Sarah walked behind the counter, feeling better about putting a barrier between her and Mo. She wasn’t scared of the woman, but seeing her had reopened her wounds, and Mo’s pleading was rubbing salt into them. ‘What you did is unforgivable. Tommy had just died, and you saw the state I was in, but it didn’t stop you from sleeping with Roger. Now you’ve got the audacity to come here and stand in front of me, say you’re sorry and expect me to say, oh, that’s OK. Well, it’s not. You’re a bitch, I hate you and I wish I’d never met you,’ Sarah spat.

‘I know, and I know all that,’ Mo said as she sniffed through her sobs, ‘but I don’t have anyone else to turn to. What I did was the lowest of the low, and I’ve regretted it every day since. If I could go back and do things differently, I would, but I can’t and now … now … I’m pregnant.’

Sarah sat down on the stool behind the counter as the shock of Mo’s words sunk in, but it didn’t change how she felt about the woman. ‘What do you expect me to do about it?’ she said. ‘Go back to your family, they’ll take you in now you’re not with Sam.’

‘I can’t … I don’t know who the father is. If the baby comes out with dark skin, they’ll disown me. It could be Roger’s child, but he won’t have anything to do with me, and I can’t find Sam. I’ve been modelling to earn some money, but I can’t do that for much longer, not with my belly starting to swell. I’ll have no money, Sarah, and if I can’t pay the rent, I won’t have a home.’

Sarah didn’t like to see anyone in this sort of state, and she knew how it felt to be all alone in the world with a child, but her heart was hard towards Mo. ‘You brought this on yourself. You cheated on a good man who loved you, and that worked out well for you, didn’t it?’ Sarah said sarcastically. ‘If you think I’m going to help you, then think again. You’re not worth the dirt on the bottom of my shoe. Now get out.’