Silence floated between us before I looked back up at him. ‘I wish everybody would stop trying to make me cry this evening,’ I said, feeling my eyes threatening to fill amid laughter and a strain in my voice.

‘Sorry. Definitely not my intention.’

‘No, I know.’ I smiled up, blinking the tears back. ‘Do I get to open this now?’

Without words, Jack opened the box for me. Inside lay the most beautiful platinum necklace. Its simple, elegant chain held a thin pendant from which glittered three exquisite diamonds.

‘Oh, Jack,’ I whispered. ‘It’s absolutely beautiful but I couldn’t possibly accept this.’

‘I’d really like it if you did.’

My eyes drifted back from his to the box. It was stunning, and exactly the sort of thing I would have chosen myself, but I knew it had a far higher price tag than a friendship bracelet from Claire’s Accessories.

‘Stop overthinking it,’ he said, reading my mind. ‘You gave Clive a home, a wonderful home. An entire jeweller’s shop wouldn’t be enough to thank you for that single act of kindness.’

I took a deep breath and nodded. Placing the box on the console table, he removed the necklace and then stood behind me as I lifted my hair to enable him to secure the clasp at my neck.

‘Wow. That dress is stunning. I hadn’t seen the back properly until now. You need to go shopping with Poppy more often.’

‘I’m hoping to,’ I replied honestly, as he touched my hands gently to let me know I could drop my hair once more.

‘Good.’

I turned to face him, my hand moving up to touch the necklace at my throat. ‘How does it look?’

‘Beautiful. But see for yourself.’ He guided me gently to the mirror by the door, standing behind me as I looked. ‘You look perfect.’

‘It’s absolutely stunning, Jack. I don’t know what to say.’

‘You don’t have to say anything, Lily.’

I turned to face him and his hands slid gently along my forearms.

‘Holy shit!’

We both jumped as the doorbell echoed loudly around the hallway, breaking the sudden silence and… whatever else that was. I stepped back. ‘I guess that will be the car!’ My voice was a little over-bright and I made a mental attempt at reining it back in.

‘I suspect it will be.’ Jack’s, of course, was perfectly normal.

He lifted our coats from where they had been laid over the banister, then opened the door, greeting the driver with some small talk as I checked the house, waiting beside me as I locked up and dropped the key into my clutch bag.

We sat quietly for a while, enjoying the luxurious leather seats of the limousine that the publishers had sent for me. It all felt surreal as we travelled along a dark country road. With no lights outside, the only thing I could see in the window was my reflection looking back at me, and it wasn’t a reflection I was used to, not that I didn’t like it. It was just different. Very different.