‘No,’ I said, swallowing down a mouthful of the still too hot coffee. ‘I thought it would be fun.’

Joe leant forward and put his mug down on the table.

‘Fun,’ he laughed, but he didn’t sound happy. ‘I think you and I have very different ideas about the meaning of the word fun, Tess. I’m the last person Sam wants to see in his pub. You saw the look on his face when I turned up the night of the power cut and when we spoke it was as awkward as arse.’

‘But the pair of you can’t carry on like this,’ I told him. ‘If you’re really going to be back here for a while Joe, then you need to at least try . . .’

His jaw began to grind and I stopped talking. I had been considering throwing in a ‘for Hope’s sake’ comment, but decided against it.

‘Please don’t interfere in this, Tess,’ he said, sounding more upset than angry which made me feel even worse. ‘Don’t go getting ideas about trying to fix this because you can’t, okay? It’s beyond that, way beyond that.’

‘It wasn’t just my idea,’ I said, thinking perhaps I could get away with mentioning her after all. ‘Well, it was to start with, but someone else agreed to it.’

‘Who?’ he demanded. ‘Who in their right mind would agree to something as stupid as this?’

‘Hope,’ I said.

‘What?’

‘I ran it by her too, and she thought it was about time the pair of you made your peace.’

Joe’s jaw stopped grinding and his cheeks began to flush.

‘Well, she would, wouldn’t she?’ he swallowed. ‘No doubt she wants to help clear her boyfriend’s conscience.’

‘I’m pretty certain she wasn’t only thinking of him,’ I said softly. ‘She told me that the two of you used to be a couple. That you were together for a long time . . .’

‘What does that matter?’ Joe snapped, sounding upset. ‘She’s with Sam now, isn’t she? Just as I always knew she would be.’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘she is with Sam, but that doesn’t mean . . .’

‘Oh, Tess,’ Joe butted in again, ‘just leave it, all right. I daresay your heart’s in the right place, but you should be grateful that I’m going away because had you got me to the pub under false pretences, then it really would not have ended well.’

He stood up and made for the door and I followed him back outside.

‘I’m sorry,’ I said as he struggled with the gate. I was grateful that it had stopped him rushing away. I didn’t want to leave things like this. ‘I just thought . . .’

‘That you could make it all better,’ he sighed.

‘Yes,’ I nodded. ‘Exactly that.’

He left the gate and came back and pulled me in for a hug.