‘Hmm,’ Anna hummed, between kisses. ‘Seems like a reasonable idea to me.’

‘Next thing I know, you’ll be moving to New Zealand,’ Cathy said with an elaborate moan as they talked on the phone the following day. ‘Maybe you’ll keep moving further and further away until you really do fall off the edge of the world.’

‘Nope,’ said Anna. ‘Not going to happen. That’s not even on the cards and honestly, I really wouldn’t want it to be. We’re having fun, that’s all. It’s an interlude.’

‘Fun,’ Cathy echoed, wistfully. ‘I’m not sure I remember what that’s like.’

‘Don’t say that,’ Anna said. ‘You and Steve are still happy, aren’t you?’

There was a pause. ‘Of course we are,’ Cathy said. ‘It’s just life, isn’t it? We probably need a bit of pepping up, that’s all. I envy you, Anna. You chucked it all in to start over and you’re really making a go of it. That’s a rare thing.’

Anna leaned back against the sofa. ‘I wouldn’t have done it if things had been different, you know that. I thought I was going to spend my life with Geoff. I thought we’d eventually have a family, settle down, all that stuff… Now here I am, knocking forty and on my own with no partner, no kids, no career and home is a glorified shoebox that I don’t even think I can live in full-time.’

‘You’re not on your own. You’ve got the hot Kiwi, at least for another few weeks. And I thought you were beginning to love the Fishergirl’s Luck?’

‘I am. I do! But this isn’t where I thought I’d be, especially not at this point in my life.’

‘Yeah, I know. Sorry.’

‘Anyway, it’s fun right now, but that can’t last.’ Anna bit her lip, trying not to ask but needing to. ‘Have you… heard anything? About Geoff, I mean? Whether he’s…’ she trailed off.

‘Anna,’ Cathy said. ‘You don’t really want to know, do you?’

Anna rubbed a hand over her face with a sigh. ‘No. Except… I don’t know. I still find myself thinking about him.’

‘That’s not surprising. You were together a long time. And he always made sure you thought of him before anything or anyone else, even yourself.’

She dropped her hand and looked at the poster again. ‘He’d probably laugh at me for the lunch club,’ she said. ‘He always used to hate the idea of supper clubs. Said they were only for second-rate chefs who couldn’t get a real gig.’

‘Yeah, well,’ Cathy said, darkly. ‘You know the truth about Geoff Rowcliffe?’

‘What?’

‘He really is a dick.’

Anna laughed.

Fifteen