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‘I can see that.’ Evelyn smiled at him in a way that made him have to really focus to concentrate on the driving.

He held her door open again when they reached the restaurant, and was again treated to a whiff of the fresh, fruity scent that floated from her hair. When his hand automatically fell to the small of her back to guide her towards the door, he was thrilled that Evelyn momentarily leaned into his touch.

Within minutes they were seated at a window table and reading the menus while Evelyn sipped a glass of wine and he nursed his one beer of the night. She sighed happily and sat back, watching fairy lights twinkle off water that shimmered a few feet from the window as she toyed with her wine glass, tracing a finger absent-mindedly around its rim. Jake watched her fingers move, transfixed by their delicate touch as the candlelight danced against her skin, making it seem almost translucent.

‘Thank you for this, Jake.’ Her voice was quiet, and huskier than usual, and he found himself leaning in to hear her more easily. ‘I can’t remember the last time I felt so relaxed.’

‘You’re more than welcome.’ He chinked his glass against hers. ‘And thank you for finally putting me out of my misery, and agreeing to a date.’

Evelyn laughed and shook her head. ‘It still seems so strange, thinking that I’m on a date.’

‘Why? You’re kind, caring and beautiful. Who wouldn’t want to date you?’ Jake laughed in disbelief.

‘My ex-husband, for one.’

As soon as the words had escaped, Evelyn wished she could take them back. She hadn’t meant to ruin what had promised to be a lovely evening with a man she was really attracted to, but somehow her bastard ex had stuck his selfish, inconsiderate self into her life again. ‘I’m so, so sorry.’

‘It’s all right.’ Jake took a long drink of his beer, before fixing her with that bright blue gaze that seemed to look straight through to her soul. ‘He’s a big part of your life and past. If it helps, I think I can understand a little bit. Callum, my brother, is a single dad and Sarah’s growing up without her mum around. Without telling you his business, his ex wasn’t very good at being a mother, so chose not to be. The family help out wherever we can, and Sarah’s amazing. But the thing is, as much hurt as his ex caused, Callum’s not going to forget about her just because they’re not together anymore. She’s the reason Sarah exists. And it sounds like what happened with your ex-husband is a lot more recent, so it’s got to be in your mind still. You can’t just forget about him.’

‘No, as much as I’d sometimes like to forget we ever happened.’

‘So, now you’ve brought him up, is it a good time to ask why that is? You can tell me it’s none of my business and I won’t be offended, but can I ask what happened?’

‘I’m not sure there’s ever really a good time for these conversations.’ Evelyn sighed sadly. ‘I might as well tell you the sordid details and then he can well and truly butt out.’

‘You don’t have to, if you don’t want to.’

‘I know, and I appreciate that. But you’ve asked, and you deserve to know.’ She took a deep glug of her wine. ‘Sometimes, I still feel like I’m married to him, like it was only a few days ago that we were happy together.’

‘But it’s not, is it?’

‘No.’ Evelyn snorted with dark humour. ‘It’s much, much longer than that since I was happy with Charlie.’

‘Charlie? So that’s his name.’ Jake nodded grimly.

Evelyn fell silent, wandering back in her memories to a time when they’d been happy, and before Summer had gotten sick.

‘So what happened?’ Jake prompted her gently.

‘Honestly? He screwed up in the worst possible way. It’s never easy when a child gets sick, and people handle it differently. I know some couples who became even stronger and pulled together because of the experience, and others who could barely stand the sight of each other.’

‘And that was what happened to you and your husband?’

‘No, actually’—Evelyn shook her head—‘it wasn’t anything like that. I was so focussed on helping Summer and making sure we did everything we could to support her treatment, making sure she got the best treatment, ate the best diet, got enough rest. Between that and working as a community nurse, well my whole life became a bit like a medical drama. I think Charlie felt left out.’

‘He couldn’t really blame you for that.’

‘You’d think not, but apparently he did.’ Evelyn shrugged. It didn’t hurt as much as it used to. ‘The chemo was really hard on Summer. It caused neutropenia – her immune system was virtually non-existent, and we had to live completely clean around her. It wasn’t quite full quarantine, but it was close because any infection could have been really dangerous.’ She took a deep breath and concentrated on keeping her anger in check. She might not be hurting any more, but the anger was harder to let go. ‘Charlie and I had already been drifting apart, and he’d been less and less interested in Summer – he didn’t come to any of her appointments, barely asked about them and didn’t want much to do with her when she was sick – which was a lot. I think maybe he was trying to protect himself, or something.’

‘Pretty damn selfish.’ Jake frowned.

‘It gets worse. Charlie screwed up. In the worst possible way. Turned out his shag on the side had an infection – tonsillitis. To them, it was nothing more than a bit of an annoyance, but to Summer?’ Evelyn felt her throat tighten with emotion as her bottom lip started to tremble.

Jake pushed his napkin into her hands and let his fingers rest over hers. The gentle touch and quiet patience gave her the strength to carry on.

‘She developed neutropenic sepsis. It’s what happens when you get an infection after chemo has wiped out your immune system.’ She was so used to explaining the terminology that she briefly forgot he’d understand the medical jargon. ‘We nearly lost her.’ The words brought angry sourness into her mouth. ‘All because he couldn’t keep his trousers zipped up!’ She shook her head, trying to clear the memories. ‘A one-off mistake I might have been able to forgive – given the stress we were both under. But it wasn’t just a one-off. It was a sustained affair – a dirty, secretive little relationship that nearly cost my baby her life. When I found out how she’d gotten sick … let’s just say I reacted badly. And I don’t regret a single word I said.’

‘Wow. I’m not really sure what to say.’