‘Was there something you wanted?’ the man asked. His voice was deep and pleasant, but there was more confusion than concern in it now.
I’m not sure what he was expecting me to do or say, but he definitely looked surprised when I held out my hand to shake his.
‘Sam,’ I said confidently.
There was a very long moment before he lifted his own hand and placed it in mine.
‘Hello, Sam. It’s nice to meet you.’
I frowned. ‘My name isn’t Sam, it’s Lexi,’ I said encouragingly, as though willing him to give the right answer. ‘I’m Amelia’s sister.’
There was something in the man’s eyes and it definitely wasn’t the spark of recognition I was hoping for. If I wasn’t mistaken, it looked an awful lot like panic.
‘I think you may have me mistaken for someone else.’
I shook my head, aware that I was sounding more than a little unhinged. ‘No. It’s you. It must be you.’
There was no mistaking the backward step now. The dog had retrieved the ball and the man bent down and swiftly clipped him back on his lead. He was obviously in a hurry to leave.
‘You must know me. Don’t you recognise my face?’ I asked, realising that with the sun directly behind me, he might not have been able to make out my features. I stepped to one side and reached up and released my hair from the ponytail that my sister never wore.
‘How about now?’ I urged. ‘Surely you know who I am?’
He shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t. Are you famous?’
His words were like a blow. He didn’t know me from Adam. Which meant he didn’t know Amelia either.
‘Your name isn’t Sam, is it?’ I asked sadly.
‘No, it’s Nick,’ replied the man who was meant to be married to my sister.
The dog at his side gave an impatient bark. There was clearly too much standing around on this walk for his liking.
‘And he isn’t called Barney, is he?’
The man continued to look dumbfounded. ‘He’s a she, actually, and her name is Mabel.’
This time it was my turn to take a step away. This man clearly didn’t know nor had ever met Amelia.
‘I think my sister may have seen you and Mabel on this beach. She lives not far from here,’ I offered by way of an explanation.
He shrugged. ‘It’s possible, although I don’t come this way very often.’
‘Do you live around here?’
There was a growing wariness in his eyes, and I could hardly blame him. ‘Not too far away,’ he said carefully, clearly unwilling to reveal more than that.
‘I’m really sorry to have bothered you,’ I said, holding up my hands as though in surrender. I already knew I’d be reliving this scene, in all its mortifying glory, for a very long time to come.
Nick smiled politely and I could tell he was waiting for me to go. And I would have done, if at that very moment Mabel hadn’t grown too impatient with her owner and jumped up, placing her large front paws squarely on Nick’s chest.
I gasped. It was the exact same pose as Amelia’s final drawing. The man’s dark hair was blowing in the breeze, the sun was right behind him, glinting on the water, exactly as Amelia had captured it. It was so identical to her sketch it was practically a photograph.
My lips parted in shock.
‘Look. I know this is going to sound crazy, but are you in a tearing hurry to leave?’
‘Why?’ he asked, drawing out the word carefully.
