‘And was it likeTwilight?’
‘Yes. Heavy rain. Long winters.’
‘Sexy vampires?’
‘Didn’t meet any. Big disappointment. My parents ended up loving the place and I came back to the UK alone, to read criminology at university. I’m still here, they… They stayed there. And in the end, died there.’
‘I’m so sorry.’
She nods. ‘Thank you. It was a few years ago.’
He shakes his head. ‘So here we are.’
‘Here we are. Are you married, Jack?’
‘Used to be. Claire divorced me. After the second tour of Afghanistan, I went off the rails pretty badly. Shut myself off, drank a lot, got into fights… After a few months she couldn’t take any more, and I don’t blame her. I’d have left me.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be. I got help, eventually, and got through it. And now I run a charity organising young people’s adventure trips. Camping, climbing, hillwalking, that sort of thing. Getting them away from their screens, basically.’
‘How’s that going?’
He shrugs. ‘It was a bumpy start; there was literally no money at all. But now we have social events, fundraising evenings, fun runs, raffles, all that sort of thing, and it’s beginning to pay for itself.’
‘Nice kids?’
‘Brilliant, for the most part, and some of them have had very hard starts in life. But I can relate to that, and they usually end up having a pretty good time out on the hills, so hopefully I’m making a bit of a difference. What about you? What did you do with that criminology degree?’
‘Joined the security services.’
‘Wow. I’d never have had you marked down as a secret squirrel.’
‘It was actually pretty boring. I was stuck in an office most of the time.’
‘Did you get married?’
‘I did.’
‘And are you still?’
‘Nope. I married a decent, hard-working guy, got involved with someone else, and left him.’
Jack smiles and looks away.
‘It’s not funny, believe me. I behaved horribly.’
‘And now?’
‘Now I’m on my own.’
‘Since?’
‘Yesterday.’
‘Yesterday?’ He regards her intently. ‘My God. Are you… OK?’
‘I’m not sure. I’m kind of in shock. Running on empty.’