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not. It’s horrible. This apartment has got about as much personality as the hospital. It’s somewhere a person might come to sleep while they’re in town on business, but not somewhere to live and be comfortable.’
    ‘You always worked long hours. Maybe you didn’t spend much time here.’
    Stefan rolled his eyes. ‘I can see why. It’s dire.’
    ‘It’s clean.’
    ‘Is that the best you can come up with?’
    Yes, it was, but there was no need for him to be rude. Damn it, this was hard for her too.
    Claire stood. ‘What were you looking for? Find it and we can go.’
    ‘That’s just it. I don’t know. I wanted clues to my former life but there’s no sign of a life here. What kind of person lived here? What does this say about me?’ He strode ahead. ‘Come on then.’
    ‘Didn’t you find a suitcase? What about your clothes?’
    Stefan stopped at the door and turned. ‘I don’t want them.’
    That was the main reason they’d come. If he didn’t want his clothes, why had they bothered?
    ‘What’ll you wear?’
    ‘I can get by with the clothes back at your place. That closet is full of designer suits and pressed shirts and silk ties. I can’t wear those things. I’m not that man anymore.’
    No, but you were once and will be again.
    Exasperated, Claire pulled open the door. ‘You can always come back if you want something.’
    Stefan shook his head. ‘There’s nothing here. It feels so cold and lifeless, a lousy place to live. How could I have lived here?’
    Claire closed the door behind them.
    She knew the answer.
    Because I wasn’t here . Because this clinical, austere home he described as being as bad as the hospital was better than the apartment that they’d shared, had been better than their empty marriage.
    Because anything had been better than living with me.
    Stefan looked up at the buildings and towers overhead, then across at Claire. ‘I don’t want to go back to the law firm today.’
    She regarded him tentatively, as if about to argue but she didn’t want to upset him. ‘But that’s why we came into the city centre.’
    He shrugged. ‘We came here so you could show me around.’
    ‘True, but I thought we could kill two birds with one stone.’
    She didn’t push him. Stefan knew what she was thinking. Seeing his old apartment hadn’t done the trick, but going to his office might spark something.
    ‘Tomorrow,’ he said.
    He didn’t have the heart for it today. Didn’t want to be disappointed again, and he was feeling good for a change. After they’d left the apartment, Stefan had suddenly felt like anything was possible.
    God, it felt liberating to be out in the open, to feel like he was part of something bigger, to see people going about their day-to-day business.
    Four young women in pencil skirts and blouses chatted as they walked past, take-away coffee cups in their hands, high heels clicking on the pavement. A silver-haired man in a suit glanced surreptitiously at the group as he strode by but didn’t look twice at two other women pushing strollers.
    As the man approached, Stefan noticed he was checking out Claire’s backside with an appreciative nod. A pair of faded jeans hugged her hips, tightly cupping her butt; a simple sea-green tee-shirt showed off her waist and bust without being revealing. Claire looked amazing, almost without even trying. Stefan couldn’t blame the guy for looking.
    Further up the street, a group of senior tourists in walking shorts and sensible shoes—cameras slung around their necks—had taken up the whole pavement. Suddenly, they parted like the Red Sea, as a middle-aged man pushing an old woman in a wheelchair made his way through the crowd, nodding his thanks.
    There was a real world out here, a vibrant city full of life. Stefan found that both intimidating and comforting. He’d been told about this city, its people, about the businesses and the infrastructure. Finally, he was seeing. And he was starting to question where he