‘Oh, I love Hexham.’ She’d been there on several day trips. Had also been there with Luke for a weekend break. She remembered them walking down by the river, the stunning old abbey, the narrow streets, tea and cake at a gorgeous tea rooms, holding Luke’s hand … She chewed the inside of her mouth. This was harder than she’d thought it would be – going for a walk with someone else. She looked out to sea for a second or two, concentrating on the flat, dark-grey line of the horizon. The swoop of a gull caught her eye nearer the shore, bringing her back to the here and now.

‘Yeah, it’s a nice town.’ Max broke the silence.

‘Yes … So,’ She was edging nearer the question that was burning in her mind, ‘how’s your year been so far?’ Where the hell have you been these past nine months? was what she really wanted to ask. But she hardly knew this guy. He didn’t have to explain himself.

‘Fine, pretty busy. We had a new-build project for two properties near the Close House golf club, Heddon way. Right fancy-pants stuff, six bedrooms each. That was fun, though the project manager was never off our backs. Kept me out of mischief.’

So maybe it was just work had kept him occupied. Maybe he just hadn’t thought of her much ’til now.

He stopped walking, looked at her seriously. ‘I’m sorry … that I couldn’t come back sooner.’

Emma stopped too. Felt a little surge somewhere near her heart. Didn’t know what to say.

‘Things happened,’ he continued, ‘that I didn’t expect …’

‘Are you with someone?’ Emma blurted out. She had to know. The way she was starting to feel just seeing him again, tied up in emotional knots already, it had to stop right here if he was in a relationship. She’d been through enough hurt and pain to know better than to go near a man who was already taken. Besides her own self-preservation, she wouldn’t want to hurt someone else, some poor woman she’d never met. It was never worth it – life was complicated enough without hurting other people. If so, she’d thank him politely for walking with her, head off home with Alfie, and never see him again.

They stood facing each other, two figures on the expanse of beach. Two lives on the edge of something pivotal.

‘No, no. There’s no one else – not any more.’

The words were telling. So, there had been someone. ‘Oh …’ So the kiss, that special moment she’d built up in her mind, had he been seeing someone all along?

‘It’s over now … I hadn’t forgotten you.’ His green eyes held her own. They seemed earnest, trustworthy, but how could you tell?

Me neither, she thought but didn’t say. She felt fragile, unsure of what was going on here.