Molly always preferred to run first thing in the morning, especially in the summer when the heat in combination with exhaust fumes made running in London unpleasant. She didn’t think there’d be a problem with fumes along the canal, but she’d still prefer to be out early. ‘There should be no reason I can’t go whenever I want. You know me, I’m always awake by seven thirty.’

‘Okay, be careful,’ he said, as they reached their car a few yards down the road from the house. He threw her case and holdall into the boot. ‘Have a lovely time, Mol. I’ll see you on Monday.’ He turned, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her deeply.

Surprised at this unusual public display of affection, Molly gave an uncertain laugh. ‘Gosh, maybe I should go away more often.’ She got in the car, shut the door and opened the window. ‘Go,’ she said, ‘you know how long it takes me to input a postcode into the satnav.’

He bent down, gave her another lingering kiss, tapped the car door with the flat of his hand and with a wave, headed back home.

She watched him go with regret. But maybe it would be good to get away for a couple of days and put her worry about him into perspective. She watched in the rear-view mirror as he walked back to the house, admiring his long, ambling stride, his slim-hipped athletic frame that had barely changed since she’d met him. But then she noticed something odd, something that made her eyes narrow in concern. His arms weren’t swinging, relaxed; instead they were held tightly to his side, each fist tightly clenched.

Her heart went out to him, but if he wouldn’t talk about whatever was worrying him, there wasn’t much she could do. She watched until he vanished before concentrating on putting the hotel postcode in her satnav. As usual, she fluffed it first time and had to start again. Finally, it was done. She checked the arrival time; if she were lucky, she’d be there in under two and a half hours. Indicating to pull into traffic, she stopped when her mobile buzzed to say she had a new message and reached for it with an expectant smile. Jack missing her already?

But it wasn’t him. She didn’t recognise the number and was taken aback to see the message. Is there a chance we could meet up this weekend? Stuart.