“Thanks,” she said, coyly lifting one shoulder and giving me a small smile. “You’ve just started to train differently, but you’re doing really well. You need to mix it up though. Maybe start some circuit training. Don’t just concentrate on running, cycling and swimming. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but it will help.” She tapped my upper arm. “Come on. Keep walking.”

Fiona and I had been running a route around the city—it was so quiet at the weekends. All the commuters had dispersed, leaving behind empty office buildings and the few of us who lived within the square mile that made up London’s financial district. It had been a peaceful run, a stark contrast to barely being able to squeeze onto the pavements when walking on weekdays. Fiona said the parks of West London, where I’d always run before, got too busy at the weekends, especially if the weather was decent. Hyde Park had always been a favorite, but then it hadn’t mattered if people got in my way and slowed me down.

“Shall we grab a coffee?” I pointed to one of the few signs of life—a small cafe across the street. It gave me a reason to sit, which worked for me.

Fiona narrowed her eyes but nodded. “Sure.”

We ordered coffees—or in my case a juice and water, I was laying off the caffeine—and found a table near the window. There was only one other couple in the place. No wonder nothing was open around here, there weren’t any customers. I watched as they wordlessly swapped bits of the Sunday Times. I could have been watching Emma and me. Comfortable together. Unconsciously moving forward. Life didn’t require you to evaluate your relationship constantly, so most people just floated along if there was no reason to split. In a way, I was lucky that Emma had brought up marriage because I’d been forced to make a conscious choice about my future. I guess that was exactly what Ashleigh was afraid of—that I was happy to drift into coupledom, when for her it was a positive action. I took a deep breath at the realization. Maybe these weeks since I’d last seen Ashleigh were a good thing for us both.

“Are you enjoying it?” Fiona asked.

I swallowed my grapefruit juice. “It’s tangy.”

She laughed, and I was drawn to the movement of her breasts. “I meant the training.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, I see. Yes. It’s brutal, and I’m not sure it’s a healthy thing to like brutal, but yes.”

I was enjoying the focus I was getting from it, the fact I didn’t have too much time on my hands and that I was working toward something. I’d enjoyed the way Ashleigh had looked at my changing body the last time she’d seen me. The heat in her eyes had led me to believe she wanted me.

I’d not seen her since then. I’d made excuses to miss Sunday dinners in the few weeks following, and there had been no phone calls, no contact. I’d hated it, particularly at first, and checked my phone relentlessly, waiting for her to tell me she was ready. Now I was nearly resigned to just letting things settle between us.

Fiona laughed. “It is brutal, but I like the feeling now,” she said, watching me twist the circular lid of my drink. “After running, the come down. The sweat beginning to dry, the awareness of the strengthened muscles under my skin, the adrenaline seeping away.” She stretched her arms, lifting tall in her chair, the hem of her shirt riding up and revealing a band of soft white skin.

She relaxed and I glanced back up at her face. She’d caught me checking her out. She smiled and I looked away.

“Yeah. I guess this bit’s good.” I stared out the window at nothing, not quite knowing what I meant. She was good company. And attractive.

“So what made you want to start to train? Bad breakup?” she asked.

Ashleigh and I hadn’t broken up; we hadn’t had a chance to break up. It struck me that I was post breakup, just with Emma.

“I don’t know about bad . . .” I shifted in my seat, more comfortable now that the focus was away from her body, and back onto safer territory . . . kinda.

“How long were you a couple?”

“Three years. We were living together. I moved out.” A dull sensation radiated from my gut. It wasn’t sorrow—it was irritation, regret maybe, that I’d stayed as long as I had. I should have been braver, moved on sooner. The problem was, each day in itself wasn’t an issue. Emma and I didn’t hate each other, or continually fight. There’d been nothing pushing me away as such. It was just when I added up those days, they didn’t amount to much. All together we’d not mattered much to each other, there’d been nothing drawing us together, making us better as a couple. God, it felt like a lifetime ago. It had all happened before Ashleigh, and anyone before her seemed long ago. She was different. Every day with her mattered.

She nodded. “For me, it helped me clear my mind as well as kept me busy. I reckon I was over him the moment I passed the finish line of my first race.”

“Yours was a bad breakup?” I asked.

“At the time, I remember it being so. I was so sad, so angry. I wanted to kill him. Now, I look back and it’s difficult to recall why. I mean, he was an arsehole at times, but I blamed him for things I had no right to. I learned a huge lesson that we alone are responsible for our happiness. No one else can create that for us if we’re not ready for it.”

“But being with him didn’t make you happy?”

“Exactly. So I should have left. Not stayed and blamed him.”

I took a moment to absorb what she was saying. Was I looking for someone to make me happy? Was I afraid of being on my own? Maybe Ashleigh thought so, but that wasn’t it for me. I thought if anything the reason Emma and I had split was because I didn’t want to be responsible for her happiness, and I knew she couldn’t be responsible for mine. With Ashleigh, it was different. I wanted to make her happy.

“And you’re with someone now?” She’d never mentioned a boyfriend. What type of guy was she into?

A blush spread across her cheeks. “Not yet. But I’ve not lost hope that I’ll find the right one.” She focused on her coffee cup, swirling her spoon in what was left of the black Americano she’d ordered.

“Great job, Luke. A tremendous result for the client and the firm.” Derek Mills, our senior partner, rarely stepped off the fifth floor. He certainly hadn’t known my name until the Nigelson case. Although no one had said it to me directly, whether or not I made partner depended on this case. And today it had settled. Settled good and settled big.

“Thanks, Derek. We got the right result,” I replied.

“Don’t be modest. You got the right result.” I grinned and took Derek’s hand. “The Daniels surname will fit nicely on the letterhead,” he said, and with that, he winked and walked away. Perhaps that’s what they meant when they said that you “got the nod.” I’d have to wait for the official decision on partnership, but it was looking pretty good.

I focused on getting back to my desk without breaking into a sidesplitting grin. I dropped Haven an email telling her we’d settled. My hand hovered over my phone. I was desperate to call Ashleigh; I wanted to share my good news, all my news, my whole life with her. I just wished she was ready to see that. Perhaps I should take the situation into my own hands and force her to see that I wanted her?

“Congratulations, Luke!” Fiona walked up to my desk. “It was that environmental report that swung it, though, wasn’t it?”

I grinned at her. “Yup, you totally nailed it.”

She clasped her hands together. “Thank fuck that’s over.”

I tipped my head back and laughed. “Shall we knock off early and go and get some beers in?”

“I’m not sure that’s on your training plan. But yes, I’m up for that.” She winked and turned to leave. Over her shoulder, she said, “I’ll meet you downstairs in ten minutes.”