He heard her. ‘No. They’re everywhere and I know why. I agree they should be if it will slow some other silly bugger down and save a life.’

They had their own example of this just four days ago. But there was no use talking about that now since he couldn’t remember. ‘Was someone speeding when you were in the accident with your wife?’ She hoped it hadn’t been him. For his sake. If he wanted to talk, she’d listen.

‘Yes.’ And as though he’d heard her question, he added, ‘Not me. But we were all travelling motorway speed.’

‘Let’s walk for another two minutes.’ Out of the car or house was better for emotion, her grandmother always said. ‘Where did you meet her?’ She didn’t know why she asked – probably because she wanted to change the subject from the accident – but she regretted it now that the words hung between them like a dark little cloud. If she’d thought before she opened her mouth, she probably didn’t want to know more about his wonderful dead wife.

He fell into step beside her along the deserted road. ‘I knew my wife since we were children. She was beautiful even as a child, vivacious and my friend, and we were destined to marry. It was a steady progression. Roslyn’s parents were distant business associates of my father’s and it all began to cement into permanence with ridiculous ease.

‘Before we knew it, we were post-wedding, and sadly we drifted apart far too quickly. I dived into work, and she disappeared back into the social whirl she’d come from. We smiled at each other at breakfast or dinner, whichever one of those events we occasionally met at, until one day I realised I’d let her down. We’d lost each other in the rush of life.’

Ava glanced at him and then away. You couldn’t lose people if you lived on a remote station together. They were all you had. She didn’t understand his dilemma but had seen it happen in Alice. ‘And then you had the accident?’

‘A romantic trip to the Blue Mountains to try to salvage the warmth of our marriage. That ended in the middle of a six-car pile-up with Roslyn comatose. If she hadn’t married me, she’d still be alive. I’m sure her parents think so, too.’

‘That’s crap and you know it.’ There was a trace of impatience in her voice and she reined it in. ‘I don’t subscribe to that theory.’ You can’t explain it, you can’t change it, you just have to learn from it. These were her grandmother’s words, and Ava agreed with them. ‘I think we make our own luck. Or what happens to us teaches us a skill we need for later.’