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I stare at him. “That’s why you asked her to marry you? To stop me having her?”

“Yeah.”

My head spins. Holy fuck. I never knew he felt like that. It’s true that the two of us have always been competitive, but I’d never felt jealous of him, not until he married Vix.

I think of all the times he kissed her in front of me. How he used to pull her onto his lap and stroke his hands over her bump when she was pregnant. He wasn’t doing it out of love. He was doing it to show me he’d won.

But did he, in the end? I look at him sitting there, damaged physically and emotionally, hating himself for what he’s done, and I feel pity not hate.

“How’s Christchurch?” I ask.

He looks up then, his eyebrows lifting. “It’s okay. I got a job in a building firm, and they let me work part time.”

“That’s good. Are you living with Nigel?” I name his brother.

“Yeah, he’s got a granny flat out the back of his place, so at least it’s separate.”

“Are you seeing anyone? Vix thought you might be.”

“I’ve been on a few dates with a girl called Angie. She’s nice. Teases me a lot.” His expression softens in a way I’ve never seen it do with Vix.

I might not hate him, but I can’t bring myself to forgive him yet. He’s hurt Vix badly, and no ‘bro code’ is more important than that.

But it’s all in the past now. He’s Millie’s father, which means he’ll always be a part of her life, and if I want to be too, it will make it easier if we can get along.

“I’m glad,” I make myself say. “Now we’ve just got to hope Vix comes back and doesn’t just keep walking to the ferry.”

He gets up stiffly from the chair, and I stand, too. “I’m going to walk up to the cottage to see my daughter,” he says.

“Can you walk that far?”

“Yeah, slowly. It’ll be good for me. Send her up to the cottage when she comes back, will you? I need to talk to her about something.”

I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of asking him what, so I just say, “Okay.”

He walks to the door, then stops and turns to me. “I did love her,” he says. “In the beginning. Or I think I did.”

And he thinks that absolves his appalling behaviour? Fuck you, you piece of shit.

“Right,” I say.

He opens the door and goes out.

I go over to the chair he’s just vacated and sit heavily in it. I don’t know where Vix is, or what she’s thinking. She’s been through so much, and I don’t want her to be hurt any more. But all I can do is wait and see this through and be there for her when it’s all over.

I don’t want to go looking for her in case she comes back, so I pace up and down the shop until my phone rings. It’s an unknown caller, but I’m not sure if she took her phone with her. “Hello?”

“It’s me,” she says.

I exhale with relief. “Vix. Thank God. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Where are you? You’re not calling from your phone.”

“No, I’m at 35 South. It’s Gabriel’s phone. I was walking along the road, and he picked me up and brought me here.”

“Aw, baby…” I sigh at the thought of her walking all that way. “I’m so, so sorry.”