For a moment all her breath was pushed out of her. Shock left her speechless. Jake had caught her, steadied her by her shoulders, looked quizzically down at her. Then, as Rusty whimpered, he squatted and patted the little dog under the ear.

‘Hey, it’s okay,’ he told him. ‘I’m a friend.’

Rusty nuzzled his hand and moved closer to Jake’s ankle. Which was surprising all by itself, Tori thought, feeling breathless. Rusty hadn’t responded to anyone since his master’s death.

‘Are you running away?’ Jake asked mildly, looking up at her in polite enquiry. ‘Aren’t you supposed to have a pole with a bandana slung over your shoulder? I don’t think running away’s proper without them.’

‘We’re not going far,’ she managed, struggling to make her voice work. ‘Why are you up?’

‘I couldn’t sleep,’ he said simply. ‘I had a whole lot of my preconceptions stood on their head at dinner. It’s taking a bit of getting my head around.’

‘Like, your father loved you?’

‘There’s a way to go before I’ll believe that,’he said, and his smile faded. ‘Words are easy. But you…You’re going where?’

‘Up to the ridge.’

‘You forgot something?’ He’d straightened. His gaze held hers, serious, compassionate.

‘I… Yes.’

‘Do you want company?’

‘I don’t…’ She faltered. Say no, her head screamed. But there was something about this night. There was something about this man.

‘We left too fast,’ she whispered. ‘Tomorrow Rusty and I will move on-we need to. We’ll start a new life. But for six months we’ve simply been putting one foot in front of another, over and over, and in Rusty’s case we’ve even lost a foot doing it. I thought… Tonight I wanted to just say…’