They stayed in their spot in the dunes, keeping close as they watched the darkness creep across the sky. There were strawberries and chocolates – a bar of Dairy Milk, which had made Emma laugh, though she had to admit she did quite enjoy a cube or two. Max had tried and failed to light some tealight candles, as the breeze kept blowing them out. But Emma didn’t mind the darkness around them, with the odd star twinkling up above, a crescent moon, and the two of them plus Alfie snuggled up on the picnic rug. But in time it became too chilly to stay for much longer, and a glance at her watch told her it was eight o’clock.

‘I suppose we’d better get going soon.’

‘Yeah, we might just freeze to death here if we stay much longer. I should have brought a flask of coffee to warm us up.’ Max smiled in the half-light. ‘But yes, I do need to get back home sharpish. Early start tomorrow.’

She wondered what his home was like – bachelor pad, modern flat, semi, scruffy, neat? She wondered if she would ever get the chance to see it – but why she was even thinking that way? ‘Yes, of course.’ She pulled herself back from her thoughts. ‘Thank you, Max. This evening has been really lovely.’ It had been a momentous kind of day, and she felt a bit emotional. She had shared a little of her tattered heart and she really wasn’t sure how to deal with what was going on inside her.

‘You’re very welcome, Emma.’

And they finished the picnic with a strawberry-and-chocolate-flavoured kiss that was so damn tender, it felt almost magical.

After a swift drive back, Emma and Max were once again parked outside The Chocolate Shop.

‘Would you like to come in for a coffee?’ She wasn’t sure where this was going, or even if she was quite ready for the next step, but what she did know was that she didn’t want this night to end just yet. Going in to her flat on her own seemed suddenly a lonely prospect, even with Alfie at her side.

‘I’d have loved to, but I really do have a crazily early start and I think it might be better if I get away now.’

She felt a dart of disappointment. Had she been reading this wrong? Perhaps the knowledge of Luke and her past was scaring him off. But this evening, the winter seaside picnic, was one of the most romantic things anyone had done for her, even considering the many things Luke had done.

And then Luke was there in her head … that balmy night when they had made love in the garden of his flat under a canopy of stars, when they thought they had forever and the world was still so sweet.