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Had he? Claude couldn’t remember ever saying so. It was true that he’d never felt particularly comfortable around children, but with Esther it would have been different. The shadowy corners of the room were suddenly filled with the ghosts of the children he and Esther might have had together.
‘It’s all in the past now,’ he said, and the woman he’d once loved nodded.
‘You’re right. We should look to the future now we’re reunited, thanks to Lettie.’ She looked through the window at Lettie, who was sitting on a bench outside, gazing out across the ocean. ‘She’s a lovely young woman, and very caring. How did you come to know her?’
Claude smiled. ‘I’m not quite sure. She kind of wormed her way into my life and now I’d rather like it if she stayed. But she’ll be going home soon. She’s not from round here.’
‘An outsider?’ Esther raised an eyebrow, and Claude smiled again.
‘A dreaded grockle, dropping litter and ruining the village.’
Esther laughed. ‘Still the same old Claude, I see.’
‘Actually, Lettie’s family are from Heaven’s Cove so I suppose she can count herself an honorary villager. Did she tell you that she risked her life yesterday rescuing Buster from the sea?’
‘She did not. What an extraordinary young woman. Tell me all about it, and about the village, which hardly seems to have changed at all.’
They talked for a while about Lettie’s exploits and Heaven’s Cove and politics and the state of the world – two old friends shooting the breeze, and Claude realised that a weight he’d never fully acknowledged had lifted from his shoulders.
All too soon, Esther glanced at the gold watch on her wrist and got to her feet.
‘I can’t keep Lettie waiting too long. It was very kind of her to bring me here in the first place.’
‘Will I see you again?’ asked Claude, standing up and trying to keep the panic out of his voice. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing her again.
Esther walked towards him and reached up to rest the palm of her hand on his cheek. Her eyes, more piercing blue than ever against the white of her hair, gazed into his.
‘It’s too late for us, Claude, to be anything more than friends, but I would like to stay in touch. Perhaps we can talk on the phone and meet up every now and again?’
‘I’d like that,’ said Claude, briefly pressing his hand on top of Esther’s. ‘I’m just glad to have you back in my life.’
Esther’s eyes filled with tears but she smiled. ‘You’re a very special man, Claude. I knew it forty years ago and I know it still.’
When she walked from the room, Claude sank back onto his chair. And he watched from the window as she met up with Lettie and the two of them got into a taxi.
This time he could watch Esther go, because he knew she would be coming back.
