Brody nodded. This was how it always was with Anna and him. He’d feel that bond, that connection. It would feel all-encompassing, as if it was the only thing in the world, and then something would happen to bring him back down to reality with a bump, to remind him that he was only a tiny part of her life. ‘Until next time,’ he said gruffly.

‘Yes,’ Anna replied, with a softness in her tone that tore his insides a little more raggedly, and then she was gone.

Chapter Forty

WHILE SHE’D BEEN talking to Brody, Anna had crept downstairs and into the living room, where she’d sat on the arm of the sofa. The light from the hall had allowed her to see just enough so she didn’t bump into the furniture.

‘Anna?’

Anna shot off the sofa, heart pounding, and found Gabi standing in the doorway to the living room, half asleep and fully bedraggled. ‘You scared the life out of me!’

Gabi rubbed a hand across her eyes. ‘I heard you talking…’

‘Sorry. I was on the phone. I was trying not to disturb you.’ She met Gabi in the doorway, then led the way back up the stairs.

Gabi followed mutely behind her, but as she stopped at the door to the guest bedroom she yawned and asked, ‘Who were you talking to?’

‘Just… a friend.’

‘Not Jeremy?’

Anna shook her head. ‘No, not Jeremy.’

‘A friend?’ Gabi said again with more than a dollop of disbelief in her tone. ‘No one talks that long on the phone anymore, not unless it’s your significant other. Even we text each other more than we talk to each other.’

‘Well, I do. I talk on the phone to… people. Sometimes.’

Gabi stared back at her. ‘Was it that guy… Brett?’

‘Brody…’

‘Tell me how you met him,’ Gabi asked, frowning. ‘You said “through Spencer”, but how through Spencer?’

This was it, then. Anna had a choice to make; either she kept being evasive, fudging the issue and risk hurting Gabi when she was already feeling so low, or…

‘Okay,’ she said. ‘I’ll tell you about him, but we might as well get comfy if we’re going to do it.’ She gestured for Gabi to go inside the bedroom and they both climbed onto the bed, Gabi under the duvet, Anna on top of it, where she sat up against the pillows with her legs crossed.

She began her story with her exit from the party on New Year’s Eve all those months ago and ended with the pictures and messages that pinged between his phone and hers on a regular basis now. Gabi listened to it all, without comment or interruption, which, in itself, should have been a warning signal.

Anna finished talking and glanced across at her best friend, who was propped up on pillows, her arms folded across her chest. She didn’t look very happy.

‘Are you in love with this man?’ Gabi asked.

‘What? No!’ Anna paused before she said more. ‘No,’ she said again, more calmly this time. ‘I’m not in love with him. He’s just someone who understands.’