‘Certainly felt like one.’
‘How long’s it been? I mean, since we?—’
‘Since you disappeared? Fifteen years.’
She nods, not seeing him. The wheatfields are the colour of Oxana’s hair.
‘One day you were here,’ he says. ‘The next you were gone.’
‘I know. I?—’
‘It’s OK. You don’t owe me an explanation.’
‘I think… maybe I do?’
He shrugs. ‘Tell me.’
‘My father was a scientist. He worked at the government research station at Semley, which is why I grew up here in Cranborne.’
‘Only child?’
‘Only child. I went to school here and stayed on for sixth form, which is where we met, right?’
‘Umm… my memory is that we met before that, at the High School, but?—’
‘God, I’m sorry. It’s kind of a blur, that time.’
‘I definitely knew who you were at the High School. You had a red coat.’
‘Idid. I loved that coat. My mother bought it for me in London.’
‘Well, my fifteen-year-old self worshipped you from afar. In your red coat.’
‘I had no idea, truly.’
‘And then, in sixth form, I plucked up the courage…’
She smiles. ‘That I do remember.’
‘Do you remember which film we went to?’
‘Yes.She’s the Man?’
‘Starring?’
‘Amanda Bynes.’
‘What else do you remember about that evening?’
‘Honestly, nothing. Sorry.’
‘I obviously made a big impression.’
Eve bites her lip. ‘What can I say. Seventeen-year-old girls don’t have fully functioning brains.’
‘And then you disappeared.’
‘What happened was that my dad was offered a senior research position in the US, in Washington State. My mum wanted to stay in Cranborne but I was desperate to go. I’d readTwilight, and I thought I was Bella. And in the end we did go.’