The only bright spot had been the couple of texts and a call we’d had from Dad. He’d got as far as Belgium and would be spending the next few days doing a tour of First World War landmarks. Evie and I had agreed that this stop probably wouldn’t have been on the itinerary if Mum had been with him; she’d have headed straight for the sun, sea and glamour of the South of France. Dad had been as pleased as Punch that he’d had such a successful first day; there was no way we were going to spoil it by mentioning Harvey.

I sat down at the table with my tea. Evie peered into the mug and frowned.

‘Black? You normally have your tea stewed but milky.’

I swallowed. ‘Don’t. Even the word … milky’ – I said it fast – ‘makes me feel queasy. I think you’re right: I might have a bug.’

She stared at me. ‘You’re not pregnant, are you?’ She managed to inject a hint of laughter into her voice but I wasn’t fooled; it would be such a kick in the teeth for her if I’d got pregnant without even wanting to after all the heartache she and Darren had been through trying to conceive.

‘Definitely not.’ I shook my head. ‘We took precautions and I haven’t missed my period.’

A niggling voice reminded me that it was only a light one last time, but I pushed it away. Apart from the occasional accident which Harvey had owned up to, he was very careful about using condoms. There’d been one or two occasions when I’d been carried away and wanted to throw caution to the wind, but Harvey had insisted. He wasn’t ready to share me with anybody else, he’d said, not even our own baby. I’d thought that was quite sweet at the time.

‘Anyway, listen,’ I said, placing my mug down away from her laptop and on top of the latest copy of the parish magazine, ‘I’ve been thinking. It’s lovely of you to offer me your spare spare room, but I’m going to look for somewhere else. I think I’m probably more trouble than I’m worth. Besides, if I’m going to hang around for a while, I might as well find a place of my own.’

I half hoped that Evie would protest; Harvey’s appearance aside, it was lovely to be spending time together. But she gripped her own mug and gazed into it, not meeting my eye.

‘It might be for the best,’ she said quietly.

I plastered on a smile.

‘Not that you’re any trouble at all,’ she added quickly. ‘But given everything that’s going on with me …’

‘Exactly. And I wouldn’t want Harvey to jeopardize anything.’