‘Okay,’ I said, turning towards him. ‘I’ve always been fascinated how animals take shelter in abandoned buildings. Not just take shelter but create homes from them too. You never know what wildlife you might find. I once discovered a family of deer in an old abandoned petrol station in Alaska. Anyway, there’s an old building up the road I’ve been visiting at night to film. I found an arctic fox in there, curled up with her cubs. It was amazing to watch the footage back.’ I smiled. ‘It’s really quite something, the contrast between nature and man-made structures.’

Dylan’s smile deepened. ‘Sounds amazing. You’d love Asher’s farmland that I’ve been working on. There are lots of abandoned buildings there.’

‘You trying to lure me into an abandoned building on my own?’

‘Yeah, maybe.’

We smiled at each other, eyes sparkling. If there weren’t so many people around us, I swear we would have kissed.

But then Cole turned up anyway, cheeks red from the cold.

Dylan sighed and reluctantly looked at his brother. ‘How was it?’

‘It was amazing,’ he said. ‘I saw a whale!’

‘That ocean is rather impressive,’ I said, looking out at it.

‘Michelle’s offered me a lift back to my hotel,’ he said, gesturing to the pretty guide who helped with the boat tours sometimes. ‘She lives around the corner, saves you having to go in the opposite direction.’

‘Good idea,’ Julia said as she passed. ‘With the snow coming down pretty heavy and the sun setting, the ring road might shut.’

Dylan looked Michelle up and down. ‘Right, okay. Remember to call Rhonda later?’

Cole smiled but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. ‘Sure thing. I’ll be coming to the house for breakfast before I fly out tomorrow. Asher asked me to invite you too, Gwyneth. See you then?’

Cole walked away with the girl, leaning over and whispering something in her ear while she giggled. Dylan watched them, his brow furrowed.

‘I suggest you get on the road soon, Dylan,’ Julia said to him. ‘The snow’s coming down pretty heavily. I wasn’t joking when I said the ring road might shut.’

Dylan and I looked up at the worsening snow and darkening skies then looked at each other. I knew there was breakfast the next morning, but I wanted to be with him now.

‘Come back with me,’ he said, as if reading my thoughts. ‘Asher and Hekla are out tonight anyway. We can have dinner, catch up.’

Was I ready for this? I knew I wanted to pick things up where we’d left them. But the past year had been painful. If we lost touch again …

But before I knew it, I was saying yes.