‘He was hammering at the door,’ she murmured, ‘yelling that he knew you were in here. I had to let him in in case the fostering agency interviews the neighbours too. I couldn’t risk them mentioning that I’d had an aggressive man trying to get in.’

‘Don’t apologize.’ I hugged her swiftly. ‘I’m sorry for putting you in this position and bringing trouble to your door.’

I noticed her glance at the clock on the oven. ‘I’ll get rid of him as quickly as I can.’

She waved a hand. ‘Shit happens. Are you okay? You look clammy and red.’

I managed a laugh. ‘Never run so fast in my life.’

‘Are you going to leave me on my own much longer?’ Harvey shouted from the living room.

‘Tosser.’ Evie gritted her teeth and shook her head. ‘And to think I used to like him.’

‘And I loved him.’ I downed my water in one and wiped my mouth. ‘Right, I’m going in.’

‘Wait.’ She grabbed her mobile phone. ‘Let me ring Darren, he’ll be straight over if we— Oh.’ Her mouth opened and she blinked rapidly at me. ‘For a second there I forgot and—’

We locked eyes for a moment and I squeezed her hand. Poor Evie, for all her brave talk of going it alone, I hoped she was beginning to realize how much Darren meant to her.

‘I’ll be okay on my own,’ I said. ‘You try not to worry.’

My sister gave me a look that said: Yeah right.

I took a calming breath and left the room.

Harvey was pacing up and down the length of Evie’s living room. As soon as I entered, he dropped on to the sofa, perching on the edge, and patted the space next to him.

I headed for an armchair and sat back as if I was totally at ease with him. Inside I was quaking, but I was determined not to show it.

‘Harvey, I appreciate you coming to check on me,’ I said with an attempt at a warm smile, ‘but as you can see, I’m fine.’

His brow furrowed. ‘But you just left. No warning, no indication that anything was wrong.’

I felt so tired. Too tired to fight him. ‘Oh come on, Harvey,’ I said heavily. ‘Things have been tense for months.’

He moved closer to my chair so that our knees were touching and reached for my hand. But I was too quick for him and snatched it away. He sighed irritably.

‘Look. Whatever it was I said or did that made you run, I apologize. We can’t let a silly little tiff come between us. We can sort this out, Lottie. Come home.’

I shook my head defiantly. ‘I am home. I’m not going back to London.’

Or to you.

He threw his hands into the air and then slapped his thighs. ‘So you won’t accept my apology?’