‘Esme!’ Hortense grabbed her arm and hauled her away from the group. It was strange how her wobble was nonexistent in times of extreme excitement. Like right now, though Esme didn’t see what there was to get excited about. Everyone else was still gazing at the sky in wonder but Hortense, apparently, had other ideas. Esme glanced back to see Zach still staring upwards, though he must have noticed Esme had left his side. Was he trying to pretend the kiss hadn’t happened? Esme had already accepted quickly there was no point. It wasn’t that easy. You could pretend that a farcical bra-exposure incident hadn’t happened, but some things were simply too big to ignore.

‘You didn’t tell me!’ Hortense’s whisper wasn’t really quiet enough to qualify as a whisper at all, though it was probably about as discreet as she’d ever been.

‘Tell you what?’

‘That business with Zach! Why didn’t you tell me you were together?’

‘There’s no business and we’re not,’ Esme said, vainly hoping but knowing in her heart that she wouldn’t put Hortense off the scent so easily.

‘But I saw you!’

‘Hortense, please…’ Esme screwed her eyes up and sighed. ‘Please don’t make anything of this. It was a silly, impulsive mistake. The Lights… I got carried away, excited, that’s all. I feel just terrible about it and I don’t think Zach knows how to tell me I was out of line. I just hope he’s not too offended.’

‘Dear girl, he looked far from offended to me.’

‘He’s kind like that – probably didn’t want to make me feel worse than I already do.’

Hortense shook her head. ‘Nonsense.’

‘Do you think everyone saw?’

‘Most of us were looking upwards; I shouldn’t think so. I don’t know why you’d want to worry about it anyway.’

Esme nodded, her shoulders relaxing a little. ‘That’s something. I’d be mortified to think everyone had.’

‘I’m sure they’ve all seen kissing before. You were hardly doing the dance of the seven veils.’

‘I know.’ Esme couldn’t help a small smile. ‘But it would have been embarrassing. For Zach too. I suppose it still is. After all…’

Esme closed her eyes again, as if by closing them for long enough she might finally open them again to find time had rewound and she could stop herself from perpetrating the kiss in the first place.

‘I still say he rather looked to be enjoying himself,’ Hortense said archly.

‘But still,’ Esme replied, not wanting to acknowledge the new and complicated emotions that notion stirred in her. She shook her head. ‘It doesn’t excuse anything. He’s my friend, and now I’ve ruined everything… I don’t know how we can get past this.’

‘I think you’re reading too much into it, dear girl.’ Hortense gave a sage nod. ‘There’s no great love affair.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I think he’s perfectly available. And it’s not as if kissing someone is asking to marry them, is it?’

‘What about Niko?’

‘You must stop worrying. It was just a little kiss. All this lamenting is hardly going to help. If it was in the heat of the moment, tell him so and I’m sure you’ll both be able to laugh about it come tomorrow morning.’

But Esme knew she wouldn’t laugh. Not tomorrow or any morning. She’d been coming to a slow realisation since that impetuous kiss. It hadn’t been just the heat of the moment that had made her do it. She could no longer deny her attraction to Zach, despite their friendship and whatever he might have with Niko. She’d even go so far as to say, in another, less complicated situation, she might be falling for him. But how could that be?

As these thoughts raced through her head, Esme became aware of the world darkening by degrees, and she realised that the clouds had moved in again, obscuring their view of the light display. Hortense seemed to notice it at the same time.

‘That’s a shame,’ she said, although she hadn’t been watching with any great interest as far as Esme could tell. Instead, she’d noticed just about everything else that was going on around her, including the things she wasn’t supposed to have seen. ‘I was rather enjoying the spectacle. And now I shan’t be able to see a thing when we walk back to the bus; probably break my ankle… again.’

‘I’ll help you back,’ Esme said. ‘Would you mind if I sat with you too?’

Hortense turned with a look of surprise. ‘On the bus?’

‘Yes. When we drive back to the hotel. If Brian doesn’t mind, of course.’

‘My dear Esme, I’m sure he wouldn’t, but don’t you think that would look rather obvious?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’m assuming this change of heart has something to do with your recent moment of indiscretion?’

‘Well, yes, but—’

‘Then surely it’s better to pretend your kiss meant nothing and that you couldn’t care less if you want it to blow over. If you avoid Zachary now it will just seem to be something more than it was.’ She paused and held Esme in a shrewd gaze. ‘Or am I missing something?’

‘No,’ Esme said quickly. ‘You’re right – it will seem more of a thing if I avoid him. Of course, I should act like nothing happened. Like I don’t care.’

‘Quite. Take it from someone who is rather practised in the art of pretending not to care.’

Esme stared at Hortense. Was this, for the first time, a glimpse into the real Hortense? Had she just let her guard down for the tiniest moment to allow Esme to see that Hortense – seemingly outspoken and stoic and endlessly unsentimental – had actually been deeply hurt in her past? It wasn’t such a leap of the imagination when she thought about it – hadn’t most people experienced some kind of emotional pain at some point in their lives? But it was just that Hortense appeared to be so bulletproof, so strong and resilient and endlessly blasé that the idea had simply never occurred to Esme before.

Hortense clapped her hands together. ‘Righto. Now that’s all sorted, perhaps we ought to go and find our chaps.’

The moment had been and gone, and perhaps it was a good thing that Esme hadn’t been given the opportunity to delve any further. Hortense probably wouldn’t have given her anything else anyway. Esme suddenly saw, through that tiny window into Hortense’s life, that she wore her practicality like a suit of armour. She wasn’t opening it up to anyone, not even an inch. She couldn’t help but wonder if Brian had been allowed to breach it yet, or whether he ever would be. How close did someone have to get before they saw a real, vulnerable, human Hortense?

‘I suppose we should,’ Esme said, not relishing the idea of facing Zach again. Perhaps he’d take her in his arms and tell her how the kiss had made him discover new feelings for her, but she doubted it. More likely he’d feel as awkward and uncertain as she was right now. Perhaps he’d already had a similar conversation with Brian as she’d had with Hortense and had asked to swap places on the bus so he could sit with him, away from Esme and away from any pretending-nothing-had-happened scenario.

Just then, there was another burst from the skies, once again streaked with green and pink. Despite everything, Esme couldn’t help but stare up in wonder. It was an incredible phenomenon. When she thought about all the people in the world who apparently had this sight on their bucket list, what amazed her more than the fact that she was one of the lucky ones, here now to see it in all its dazzling glory, was that nobody could truly appreciate the majesty of it until they were staring up at it. You could look at all the photos and videos you wanted, long for it, imagine it, but you could never dream what it might really be like to experience this. Wrapping her arms tight around herself against the cold, once more she was overwhelmed at the sight.

‘What do you think, Grandma?’ she whispered to the sky. ‘Not bad, eh?’

The lights seemed to flicker and then burn brighter still, filling the heavens with intense, rippling colour.

‘Yep.’ Esme smiled. ‘That’s what I thought too.’