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‘Bet you regret asking now, don’t you?’

‘Not if it helps you, I don’t.’ He squeezed her fingers reassuringly, and warmth trickled up her arm.

‘It gets worse,’ Evelyn warned. ‘I can stop now.’

‘If it’s part of your life, and Summer’s, then I’d like to know – if it’s not too painful for you.’

Evelyn squeezed his fingers back, and smiled when his thumb rubbed over her knuckles. ‘She got pregnant. And Charlie, being the selfish dick he is, left us for her. Not that I would have wanted him back, but he wasn’t there for Summer any more, and that was unforgivable to me. And the fact that this all came out just before Christmas somehow made it all the worse.’

‘How so?’

‘Christmas is the most magical time of year, when you get together with the people you love the most to celebrate just being together. It’s a holiday built around bringing light into the darkness, when God gave hope to the world. It’s all about kindness and love. Someone who wants to be that petty and hurtful and cruel is never good, but to be like that at Christmas? That’s especially low. I almost think someone who would do that is beyond hope. Charlie certainly seems to have been. All of them were.’

‘All of them?’

‘Summer’s grandparents.’ Evelyn shook her head, hating to even give them that title.

‘They didn’t stay in contact with you?’

‘Oh, they did.’ She grimaced. ‘It would have been better if they hadn’t. They never really welcomed me into the family. Not really. Charlie and I were young when we met, maybe too young. But we fell in love, and when I was offered a job in Northumberland, he moved up north with me so we could start our lives together. I think, on some level, they always blamed me for taking their son away.’

‘That’s ridiculous.’ Jake shook his head.

‘Yup, but that’s the way it always was. They wanted someone better than “just a nurse” for their precious son. To be honest, I think they were thrilled when we started to have problems, and encouraged the split. I think champagne might actually have been popped to celebrate when the divorce proceedings started.’

‘Wow.’

‘They stayed in contact just long enough to question my fitness as a mother, and then cut me and Summer out of their lives. Maybe it was easier to pretend the sick little girl in the hospital bed just didn’t exist rather than face the reality of Summer’s illness. To be honest, I was never that close to them – I always felt like the outsider in their family. But it hurt Summer.’

‘And your ex didn’t try to intervene? To stand up for you and Summer?’

‘No he bloody didn’t! He never did when it came to them.’ Evelyn growled, gripping her glass so tightly she was surprised it didn’t break between her fingers.

‘I’m so, so sorry you both went through that. He didn’t – doesn’t – deserve either of you. None of them do.’ The sincerity in his eyes caused her to catch her breath.

‘That’s really kind.’ She ducked her head, letting her hair fall across her face in a curtain.

‘I’m not being kind, Evelyn.’ He waited until she looked up. ‘I’m being honest.’ He looked at her with such openness and honesty that she had to look away again and change the subject.

‘So, why are you single?’

He shrugged and released her hand as he reached for his beer. She found herself immediately missing the contact.

‘No big story there. Just haven’t really found the right person to put up with me yet.’

‘Put up with you …’ Evelyn laughed. ‘Do you really take that much putting up with?’

‘If you believe my siblings, yes. They often tell me I get on better with animals, and I’m not entirely sure they’re wrong. I’m usually quite awkward around people.’

‘You’re not awkward around me,’ Evelyn argued.

‘You haven’t noticed? Well, give it time.’ He laughed self-deprecatingly and looked up as the waitress approached. ‘I’m sorry, we’ve been talking so much I’ve hardly looked at the menu. Can we have a minute?’

She nodded and stepped away, leaving Jake grinning sheepishly.

Evelyn hid her grin behind her menu as she scanned through her options. Should she order a starter? She was hungry, but didn’t want to put Jake off by looking like a pig, and weren’t women supposed to be delicate and ladylike on dates? It had been so long since she’d been on one that she couldn’t remember, but she was sure she’d read it in a magazine somewhere – probably in a hospital waiting room.

‘I think I’ll go with the grilled chicken salad.’