It was time to see if he was right.

Having made his decision, he immediately left the track and entered the outskirts of the nearby woods, startling a roe deer which darted away through the undergrowth, its white tail bobbing ahead of them.

‘Where are we going?’ she shouted, gripping the door handle.

‘You’ll see,’ he said.

Coming to a halt, he got out, opened her door and, grabbing her hand, urged her to come with him.

‘Where?’ she said, sounding unsure whether to be alarmed.

He smiled reassuringly. ‘Come with me, please.’

The sun drifted down through the mix of pine, silver birch and rowan as he led her even deeper into the woods. The scent of rowan blossom and the murmur of feasting bees filled the air.

He’d told her what it would be like here, but now she could see and smell it for herself. The bustle of the city no longer existed. She was in a different world. His world. He saw her smile, and knew she was pleased by that.

Eventually they arrived at the place he’d described to her. The place he wanted her to see. The place where he wanted to make love to her.

The tall Caledonian pine was multi-branched, twisted and ancient. Scots pine trees were known to live for up to seven hundred years, he’d told her. This one, his favourite, would have stood here for at least five hundred. ‘Think what it would have seen.’

‘This is the tree you told me about?’ Joanne said, touching the lichen-covered trunk and looking upwards at the two thin strips of leather that hung from the lowest branch. She laughed. ‘Are they there for me?’

‘At your request, if you remember?’

‘I do.’ She smiled.

This wildness is what they remembered of each other. It was what they’d shared during those heady days in London. This was why she had come here, so that he might keep his promise.

Both naked now, he lightly touched her mouth with his, then slid slowly down, circling her breasts, pulling at her nipples, down to breathe softly against the springy hair until her body rose towards him. When she called out in pleasure, he pulled himself up beside her.

‘Okay?’ he said.

‘Better than okay.’

She reached up to catch hold of the leather strips and, leaning back against the trunk, urged him to continue.

This was the desire she’d revealed to him. To make love like this in a forest. Far away from London, from everyone. The lockdown fantasy that she’d replayed for him countless times.

As he took her hands in his own, she kissed him fully on the mouth.

‘That was worth coming here for,’ she said with a smile.

‘Your wish is my command.’

As they made their way back to the Land Rover the sound of a gunshot split the air.