‘There is nowhere I would rather be than here. With you. It’s all I want. For ever.’ He squeezed her to him again, so hard it grew almost uncomfortable. For one unforgivable moment it cast Heidi back to the contrasting goodbye with Elias, the banker, before she’d boarded her train for the journey home, his arms cradling her as if she were a precious object, saying as much as his mouth brushed her ear. He had phoned her when she reached Bonn too, to remind her, he’d said, that the second post-doctoral thesis that would lead to her professorship could be conducted at any university in Europe. Including the Goethe University in Frankfurt, where he happened to be employed by Deutsche Bank. His tone had been joking. They had both laughed. Like all her friends, he knew she was engaged to a Cambridge academic; though Heidi had kept the inappropriate behaviour allegation out of the fireside chats, loath to dent the impression of her enviable life.

‘Which is why I have brought you this,’ Lucas went on, releasing her and whipping out a tall single rose from a slim tote bag hanging over his shoulder. ‘For you, Heidi, love of my life. There are more at your flat, but I didn’t want them all to have to weather the car journey.’

‘Oh, Lucas…’ Heidi took the rose and put her nose to it, her eyes pricking with tears for the second time that day, which felt half nice, while also being a reminder that her emotions were unnervingly near the surface, that she wasn’t quite herself. ‘The ring, Lucas,’ she blurted, ‘I feel so terrible—’

‘Feeling terrible about that is forbidden,’ he said jauntily, picking up her case and looping his arm through hers for the walk towards the car park. ‘Rings are just objects and these things happen. We shall simply buy another…’

‘So, it was definitely insured?’

‘Oh yes. Very insured.’

‘You are limping, Lucas, with your bad muscle, so please let me…’ She tried to take over the suitcase but he fought her off.

‘It is much better. You must look after your rose.’

‘Well, at least pull out the handle, then,’ she murmured, doing it for him.

‘And now, Lucas, what has the college said… the mediation? I am on edge…’

‘Let’s save that, shall we?’ He threw her a smile that managed such a combination of determination and pleading that it felt impossible to argue. ‘It’s not too awful. A mix of good and not so good. I’ll tell you all about it when we get to yours. What I really want to hear about is you…’

‘But I can’t believe how long the decision-making took,’ she interjected. ‘I imagined – I am sure you said – it would all be settled on the day.’

‘Yes, that is what I thought too, but there you go. It is done with now.’