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com pared to this. A single tear against the flood she now felt welling inside her.
    She turned away from him, not wanting him to see her. She knew she was being an idiot but it hurt so fucking much. She sucked in a deep breath, the freezing air filling her lungs and chilling her blood. The cold air pricked her glistening eyeballs. She took another breath. This was stupid, she told herself. The last few hours had been incredible. Joel had taught her to feel like a woman again. To be herself rather than just her mother’s keeper. It was going to end but it didn’t have to yet.
    She turned back to him and smiled. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s enjoy tonight then.”
    “Good,” said Joel. “Because I haven’t got a bloody clue where this restaurant is.”
    She laughed, “Charming!”
    “And I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have dinner with tonight.”
    “That’s better,” said Eve. “Don’t worry, it’s not far now.”
    Joel reached over and took her hand.
    “I wish it could be different,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t say that.”
    He frowned “Why?”
    “There’s no point. It just is what it is. And sorry is such an easy word. We need a new word for it which people only use when they really mean it.”
    He laughed and she felt him squeeze her hand. “You talk a lot of sense you know.”
    “I know. It’s just no bugger ever listens.”
    “I’m listening.”
“You’re listening for tonight.”
    He stopped for a moment and then took her other hand as well. He held them both and looked at her. His voice softened, “Yes, for tonight. Just tonight.  But until it’s over I’m all yours.” He looked back down the road to the sea. Southend Pier was visible, a dark angular shape jutting out into the ocean like an accusing finger. “That’s east right?”
    She smiled, “I don’t know why you’re asking but yes it is.”
    He moved his eyes back to hers. Looked deep into them. “I’m yours until the sun comes up. Until it comes up over that ugly bloody pier.”
    “That’s not a lot of time” she said. “So we’d better make the most of it.”
     
    Their attention was so focussed on each other that even Joel didn’t register the car advancing on them. The driver slowed further as he reached the couple. The car rolled past them quietly, the engine just ticking over now. The passenger peered out of the window, his small eyes locked on the couple, examining them, taking in every detail he could. They looked to him like they were so rapt in each other that a fire engine could go past and they wouldn’t even notice. He couldn’t remember what that felt like.
    Above the pair a street light shone down and the passenger was easily able to make out the woman’s features.
    "Is that who I think it is?" he said to the driver. The surprise in his voice was so evident that the other man immediately looked as well.
    "Jesus Christ,” he said. “Harry's going to go fucking mental."
     

Chapter Eight
     
    Even as Joel threw the punch he knew that it wasn't going to have much effect. He swung anyway from pure instinct and rage. He'd punched that same face before and knew it could take a lot of abuse but he didn’t care.
    Its owner was an ex-boxer, Reynolds. When he’d started boxing he’d fought as Right Hook Reynolds but it hadn’t stuck. In his second pro fight his opponent had taunted him when they were walking back to their corners after the third round. Reynolds had gone for the man, the referee stepping between them and breaking it up. Until that point in the fight Reynolds had been outclassed but when the bell rang for round four he came out of his corner a different man. The other man didn’t stand a chance, Reynolds hit him with a flurry of body shots before the echo of the bell had even died away. When the man staggered back Reynolds got him with a haymaker that lifted him off his feet and laid him out on the canvas. He earned himself a new name that night and it had stuck.