“I think people who love us want that.”

She nodded slowly.

Then she asked whether we could stop for hot chocolate before going home.

We did, and I found that remembering Eleanor over a warm drink felt kinder than spending the evening alone staring at the past.

PART 16

The next autumn, almost a year after Emma had whispered her warning beneath the oak tree, she and I returned to the same park carrying a small picnic.

The leaves were beginning to change.