It wasn’t until Heidi joined the dispiritingly long queue for passport control that she realised she had managed to leave her earphones on the plane. They were new and top quality, but even so, she had to plumb all her inner resolve to muster the energy to go back. Worse than the annoyance was the recognition that the oversight was part of an uncharacteristically distracted state of mind. The decision to put Wolfgang out of his misery that morning, not to mention having to return to the UK – to Lucas – with the ring still buried somewhere under mud and leaves on the Drachenfels, were part of it, but Heidi knew full well that the causes reached beyond that, beyond even the outcome of the mediation, which had apparently come through at last, and which Lucas had promised to tell her about that evening. In fact, she was a nervous wreck, Heidi realised, her heart racing even more, as she headed back into all the crowds she had so successfully left in her wake, hastily texting Lucas to warn him of the further delay to what had already been a late flight.

Trying to progress back through the on-flow of passengers was like swimming against a mighty tide. Like her life now, Heidi couldn’t help thinking. A few months ago, there had been a clear, straight, bright path to follow, and now, everywhere she looked, it was foggy with uncertainties. Heidi didn’t do negativity. She excelled at being sunny and positive and always had. From babyhood she had lit up a room with her energy and vibrancy. She was a dynamo. Everybody said so. Nothing was beyond her grasp if she put her mind to it – Heidi had grown up to the tune of such mantras, and had never once doubted them. Doors opened if you pushed hard enough and willed them into giving way. Enjoyment and success in life were about an attitude of mind.

Such beliefs had been among the many themes discussed during the course of her five wonderful days in the Schwarzwald. Her friends – all in their early thirties – were high-fliers like her, hard workers with big dreams and big ambitions. They had walked and talked until their muscles ached and their throats were raw, and then talked some more, round campfires, and later, stargazing from their sleeping bags, united in the thrill of being youthful, fit, and in command of their destinies.