‘Yeah,’ he said, bending down to touch his lips to hers in a brief kiss as he squeezed past her. ‘But you didn’t text.’

‘Ahh,’ Anna shut the door and followed him into the living room. ‘Well, that’s because I didn’t have anything to tell you.’

‘What do you mean? What about the lunch club?’

‘Didn’t happen,’ she said. ‘Do you want a coffee? I was about to make some.’

‘Hang on,’ Liam said, catching her by the wrist and turning her towards him. ‘What do you mean, it didn’t happen?’

Anna explained the events that had led to the cancellation of lunch club, watching the look on Liam’s face grow darker by the second.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said, brow knitted together in a frown. ‘That was low.’

She shrugged. ‘Who knows? Maybe they genuinely thought they were doing the right thing. Anyway, it’s done and I need to move on. Tell me about your trip,’ Anna said, as she headed for the kitchen. ‘Did you have a good time?’

There was a slight pause before he said, ‘Yeah. It was good.’

Anna looked over at him as she filled the kettle. ‘You don’t sound too sure about that. What’s wrong?’

He smiled, but she could tell it was strained. ‘Nothing. Everything’s fine.’ He stuffed his hands in his pockets, hunching his shoulders. For a moment he looked very young. ‘Can we sit outside with the coffee? It’s such a lovely day.’

‘Sure,’ Anna said, a sudden weight inexplicably attaching itself to her heart. ‘I’ll bring it out in a minute – why don’t you go and sit in the sunshine?’

By the time she followed him out he was sitting at the bench, staring out to sea, his fingers restlessly picking at the wood’s grain.

‘Okay,’ he said quietly, as she sat down beside him. ‘To be honest I did come here to talk to you about something. But it can wait, especially after the weekend you’ve had.’

Anna began to pour the coffee. ‘Liam. Whatever it is – you can say it. I’m a big girl. Okay?’ She pushed his coffee mug towards him and he wrapped both hands around it.

‘All right. Well, you remember, when we started… this,’ he said, waving a finger between them, awkwardly. ‘We said it would be… you know, a relaxed thing. No strings. No permanent attachment.’

Anna sipped the strong coffee and watched his restless fingers, thick and calloused by his work, skin tanned darker still by the sun. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘I do.’

‘And it always had an end date, what with me going home at the end of summer, and you not planning to stay here either…’

She looked at the anxious frown on his face. A look of worried concentration creased crow’s feet around his eyes.

‘You want to end this – us – now,’ she realized.