Exciting news! Lady from fostering agency is dropping in this afternoon for a chat. Am hoovering like I’m on speed!

Phew; at least Harvey hadn’t turned up yet. I dialled her number to warn her but it was engaged. There was no time to waste leaving messages; if I ran fast I could be back at her cottage in five minutes.

So I ran.

Why was he here? Why couldn’t he accept we were over? Maybe I’d done the wrong thing ending it with a letter, although that was the advice I’d been given and it had felt like the cleanest way to do it. What was I going to say to him? What sort of mood would he be in? I knew the answer to that – he’d be angry, very angry.

I stopped at the corner of Evie’s street. On the drive was her little VW Polo and behind it, Dad’s van which he’d lent to me while he was away. If Harvey had forgotten which number Evie lived at, the logo for Allbright’s Tree Services on the side of the van would have jogged his memory.

Completely out of breath and weak-kneed, I limped the last few metres to the house and knocked on the door.

Evie opened it instantly. Her eyes were wide and her mouth puckered with worry. ‘I’m sorry, he didn’t give me any choice.’

Behind her a broad shadow moved into view. ‘Hello, stranger.’

The sight of my ex-boyfriend smiling contritely made my stomach quiver. He held out his arms as if expecting me to fall into them.

‘No, I’m sorry,’ I said, squeezing Evie’s hand.

‘You can do this,’ she whispered so softly that Harvey wouldn’t hear. ‘Get it over with.’

I gritted my teeth and nodded, remembering what Dad had said in the pub: I’d done the hardest part in leaving him. Now I had to move on. And that was what I intended to do.

‘Harvey,’ I said, tilting my chin up, ‘what are you doing here?’

I stepped into Evie’s little hall and she put an arm protectively around my waist.

Harvey gave a laugh of surprise and came closer, hands extended as if he was going to hug me. ‘What do you think I’m doing? I couldn’t get through on the phone and I was worried about you. Dashing off like that. It’s obvious you aren’t thinking clearly at the moment.’

‘I’ve never been clearer in my life. Excuse me.’ I sidestepped him. ‘I need a drink of water.’

I headed to the kitchen and I heard Evie persuading him to go in the lounge.

She followed me into the kitchen and closed the door behind her.