The thought that I could stand back and watch her walk out of my life seemed as ludicrous as trying to fight against the tide, so instead I let go of rational thought and allowed myself to sink into the possibility of what might be.

I took her hand.

‘I’d like to see you. Again. I’d like to see you again very much.’ My voice cracked with nerves. ‘What I’m trying to say is that this should be the end but I don’t want it to be. The end, I mean.’

‘But what about your plans? Travelling?’ She searched my eyes for clarity.

‘The world will still be there if I don’t go for another month, another year even. Or you could come with me? It would be an adventure.’

I held my breath while I waited for her answer.

Chapter Nine

Anna

The heat hit me. I climbed out of the air-conditioned coach, jealousy twisting in my gut as a clutch of new arrivals spilled pasty and hopeful from the airport, exclaiming how gorgeous the weather was. It was unfair to the other tourists to wish that it was raining but it would have felt fitting. As though some higher force greater than Adam and me was feeling the same sorrow I felt. But above us blue skies stretched lazily; the only black cloud was the knowing it had come: the inevitability of goodbye.

We perched on hard chairs, our carry-on luggage shoved under the table, and sipped at bitter coffee.

I didn’t speak. I couldn’t. The past ten days had been the best ten days of my life. The thought that my time with Adam, which had felt like everything to me, might someday fade to nothing was excruciating.

The tannoy called for Adam and Josh to board. He stood. Soon he’d be walking away from me. In my head I tried out the idea of a life without him but it was too painful. I blinked back unshed tears. I wouldn’t cry.

I wouldn’t.

There was a round of hugs. Kisses. And then something else.

Amongst the symphony of airport sounds – the tinny speakers, the wheeling of suitcases, the whine of tired children – I heard it. The whisper of possibility.

‘I’d like to see you. Again,’ Adam said. ‘I’d like to see you again very much.’ His palm was damp in mine. ‘What I’m trying to say is that this should be the end but I don’t want it to be. The end, I mean.’

‘But what about your plans? Travelling?’ Did he mean after he’d returned? I wasn’t sure.

‘The world will still be there if I don’t go for another month, another year even.’

It was everything I wanted until he said, ‘Or you could come with me? It would be an adventure.’