Jarvis turned on the path after delivering his card and walked across the cobbles in front of Merrin’s house. He could hear the guffaws of laughter, mainly coming from Bella’s big gob, and knew they were probably laughing at him, but what did it matter? It wasn’t as if he could hurt any more than he already did. He curled his fingers into his palm, capturing the point where her fingers had briefly touched his when he handed over the card. Try as he might, he couldn’t remember exactly what he had written, and a cold knife of fear cut his confidence at the very thought that in his distracted state, he might have accidently written something soppy or inappropriate on her wedding day – something which she would now reveal in front of Digby the dickhead. He closed his eyes briefly and prayed this was not the case, fearful that the words on the card, sent with the very best of intentions, might at some point come back to haunt him. His stomach leapt with the threat of nausea. She had looked happy, smiley. But what had he expected? It was this fact alone that had prevented him from saying the words cued up on his tongue. The words he had practised as he had showered and walked down the hill with the big gold envelope in his palm.

‘It’s you, Merry. You are my one. My person. You are kind and calm and sweet, at least you always have been to me, not like some of the other gobby girls around here. And I can’t stop thinking about you and I can’t sleep for thinking about you. And if ever things don’t work out with Digby – you know where to find me. I’ll be waiting. I’ll wait for ever. Because I love you, and whatever it was I did or didn’t do that stopped you holding my hand and kissing me, then I’m sorry, and I wish I could go back and do things differently. I had been about to tell you we needed to make more effort, really get to know each other, when you met Digby, and that’s when my world fell apart.’

‘All right there, Jarv!’ Mac from the pub called out from the dock. He raised his hand. ‘Cheer up, lad, it might never ’appen!’ Mac chortled, but Jarvis could only smile briefly. The fact was, it had already happened. And he had never felt so low, not ever.