‘You know, love, no matter how bad a day seems or how much you feel stuck, the sun always rises and with it comes a brand-new day with brand-new possibilities. Things can change in a heartbeat.’ She clicked her fingers.

‘Yep.’

‘It’s true. When . . . when your dad left, I felt like my heart had been shredded; I didn’t know how to stand up, how to breathe. I fell down.’

He nodded. He remembered every single second of it. Her distress floating from beneath her bedroom door and how helpless he had been to fix things, and how that helplessness had balled in his gut and made him feel both empty and full at the same time.

‘And then, last year when he came back, wanting to give things another go, saying he’d had a change of heart, again, and that he would like to come home.’ Her voice cracked. ‘Do you remember what I did? What I said?’

‘Yep,’ he whispered. Knowing she was going to remind him anyway.

‘I cried. I had always planned how mad I would get if I saw him. I had planned all the things I would scream at him!’ She spoke through gritted teeth. ‘But I didn’t. I cried and I very calmly told him how he had spoilt so much; he had given up our lovely life, for what? A thrill. A buzz. Walking away from his family, his home and from Port Charles for something unknown, the promise of a happier, better life that came packaged in a face that was younger and prettier than mine. But it was good, Jarvis, because it was closure. And you now have closure because she is gettin’ wed. You will heal and you will feel better. Maybe not today or tomorrow or next week, but one day.’

Again he fixed his eyes on the cove and nodded.

‘I’ll leave you to it then. Remember, Jarvis, love can be fickle and your feelings for the object of your desire can turn on a sixpence into something a lot like loathing. They don’t tell you that.’ She tapped the wedding ring that still adorned her finger on the doorframe as she left.

Jarvis closed his eyes, and when he was certain she had gone, gave in to the feeling that had been building at the back of his throat and stinging his nose, as he cried great, gulping tears that fell down his ruddy cheeks and dripped from his chin.

‘I love her!’ he whispered out into the morning sky. ‘I’ve lost her for good. And that ain’t ever going to feel better.’