When I Lost You: A Gripping, Heart Breaking Novel of Lost Love. by Kelly Rimmer Page B

and those Iraqi kids, you see this fragile link develop where you see the common ground, and then you see the difference. They’re the best stories because they really connect with readers.’
    ‘I just realised what I want to do with my life,’ Molly said suddenly.
    ‘If you say “war journalism”, I’m pretty sure Laith will hunt me down and kill me.’
    ‘No,’ she laughed again. ‘I prefer my overseas trips to end at a luxurious five-star hotel in a peaceful country, thank you. It’s not the thing you do, Leo. It’s the way you talk about it. Like you genuinely love it. You talk about your job the same way people talk about their partner or their kids – there’s pride and passion and real drive.’
    ‘I couldn’t stop doing it even if I wanted to,’ I agreed quietly. ‘It’s not a job to me, it’s a calling.’
    ‘ Yes! ’ she said, and with so much enthusiasm that once again, heads turned to look at us. I wondered what they were thinking when they saw me sitting beside her. We were sitting close together, talking intently at a table on the water at a fancy bar, sharing a drink and staring at one another. Would people assume we were on a date? I liked that idea very much indeed. A young guy in a suit at the table behind Molly had turned when she made her exclamation and his gaze lingered. I stared at him long enough to catch his eye, then let my stare sharpen until he looked away.
    I had no claim to Molly – no right to any feeling of possessiveness – but even so, if he was going to gawk at her, he wasn’t going to do it while I was sitting right beside her.
    ‘That’s what I need,’ Molly continued chatting, completely oblivious to the eye-contact power struggle that had just happened right behind her back. ‘I need a calling . What made you realise that you wanted to be a journalist?’ She tilted her head as she stared at me, and I stared right back, altogether distracted by the deep ocean-blue of her eyes and the intense focus she was directing at me. After a moment or two, she raised her eyebrows and the hint of a smile hovered over her lips. ‘I’m in no rush. Do you need to be somewhere?’
    There wasn’t a place in the world where I’d rather have been in that moment – quite literally, I realised with some surprise.
    ‘I saw an interview on the news one night during the first Iraq war – a teenager about my age had seen his mother shot right in front of him. Mum was pretty important to me, and it kind of rocked me that things like that could go on in the world. It put a lot of things into perspective, actually. I thought the guy who was standing there interviewing that kid was a superhero. He was in a war zone and giving that kid a voice. So…’ I shrugged, ‘that was that.’
    ‘But print, not television?’
    ‘That was an easy choice. I wanted to do the groundbreaking interviews, I didn’t want anyone to watch while I did it. I do get asked to do some television stuff occasionally – giving commentary on conflict events mostly – but I don’t love it. I much prefer having the space to tinker with words until they express my thoughts properly.’
    ‘Right,’ she said, and she drew in a deep breath. ‘So I need to get myself a defining moment like that one.’
    I chuckled and said, ‘I don’t think you can just buy them at a shop.’
    ‘Leo,’ she smiled at me patronisingly. ‘I’m Molly Torrington . I am the kind of person who can make things happen.’
    ‘I’m not suggesting for even a second that you are anything other than extraordinary,’ I assured her. ‘I like your attitude.’ I loved the confidence behind it too. ‘I really hope it works out for you.’
    ‘It will,’ she said with some determination, and she finished the last of her wine and sat the glass down heavily against the table. ‘God, I need another drink.’
    ‘Allow me,’ I said, and I shuffled along the bench so that I could stand. ‘I could do with another too. Should we split