‘He’s probably just taken himself off somewhere. He used to do it sometimes, when he was a teenager,’ Fisher said. They were the first words either of them had said since leaving the city, and they broke through Kate’s fantasy like the snap of a dry branch.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Once, he’d told us he was on a school camp, but when Pam washed his jeans a few days later she found a receipt from a McDonald’s in the city. He’d just gone off for a night and stayed in a hostel. When we confronted him about it, all he said was that he needed a little time to himself.’

He took out a cigarette but knew better than to light it. Instead, he rolled it on the palm of his hand. ‘I understand why he did what he did. Not fully, I suppose, but I know what it’s like to have to be alone. What I don’t understand is, why did he go to Belport? He’s always hated it there.’

‘Always?’

‘You didn’t know that?’

‘He usually groans about going, but I thought he liked it there as a kid.’

Fisher sighed. It was a loaded sigh, spilling over with things unsaid. ‘Once upon a time, maybe. But even as a kid he never quite relaxed while we were on the island. When we gave you the place I thought he might finally see Belport the way I used to – as an escape, somewhere to decompress. But he never did.’

She watched the road. Scrubland peeked out from beneath the steel safety barriers that lined the highway. One stretch had seen a bushfire roar through a summer or two earlier. The shoulder was still burned black, but the vegetation beyond was lush and green.

‘Did John ever tell you he asked for my blessing before he proposed to you?’ Fisher asked. ‘He came to me looking for approval. I told him it doesn’t usually work that way. Usually it’s the father of the bride that a man needs to convince. But he just wanted to know if I thought it was a good idea, that you were a good match.’

‘I didn’t know that,’ she said.

He glanced down at his wedding band, polished gold and half a size too small. It made Kate picture cooking twine wrapped around sausage casing.

‘He spent his childhood seeking other people’s approval. Pam thinks it’s because I was too hard on him, and that I didn’t give him enough praise as a kid. But I just think that’s who he is. He’s a thinker.’

‘What did you tell him?’

‘I told him you were a safe bet,’ he said.

A safe bet. Had he intended that to be a compliment?