“I’m sorry,” he says softly, after an eternity. “For everything.”
I breathe in the scent of him. He smells of sun and sea.
“You don’t smell the same,” I say.
“What do you mean?”
“You smelled like Lukas. When you were near me, I recognized the same smell that I had smelled on him, like freshly mown grass. It’s one of the reasons I thought you were Lukas.”
He gives a low laugh. “That’ll have been the shower gel. Lukas left a whole bottle of it, unopened. He brings his products over from Lithuania and doesn’t bother to take them back with him.”
Lukas’s shower gel. He had been using Lukas’s shower gel.
I step back and his arms fall from around me.
“I need to go. I’m leaving tonight.”
“Won’t you stay?”
“I can’t.”
He follows me to the door.
“Will I see you again?”
“No.”
I walk into the sunlight, up the slope to the track. When I get to the top, I turn around. He’s standing in the doorway, watching me, and I feel this terrible tug inside me. I’ve lost everyone and despite everything, I don’t want to lose him too. He’s all I have left, and there’s so much about him that I don’t know. I don’t even know his first name, I realize.
I raise a hand, shading my eyes from the sun.
“Maybe,” I say.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My heartfelt thanks to: （this time, to ring the changes, in alphabetical order）
My fellow authors, for their invaluable friendship and support, and for taking the time to read my book when their TBR piles are already stacked high.
The amazing bloggers, for giving their time to read and review.
My wonderful agent, Camilla Bolton, for her advice and enthusiasm, and for always being there for me, and the rest of the team at Darley Anderson, with special thanks to Mary Darby, Kristina Egan, Georgia Fuller, and Rosanna Bellingham, Sheila David and Jade Kavanagh.
My amazing UK editor, Jo Dickinson, and the wonderful team at Hodder, with special thanks to Alice Morley and Stephen Cooper.
My editors overseas, for their continued faith in me.
My family, which became one person larger this year, with the arrival of beautiful Nina.
My friends, both in France and the UK, with a special shout-out to the LF crowd. Thank you for welcoming me into your community.
Readers everywhere, for reading and reviewing, and for their lovely comments, which lift me up and give me the motivation to write another.
My amazing US editor, Catherine Richards, and the wonderful team at St. Martin’s Press, with special thanks to Jen Enderlin, Lisa Senz, Nettie Finn, Marissa Sangiacomo, Brant Janeway, Katie Bassel, Kiffin Steurer, Jeremy Haiting, and Lizz Blaise, also to copy editor NaNá Stoelzle, and to proofreaders/cold readers Steve Hicks, Susan McGrath, Lani Meyer, and Stephanie Umeda.
To technology, in particular Google Earth and Google Maps. In 2020, I planned to go to New Zealand and spend some time in Akaroa, where I wanted to set part of this book. Circumstances meant that I couldn’t, so I had to rely on my ability to map-read correctly. Needless to say, any errors with regard to Akaroa, and to New Zealand in general, are entirely my own.
My brilliant translators, for bringing The Prisoner to life for readers abroad.
I would also like to give special thanks to Paul Carr, who made a very generous donation to the Books for Vaccines auction for the right to appear as a character of my choosing in The Prisoner. Thank you for bidding, Paul!