They both stay silent for a few seconds. Kate can picture the crowds of people flooding onto the platform, some back from their holidays, others in town to shop. She used to spend a lot of time watching crowds, guessing what they did as she looked for the match. Too much time.

‘Can you see him?’ she asks. Why is she so nervous?

‘Not yet.’

‘You remember what he looks like?’

‘Relax, Kate. I’m on it.’

‘Sorry, I’m just—’

‘I know you are.’ Bex pauses. ‘No sign of him yet.’

Maybe Rob’s tricky investor isn’t in London and he got off the train at Reading. Bex’s silence seems to last forever. The coast path’s high hedgerows are humming with bees. Above her, seagulls soar in the rising air currents. And then she hears another noise, one that she’s heard a few times in recent weeks. She scans the clear sky and spots a drone out in the bay, heading towards her.

‘There he is,’ Bex suddenly says. ‘Even more of a looker than I remember.’

‘Is he with anyone?’ Kate asks, watching as the drone approaches. The sight and sound of it make her uneasy, cutting through the coastal calm. Rob has recently invested in a start-up drone courier company. He tests a lot of his gadgets down here. Is that one of his? It can’t be. He’s in London.

‘On his own,’ Bex says.

‘That’s good.’

‘I can’t see anything strange about him, Kate. That’s all I can say. Right lanky sod, isn’t he? And so young! How old is he again?’

‘Twenty-nine.’ The drone is above her now, hovering high above the coast path.

‘Cheeky. Dead cool bag over one shoulder. Sound familiar?’

‘All good. What about the way he’s walking?’ You can tell a lot by the way someone walks.

‘Preoccupied,’ Bex says. ‘He’s just pulled out his phone.’

Kate’s own phone flashes up a message that he’s on the other line. ‘He’s trying to call me,’ she says, not sure whether to be reassured or scared.

‘Are you going to answer it?’

‘No.’ She lets the call go to voicemail. The drone starts to move away, back out to sea.

‘He’s stopped on the platform. He’s glancing around,’ Bex says. ‘Nice smile. Looks like he’s leaving you a long, loving message.’ She pauses. ‘Hang on.’

‘What?’ Has Bex noticed something about him?

‘Shitters, he’s heading in here.’

‘What are you going to say?’

‘Better go.’

‘Just tell him the truth, that you’re coming down to see me, waiting for your train,’ Kate says, but the line’s already dead.

11

Kate