Piper was woken by Buster jumping on her bed and licking her face. She’d carried him out to the balcony, still ninety percent asleep, but when he was still wiggling and yipping half an hour later, she got dressed and took him out for a walk.

From her aunt’s house it was only about five minutes’ walk to the beach and within a couple of minutes of being outside, Piper was glad she’d forced herself to get up. The sky was blue and dotted with wispy clouds and the air was actually warm. She could smell the salt of the sea and hear the seagulls she could see hovering over marine lake.

The town had changed a lot in the years since Piper had left. None of the cafes and shops on the prom had been there when she’d lived there – the entire development was only a few years old and had transformed the area. When she was younger, there’d been a small boating lake for toy boats and then Marine Lake, which no one really used. Now, Marine Lake was surrounded by restaurants with terraces looking out over the water. It would’ve been great when Piper and her friends were teens, but instead they’d spent most of their time sitting on a small wall in the park and occasionally pooling their money for chips.

She spent about twenty minutes throwing an increasingly drool-covered tennis ball for Buster, while looking at the worm casts and stepping on the piles of razor clam shells just to hear them crunch.

‘Come on then,’ she said eventually, when Buster was panting more than he was running and Piper was starting to feel the chill of the morning wind. They walked back up to the prom and Piper headed for Starbucks. Her aunt’s bottomless pots of tea were great, but Piper had developed a morning latte habit that jump-started her energy levels even better than the wind off the Irish sea could manage.

---

As she pushed open the door of the coffee shop, latte in one hand, Buster’s lead wrapped around her wrist and Buster in exactly the wrong place and doing his best to trip her, Piper looked up and saw Rob.

‘No,’ she whispered. She wasn’t wearing make-up. She couldn’t imagine what the wind might have done to her hair. And she hadn’t seen Rob for ten fucking years. Just… no.

She took a step back, intending to go back inside the coffee shop, but instead she stood on one of Buster’s paws. He yelped. Piper said, ‘Oh no! I’m sorry!’ and, as she leaned down to comfort him, dropped her latte. When she stood up, Rob was staring straight at her.

‘I thought it was you!’ he said, walking towards her.

Piper pasted a smile on her face while her brain repeated, No. No no no no. No.

He looked both completely different and exactly the same. His body had transformed. He was wearing a black T-shirt and she could see how big his arms had got. He was really broad-shouldered now too and it suited him. He’d been pretty skinny as a teen, but he’d bulked up as well as shot up. But his face, his smile, the way he looked at her like he couldn’t believe he’d had the good fortune to bump into her, that was all the same.

‘I didn’t know you were home!’ he said, when he reached her.

‘No,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t meant to be. Connie wasn’t well and—’

‘Are you busy now?’ he interrupted. ‘Want to get a coffee? I mean, you need to replace that one anyway.’

Piper looked down at the puddle of latte Buster was slurping vigorously. Buster on caffeine. Great.

‘Um,’ she said. ‘Yeah. That would be good. Thanks.’

---

‘So is Aunty Connie okay?’ Rob asked once they’d torn Buster away from the latte, and were sitting down inside with a new latte for Piper and a black coffee for Rob. ‘It’s not serious, I hope.’

‘She insists she’s fine,’ Piper said, smiling. She told him what had happened on Friday. ‘I think I probably did overreact. I was just scared of something happening to her and me not being here.’

‘That’s understandable,’ Rob said. He leaned back in his chair. ‘So. How’ve you been?’

‘I’m good,’ Piper said. ‘Things are good.’

‘Pipes,’ Rob said and Piper’s face flushed at the old nickname, used so casually. Fifteen years ago, ten years ago, that would have been food for fantasies for days.

‘I think you can do better than “good”,’ Rob said.

‘I’m sorry,’ Piper said. ‘Um. I went to uni. And now I work in a record company. But in the most boring department. I share a flat with my best friend Matt. And I run a body positivity blog. I think that’s pretty much it. How about you?’

‘You were great on that show,’ he said, ignoring her question. ‘I couldn’t believe it was you. I was getting my breakfast and I heard your voice. You were amazing. You wiped the floor with that woman.’

Piper shook her head. ‘I don’t remember much about it. But I’m glad you messaged.’

Rob leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. ‘You never think of messaging me? Or any of the girls?’

Piper’s shoulders felt tight, the skin prickling. She’d forgotten how straightforward he was. How when they were teens and the others would lie and bullshit, that Rob would always just come out with things.

‘I just… I kind of wanted to leave it all behind, you know?’

‘I always worried that maybe we did something? To hurt you?’

She’d forgotten the eye contact thing too. Jesus. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She shook her head instead.

‘Because if I did, then—’

‘You didn’t,’ Piper said. ‘It was me. I just wanted to be away. I wanted to be different. I wanted to start over.’

‘And did you?’ Rob asked.

Piper smiled. ‘I did, yeah. Eventually.’

‘Mum sees Connie quite often. In the bank.’

‘Yeah, she mentioned that. A few times actually.’

‘It’s the centre of Mum’s social life. Although any time I go anywhere with her she bumps into someone she knows. Drives me nuts.’

Piper laughed. ‘I remember that with my parents.’ She bit her lip. She didn’t want to talk about her parents.

Rob smiled at her, still leaning forward, still staring right at her. ‘It’s nice though, right? Knowing everyone. Don’t get that in London, do you?’

Piper laughed. ‘No. But where I live is kind of village-y. So I do know people in shops and the postman – well, we have a postwoman, actually – and everything.’

‘Where do you live?’

‘Stoke Newington. I love it.’ Piper sipped her coffee. ‘What do you do?’

Rob grinned. ‘I’m a teacher. At Rocklands.’

‘No way.’

‘You didn’t know?’

‘No! Connie definitely never told me that. I would’ve remembered. What’s it like?’

‘It’s great actually. I love it.’

‘What do you teach?’

‘Design and Technology.’

‘Oh my god. Like Mr Rich?’

His face broke into a grin and Piper grinned back at him.

‘No! Not like Mr Rich.’

‘I bet you’re just like him. I bet all the girls are madly in love with you. And some of the boys.’

Rob dropped his head, shaking it as he laughed. ‘Nah.’

They would be, Piper knew. They had to be. He was incredibly hot. He’d been gorgeous when they were teens, but now he was… he’d definitely be the teacher everyone fancied.

‘What was the name of that teacher…’ Rob started to say, looking up at her, his face screwed up in concentration. ‘Not Mr Rich. The one with the tight trousers?’

‘Mr McGrath,’ Piper said, without hesitation. ‘God, he was gorgeous.’

‘I saw him in a club once. In Liverpool. His wife looks about half his age.’

‘Oh god. He was proper gorgeous though. Like… Mr Rich was teacher gorgeous – best of a bad lot, you know? But Mr McGrath was actually gorgeous.’

Rob was actually gorgeous too, she knew. She doubted that any of the other teachers looked anything like him.

‘I can’t believe you’re a teacher,’ Piper said, reaching for her latte again. ‘You hated school.’

‘I didn’t hate it,’ Rob said. ‘I just would have preferred not to be there.’

Rob had been the typical teen who was always getting told off for messing around and joking and distracting the class. It was one of the things Piper had first liked about him – he made everyone laugh, including, often, the teacher. And he and Piper had the same sense of humour. After not very long, they’d look at each other when someone said something stupid or inappropriate or something that could be a double entendre. Piper had loved that she had someone she could glance at, see smiling back at her – or doing a ‘look to camera’ expression – and be reassured that she wasn’t alone, that someone at school got her.

‘How’s Holly doing?’ Rob asked.

‘Same as always. Working and working out and going on fancy holidays.’

‘She doesn’t come home either?’ Rob asked.

Piper shook her head and then said, ‘Hey! I come home! I’m here now!’

‘You are.’ He smiled. ‘But when are you leaving?’

‘Oh shit!’ Piper said, glancing at the time on her phone. ‘I need to go. Connie’ll be wondering where I am and I need to spend a bit more time with her before my train.’

She stood up, bumping the table with her knees, and tried to detangle Buster’s lead from the table legs.

‘So are you coming to the reunion?’ Rob asked, following her out onto the prom.

‘What reunion?’

‘School reunion. You haven’t seen it on Facebook?’

Piper shook her head. She tried to avoid everyone from home on Facebook. And everywhere.

‘Weekend after next,’ Rob said. ‘At the Floral.’ He pointed over his shoulder in the direction of the Floral Pavilion Theatre.

Piper’s mouth was dry. She really didn’t want to go. She’d managed to avoid everyone she used to be friends with for the past ten years – why would she voluntarily walk into a room full of them?

‘You should definitely come,’ Rob said. ‘You know, if you can. I know everyone would be excited to see you.’

Piper shook her head. ‘I don’t think I can. But I’ll have a look. Thanks for telling me.’

She tugged Buster away from the bin he was sniffing and said, ‘So I’d better go. It’s been really good seeing you.’

‘You too,’ Rob said.

He took a step closer and pulled her into a hug. He squeezed and she remembered he’d always been great at hugs too.

‘Don’t leave it so long next time, right?’ he said.

She nodded. ‘I won’t. I promise.’

But she was lying.