Lena found Kit on the terrace after seven, sitting in one of the blue chairs with his jacket zipped to the throat.
There was still light over the water, though the hotel windows had become bright squares. He had a bottle of beer on the table. Beside it lay his phone, screen down.
'Have you eaten?' she asked, then regretted it.
'A sandwich.' He looked at her. 'You?'
'Lunch.'
'There are more sandwiches.'
She sat in the other chair. Someone had brought the wet one under cover. It was dry now.
They looked out at the promenade. A boy rode a bicycle much too slowly while his friend walked beside him. Every few yards the rider put a foot down, impatient with the pace but unwilling to go alone.
'I paid Nia back,' Kit said. 'For the room.'
'Good.'
'She said thank you. That's all.'
Lena pulled her sleeves over her hands. She was relieved he'd told her, though she didn't deserve to feel pleased about it.
'I'm sorry,' she said.
'You've said.'
'I know.'
He leaned forward, turning the bottle against the tabletop. 'I shouldn't have brought her while I was wondering about you. I told myself it was four years ago. That I was being ridiculous.'
'We were having a good time yesterday.'
'Yes. We were.'
They sat with that. Nia had laughed, won at golf, ordered food she'd never tried. It was easier to remember than any sentence which might make the morning forgivable.
'Tom's going on his own tomorrow,' Lena said. 'I'm getting the train after I've helped Bea.'
Kit looked up. 'Come with me.'
'You're going back tomorrow?'
'I could go tonight.' He straightened. 'We could get our bags. There's no reason to keep sitting here.'
She looked towards the hotel. Somewhere inside, Bea was in a room she had booked for her wedding night. Owen was in a different one. Tom would have to sleep a few feet from the woman who'd just refused his ring.
She could escape all of it. Get into Kit's car, watch the hotel shrink behind them, stop for bad coffee somewhere on the road. He would put on music they both knew. She would not have to answer anyone's next question.
'And go where?' she asked.
'My place. Yours. Somewhere.'
'Your place is four hours from here.'
'I can drive you back.'
'When?'
He spread his hands. 'Whenever you need. I'm free until Tuesday.'
It was a real invitation. Not forever, not a demand that she give up everything. But he had begun with leaving, with the two of them in a car and the difficult things behind them.
'I have to go home,' she said. 'On my own.'
His mouth tightened. 'Because of Tom.'
'Because I have things to do. At home. With him. My life isn't packed in my weekend bag.'
'I know that.'
'And I need to know we can do something other than this. Running off together and then arguing about whose work matters on Tuesday.'
He looked towards the sea. 'You're putting quite a lot on one lift.'
'I want the lift,' she said. 'That's the problem. I want to stop thinking and sit beside you. I don't know what happens when we get there.'
He rubbed his hands together, cold or impatient.
'We used to be good at it,' he said.
'At being together?'
'Yes.'
'We were. Sometimes.'
She reached across the table and put her hand over his. He turned his palm up. This time she kept looking at his face instead of his mouth.
'I want to speak to you again,' she said. 'When I'm home. Not at half past one. Not after I've been crying on the floor.'
His eyebrows lifted. 'You were on the floor?'
'It wasn't my best evening.'
'I thought you'd be in bed.'
'No. Kettle. Floor.'
He smiled faintly, and she smiled back. It hurt more because they didn't have to force it.
'Next Sunday?' she asked. 'After I've finished work.'
'What time?'
'Seven.'
'I'll call.'
She nodded. He held her hand a little tighter before letting go.
Bea came through the doors behind them. She had a cardigan over her shirt and a glass of wine held carefully by the stem. She saw them and stopped.
Lena got up. 'Bea—'
'I'm not interrupting.'
She turned straight back into the hotel, without taking a breath of the air she'd come out for. The doors shut softly behind her.
Kit looked at Lena. She sat down again, then stood almost immediately.
'I need to go in.'
'I know.'
At the door she looked back. He was watching her, not smiling now, and she wanted to take the few steps back to him. She went inside instead, past the bar and up the stairs to the room where her things still lay beside Tom's.