Excerpt
She walked away, turning to wave. He didn’t wave back. He stood motionless, and she knew he watched her, the patient black labrador beside him, until she disappeared between the trees. She shivered and quickened her stride. Would he follow her through the woods? Take a short cut and wait up ahead in the lengthening shadows? What was it that Ruth had tried to tell her? “You should know that he is...” What? She hadn’t let Ruth finish. Had Ruth been trying to warn her about something? Surely not. She had referred to Zac as a friend and Ruth was serious about who she called a friend. Still, it seemed deathly quiet among the trees in the soft light of early evening. Even the rooks had stopped squawking and wheeling overhead and had returned to their ragged nests to sulk. Muffin trotted close to her side, making no effort to pull away, her ears raised to anxious points on top of her curly head.