Although the weather had been good the past week, the forecast today wasn’t looking so promising, and Harry nipped back to his lodge and grabbed his hiking jacket and boots. He had a small rucksack with him containing bottled water and some protein snack bars, together with his phone and binoculars. There was a lot of wildlife to be found up by the lake and he hoped they’d be lucky today and he could show Steph some of the natural inhabitants.

Steph arrived promptly at ten. ‘Someone’s keen,’ she said as she approached.

‘I’m always early,’ replied Harry. ‘I hate being late for anything.’

Steph looked at her watch. ‘Good job I’m dead on time, then.’

Harry was pleased to see she had dressed appropriately for a hike down to the lake. ‘It’s only a twenty-minute walk,’ he said as Steph fell into step beside him. ‘But if we’re going around the north side, we’ve got to allow for a good ninety minutes. Or we could go somewhere else if you prefer a shorter walk.’

‘Not at all. It sounds great,’ she replied without hesitation.

‘Did you bring your camera?’

‘Yep. It’s in my rucksack,’ said Steph. ‘I can’t wait to get up there and take some shots.’

‘How long have you been into photography?’ Harry asked, genuinely interested.

‘It’s been a passion of mine since I was about twelve years old and my dad bought me a camera,’ said Steph. ‘He was into photography too. Not on the scale I am, but he always loved taking photos and in those days it was a traditional film which had to be developed. He had a dark room set up in the garage and I was sometimes allowed to go in there and watch him develop the pictures. It was like magic.’

‘What sort of things did he take pictures of?’ Harry noticed how her eyes lit up as she spoke.

‘He loved birds. He’d go out and sit for hours in a hide, just waiting to capture a picture of one particular type of bird. He took an amazing photograph of a kingfisher diving into the water once and it actually won an award in a national magazine. I have that photo in a frame at home.’

‘Does your dad still take photos?’ He noticed the light in her eyes disappear and a sadness take its place.

‘No, he passed away a few years ago,’ she said.

Shit. He wanted to kick himself for being so clumsy. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.’

‘It’s OK. You didn’t know, and yes, it does still make me sad, you know, catches me out now and again, but I like to talk about him. It makes me feel close to him, like he’s not forgotten.’ She smiled at him.

‘You’re lucky to have such nice memories of your father.’