Put your coat and hat on. We’re going for a walk.”

“Now?”

“Yes. We don’t have a sleeping child upstairs. We don’t have an agenda. We can go to bed when we like and sleep late. Right now we’re going to walk and grab some food.”

“Should we book?”

“No. We’re not booking.”

Instead, they grabbed a burger from a small café and ate it by the river, and even though her fingers were freezing Christy decided it might be the best meal she’d ever eaten.

“This is good.”

“I used to come to this place all the time after a late night.” He helped himself to some of her fries. “Probably too often.”

And then he’d met her.

She’d never wanted him to change, but somehow that had happened.

But for this moment, at least, the tension had left him.

“This was a great idea.”

“Hey.” He hooked his arm round her shoulders and kissed her. “That’s what an action hero does in a crisis. He books into a fancy hotel where the ceiling isn’t about to fall in. We should go back and share a bottle of champagne. I have a few ideas about what we can do with that big bed.”

It was true that this wasn’t how she’d planned the evening, but it had turned out well. Better than she could have hoped.

She looked up at him. “We could order salmon from room service.” She was joking, but a part of her couldn’t help wondering how many other things she didn’t know about him.

That was the problem with a whirlwind romance followed by the demands of a child and then the loss of her mother. They’d missed the discovery process, the slow uncovering of secrets that was part of every relationship. Or was it nothing to do with the whirlwind and everything to do with her? She’d constructed her life plan and slotted him into it, instead of building something together.

She leaned against the wall and gazed at the lights reflected on the surface of the Thames.

She hadn’t realized how much she loved this place until she’d left it behind. Why was it that when she’d lived here she’d seen only the bad, but now that she was a tourist she saw only the good? There was so much she didn’t know about Seb, but it was dawning on her that there was also a lot she didn’t know about herself. That part was more frightening. She’d wanted to move, but now she wished she hadn’t. Her carefully constructed world was crumbling. Christy didn’t know what to do without structure. She was hanging by her fingers from the scaffolding of her old life. She felt confused. All she knew was that right now, in this moment, she felt happy. And that was enough.