Chapter One — The Lake

The first time Molly saw Lake Windermere, she felt as though she had arrived somewhere she had been missing her entire life. The water stretched endlessly before her, reflecting the pale afternoon sky, while the distant hills rose gently through the mist. She stood quietly at the edge of the lake, breathing in the cool autumn air, completely unaware that within a few minutes she was going to meet the person who would become her whole world.

She had come to Windermere because her life had become unbearably ordinary. She wanted somewhere quiet, somewhere beautiful, somewhere she could forget about deadlines, unanswered messages and the constant feeling that something was missing. What she didn't realise was that the missing piece of her life was already walking towards her.

His name was James, and Molly first noticed him because he was carrying two coffees and looking completely lost. He stopped several metres away from her, looked at the lake, looked at his phone, and then looked back at the lake with the expression of a man who had just discovered that technology had betrayed him.

"Excuse me," he said. "Do you know where the lakeside path begins?"

Molly smiled. "You're standing on it."

James looked down at his feet, then back at her.

"That explains a lot."

She laughed, and something inside James changed. He would later tell her that he knew at that exact moment that he was going to fall in love with her. Molly would always accuse him of exaggerating, but secretly she loved hearing him say it.