‘Well, it’s very kind of you to come here and see for yourself,’ Grace said in a moment of exuberance. ‘I’ve grown quite fond of Connie, so it would mean a great deal to me to find out more about her life and what happened to her.’

‘Then it means a great deal to me too, Grace! I’ve really enjoyed being here in the café with you and I’m looking forward to us spending more time together on this.’ He nodded as if to punctuate his point, making Grace blush as she looked down into her now empty mug.

Was he flirting?

She’d been out of the loop for so long that she couldn’t really tell. And her and Phil had just kind of become a thing. There had never been any flirting as such … more a casual acceptance of two people walking home from the bus stop together. But then, suddenly, Cora’s words from last night were flying around inside her head again … Forgetful. Nosey. Rough-handed. Lazy. And then: he has a girlfriend, in America, you fool, and she’s bound to be smart and vivacious and beautiful so he’s hardly going to flirt with someone like me now, is he?

She inhaled sharply and let out a quick breath to clear her head, determined to not let the millstone drag her down again and spoil the moment, for right now she did actually feel normal. She was out in a café with someone who knew nothing about her difficulties with anxiety and the challenges she dealt with at home, and it felt nice. In fact, it felt very nice indeed to be enjoying herself and participating in her own life for a change. And not waiting for Cora to bang on the flaming ceiling any minute now and bellow her demands.

‘Me too,’ she said softly, ‘I’m looking forward to it as well.’ She didn’t look him in the eye, but she’d work up to it for sure. Today was just the beginning as, in that moment, she made a promise to herself to make more of an effort, knowing that she was ready to break out of her self-imposed confinement. Even if it was only to come to the café now and again for a hot chocolate, and maybe Larry would be OK with her bringing her laptop and doing the invoicing spreadsheet while she was here? It would make a change from just being at home or at work, plus she couldn’t really see another way as she could hardly stop going home at lunchtimes to give Cora her lunch and a comfort break. And she was also going to broach the topic with Cora of having a weekend off to go to the spa with Phil. After all, her mother had said she should make more of an effort with this one …