‘Yeah, great.’
‘Did Lucy do much surfing?’
‘She did some. The waves were too big most of the time though.’ He continues. ‘She and Nathan are going back to England.’
‘No way! When?’
‘In a couple of months.’
‘What about the business?’
‘I’m going to carry on with it here – he’s going to do a renovation down in Somerset where Lucy’s family are from.’
‘How long will they be away?’
‘It’s looking like six months.’
‘Blimey. That’s a bit sad.’
‘You’re telling me. But you know what they’re like, they have to split their time between two countries, two families. That’s the way it is with them.’ He sniffs my coat. ‘Where have you been today?’
‘Well,’ I force a smile which I hope looks relaxed, ‘I didn’t get a chance to tell you on the phone, but I bumped into an old pal on the weekend who used to work at the conservation park.’ My heart is pounding.
‘Really?’ he asks with interest.
‘Yeah. Anyway, we caught up today.’
‘That’s bizarre because I heard from an old friend, too, yesterday.’
Is that it? Am I off the hook? ‘Who?’
‘Do you recall me telling you about a girl called Ally who I met in England?’
‘Of course I do.’ My heart plummets. ‘She was your girlfriend, wasn’t she?’
‘She was,’ he admits. ‘Only for a couple of months. We broke it off when I came back here. We hadn’t been together long enough to put our lives on hold for two years.’
I only knew Ben for a few weeks and I’ve put my life on hold for a decade . . .
‘I remember,’ I say. ‘She was staying on in the UK, but you only had a three-month work visa.’
‘That’s right. Don’t worry about it,’ he says quickly, touching my arm.
‘Is she back?’ I ask.
‘Yeah.’
‘Why is she calling you?’
‘Lily, it’s okay,’ he insists, sincerity radiating from his warm brown eyes. ‘She was only calling to say hi. I told her about you. About how we’re engaged. She was really happy for me.’
‘Oh.’ My voice softens. ‘Are you planning to see her?’
‘Nah,’ he says. ‘I realise that would be a bit weird.’
How bad do I feel now? ‘You can if you like,’ I say begrudgingly.
‘No!’ He laughs and wraps his arms back around me. ‘There’s no point.’
