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It didn’t matter how many times Anna sat and read the email, she couldn’t quite get it to sink in. To help, she said his name slowly and loudly like a child reading the phonics, ‘T.O.M.’ As she put her head in her hands, she finally let all the memories of their time together run through her mind like pictures in a viewfinder.

First up was Tom arriving unexpectedly at her shop with keys in one hand and a huge bunch of flowers in the other, the biggest, silliest grin on his face. She’d flung her arms around him, excited beyond belief of the prospect of them living together. And there they were on the first night in their first home sitting on cushions and sharing a bottle of wine as they toasted to their future. Here was Tom down on one knee, a beautiful antique ring in one hand and a look of hope that spread to pure happiness on his face once she’d given him her ‘yes’. And then here were all those difficult months that followed when they should have been happily planning their wedding, but Tom had unexpectedly been made redundant and wedding planning was the last thing on his mind as he went from job interview to job interview with no success.

And, most painful of all, the look of sorrow and despair on his face when he said he’d made a mistake. They were too young, he wanted to use his redundancy money to travel and see the world and didn’t want to be tied down. She thought back now to how long it had taken her to get over him. She was working all the hours she could to keep up the mortgage payments on her own. When she wasn’t working, she was crying herself to sleep every night, praying he would turn up on the doorstep saying he had made a mistake. But there had been no contact from him until now, nearly four years later. In his email, he said that he missed her beyond belief and wanted to try again, if she’d still have him…

Anna massaged her temples slowly. How could she forgive him for what he had done? And what about James? It had taken a while to love again, but when he came into her life the following year she felt ready, and she was happily settled with him now.

She felt her head begin to ache. First in confusion, and then

in anger at the thought that Tom just expected her to be unattached and waiting for his return. She would have to tell him, of course. As tempted as she was to ignore his message, she got the feeling that he wasn’t going to let this go. In his message, he said he was desperate for them to meet up, so if that’s what it would take then that’s what she’d just have to do.

Before she could change her mind, she wrote a curt email back saying she would see him, but that lots had changed. She named a spot on the local common; she would feel stronger to resist his charms with other people about. And now she was here looking around for him, her heart pounding and her breathing unsteady. Then, suddenly, here he was, striding over with a shy smile on his face, his beautiful brown eyes full of remorse. As soon as he got near, he fell on her with a big embrace.

‘Oh Anna, I’ve missed you so much,’ he blurted out. ‘I should never ever have left you. There hasn’t been a single day when I haven’t thought about you. I just couldn’t keep ignoring my feelings any longer. I’m done with all the travelling now.

I just want to be with you and make a home with you…’

‘Wait, wait,’ said Anna, shaking herself free. She couldn’t believe how good it was to see him and how much she had missed him, but her life was with James now.

‘Before you carry on,’ she said, interrupting him, ‘there’s something you need to know…’

‘You’ve met someone,’ he said, looking devastated. ‘I knew it was too much to hope for that you’d stay on your own. Is it serious? You’re not wearing a wedding ring,’ he said, glancing at her hand. ‘Do I still have a chance?’

‘He’s here,’ she said suddenly. ‘I think you should meet.’ Ignoring the hurt and confusion in his eyes, she shouted, ‘James, over here,’ as loudly as she could, and a small boy with dark floppy hair and the biggest brown eyes bounded up and smiled up at her, and then at Tom. She took his hand and, looking directly into Tom’s eyes, said, ‘Tom, meet James. Your son.’