My travel bag and car keys are waiting in the hallway. I press the control pad to open the gate, and get into the car. Start the engine. The brake warning light that usually comes on for a few seconds to let me know it’s working doesn’t show. The warning lights on this car are often a bit random. I’ll get them checked at the garage, when I take it in for a service next week.

I set the sat nav. I should arrive by 10.30 if I blast down the motorway like I did last week. The gates open. I ramp up Classic FM and set off, Mozart’s Horn Concertos resonating at full volume.

ONE YEAR LATER

190

Hayley

I’m hand in hand with the man of my dreams, walking, looking down on Lake Wakatipu. It’s good to be home again, holding my breath as I admire the Remarkables, in awe of their beauty and their grandeur. Their rock-solid monstrosity. Back in my home country I have space and time. Time to think. Time to breathe.

My life has moved on, just as I hoped. I am marrying him. The man I fell in love with as soon as I saw him. A first marriage for me. A second marriage for him. It has been a struggle, a battle helping him come to terms with his grief, after his wife died in such a tragic accident. But now we are both moving on. I have a diamond engagement ring as big as a rock, and the wedding is planned.

We stop and drink coffee from a flask. He stands up. ‘Come on, we’d better get a move on. I promised we’d meet her for a late lunch.’

191

Hayley

‘So lovely to meet you at last,’ she says through a turned-down mouth, as we join her at a table on the balcony of Jervois Steak House. Rugged mountain peaks jut above the rooftops in front of us. She has short steely hair. Her face is heavily wrinkled. Her brow is so furrowed it looks as if she has a permanent frown. She is wearing brown. Dark brown. Everything brown. Skirt, blouse, cardi. A human version of a prune.

I smile. ‘Lovely to meet you too,’ I reply.

‘Why have you been keeping her such a secret?’ she asks, giving Simon a look of vinegar.

Simon. My fiancé.