After several long, long moments she closed her eyes then slowly opened them again.
Stefano was sitting at the kitchen table. Her mum’s golden retriever, George, had his head on his lap.
‘What are you doing here?’ she whispered, placing a hand to her chest to stop her heart from jumping out of it.
‘Visiting you.’ Slowly he rose to his feet.
She inched closer and drank in the face she hadn’t seen in what felt like for ever until she was only a foot away.
A mere two weeks apart had left marked changes in him. He was paler than she remembered. His hair needed cutting. He looked as if he’d slept in his canvas shorts and crumpled shirt.
As if he could read her mind, one side of his mouth curved up and he said, ‘It was a long flight.’
She couldn’t think clearly. The joy bursting into life inside her was marred with caution.
He’d flown across the world to see her just as she’d been gearing up to fly across the world to see him and to find out if there was any chance of a future together for them.
But what if he was here for a different reason? What if he only wanted to discuss their divorce?
Every morning since she’d left San Francisco she’d promised herself that today would be the day she would call her lawyer in England and start proper divorce proceedings. After all, they’d been married for a full year. There was nothing to stop them.
And yet, for all her anger and misery, she hadn’t been able to bring herself to do it.
Had the time apart that had been so painful to her only been a healer for him?
Until he told her his reasons for being there she would not allow the screaming excitement running through her to take control.
‘Is there somewhere private we can talk?’ he asked, breaking the silence that had formed while she stood there trying to catch a coherent thought.
Her mum and sister quickly shuffled out of sight but Anna didn’t trust that they wouldn’t listen in to what was going on.
‘The garden?’
He nodded and, on legs that had gone from having bones supporting them to what felt like overcooked noodles, she led him outside. George slipped out with them before she could close the door.
Her mum’s garden was a lovingly tended spot with a good-sized swimming pool. They sat carefully on the large swing chair with a canopy to shade them from the blazing sun, both making sure not to sit too close to the other. They were still close enough that Anna’s body vibrated at his nearness and she had to fold her hands tightly together to stop them stretching out to touch him and feel for herself that she wasn’t dreaming this.
George sat himself at Stefano’s feet and he leaned down to rub the dog’s head.
‘I think you’ve made a friend,’ Anna commented softly.
‘I like dogs.’
She hadn’t known that. ‘You should get one.’
‘One day. He’s your mother’s?’
‘Yes.’
‘How are things with her?’
‘Better than I thought they’d be.’
‘You’ve forgiven her?’
‘Just about.’ She would never be less than honest with him. ‘It’s so hard to let the past go but I have to. If I’ve learnt anything in recent months it’s that holding onto anger destroys you as much as the other. She’s made mistakes—massive ones—but I have too and I know she’s genuinely sorry. I am too. I just want her back in my life.’
They lapsed into silence that stretched so unbearably tight that Anna couldn’t endure it a moment longer. ‘Why are you here?’