‘We were getting on well. You were right about that.’ She gazed out of the window. How to capture it all in words? But she needed to try for Max’s sake. ‘I think I was afraid to let you in. Max, my heart has been in a thousand tiny pieces for years, and I’ve only just begun sticking it back together again … I – I couldn’t risk it again.’ She still hadn’t mentioned his name, didn’t know how it could fit in this conversation.

‘You can talk about Luke if you want. I’m okay with that. I know you’ve had a hard time and I’m prepared to be there for you, but don’t shut me out, Em. Be honest with me, tell me more about what happened with Luke?’

The waitress came back over with the cappuccinos, popped them down on the table with some sugar sachets in a white porcelain dish.

‘Thanks,’ Max said.

Emma nodded in acknowledgement. Her mind was already way back, all those years ago. ‘It – it was two days after my birthday, seven years ago. He was going off to work on his bicycle as usual. Luke was a teacher, we both were, that’s how we met. He loved cycling, wanted to keep fit and do his bit for the environment. Typical Luke, wanted to save the world, really. But the world didn’t save him …’ She paused, turning a sugar sachet over and over between her fingertips.

Max stayed quiet, waiting for Emma to carry on.

‘It was a lorry at traffic lights. Didn’t see him. Turned left straight into him.’ Emma stopped speaking for a second, the sugar sachet frozen in her hand. ‘The police said he didn’t stand a chance. At least it was instant. He wouldn’t have known, not other than that first second.’ How many times had she imagined that first horrendous second?

‘Em, I’m so sorry.’ Max’s hand settled gently over her own.

‘He was only twenty-nine.’

Emma went quiet and stared out of the café window, at the world going by, a mum with a toddler in a buggy, an old lady slowly, determinedly making her way down the street with her walking stick, cars passing, a van, a bicycle.

‘It wasn’t just Luke they destroyed that day,’ Emma took up again, ‘though that was bad enough, it was us, our whole future. Our wedding was booked for the following spring. My husband, my family – what I thought was going to be my life was wiped out, just like that. That lorry took away everything that was meant to happen.’ Her eyes were misted with tears but they hadn’t spilled. She wiped her nose with a napkin from the table. Max still held on to her other hand.

‘That’s a hell of a thing to deal with, Em.’

She nodded sadly.

‘So, where do we go from here, hey?’