We sat for a moment, and I felt the start of something. It was hope, I realised, flaring in my chest.

‘So’ – I didn’t dare look at him again as I reached for my courage – ‘what is it you’re saying, Fin? The reason you came here.’

‘I’m saying, a stor…’ He reached for his pint. ‘I guess I could stay – if you like. For a bit. To, you know, help out.’

‘A stor?’ I repeated.

‘My treasure.’ He looked at me then. ‘I don’t know what you went and did to me, Melissa’ – his grin was shy, ice-blue eyes full of something I hadn’t seen before – ‘but it was something, sure enough.’

We sat in the quiet of the tiny room, the crackle and fall of the logs the only noise down this end, away from the bar where old regulars muttered.

Treasure.

I felt my heart swell above my belly.

And I thought how I had to let someone in again, sometime, and I looked at him. ‘Fin…’

But I couldn’t quite find the words.

‘Aye,’ he said. He wiped the foam off his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘Me too, if it comes to that.’

I gazed at the fire, at the flames, gentle, then fierce; dying down again. I watched the flicker and wondered, was there a phoenix, like the book I’d once read as a child, being born again somewhere deep in the ashes? It was a nice thought.

And then, slowly, I looked at Fin, and he looked back steadily.

A stor. My treasure.

We were grown-ups. We had our own pasts that had made us who we were.

We both knew this much: we could only try; see what happened.

All we could do: we could only do this much. Together.

Were you gripped by all the secrets, lies and scandals happening on Northgate Square? Then to you will love The Stepmother by Claire Seeber, where a fairytale family are not all they seem…

Available now!

The Stepmother

The perfect wife. A fairytale family. Don’t believe your eyes…

Jeanie and Matthew are a happily married couple who both have teenage children from previous relationships.

No one said it would be easy to raise a blended family under one roof but Jeanie and Matthew are strong. They will make it work.

And whilst Jeanie’s step-daughter Scarlett rejects her, Jeanie will just have to try harder to win her over.

But Jeanie has a past. A terrible secret she thought she’d buried a long time ago. And now, it’s coming to the surface, threatening to destroy her new marriage.

Someone is playing a terrifying game on Jeanie and she must put a stop to it once and for all.

After all, a fairytale needs a happy ending… doesn’t it.

A compelling, dark and twisty psychological thriller that will grip fans of Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train and The Teacher.