I signalled to Liv that I’d be upstairs when Mum was free. I tucked my suitcase into a space under the stairwell and headed up to the kitchen/staffroom on the first floor, put the kettle on to boil, and helped myself to a piece of shortbread.

As well as the staffroom, the first floor of Bear With Me housed a large stock room, the staff toilet, and a second retail space full of bear-making supplies, costumes for teddies, bear-themed greetings cards and wrapping paper, as well as bear-themed stationery. The second floor was home to more storage and the bear-making workshop/sewing room.

‘Jemma!’ Over the racket from the world’s loudest kettle, I hadn’t heard Mum coming up the stairs. She gave me a brief hug before pulling out a seat. ‘Ooh. That’s better. Sorry about that. That was Terrence.’

She said the name as if it should mean something to me. I raised an eyebrow. ‘Terrence?’

‘My friendly stalker.’

I tossed teabags into the mugs, tears pricking in my eyes. She’d been telling us about him the day Scott proposed. Another lifetime ago.

‘He didn’t look very stalker-ish,’ I said.

‘He’s completely harmless. A bit intense, but quite sweet. His sister has Parkinson’s. She’s fifty-one but she was diagnosed when she was the same age as me. She has rigidity, too, rather than shakes. He’s going to put me in touch with her. It might be helpful.’

‘Sounds good.’ I placed a mug in front of her, hugged her, then sat down. ‘You look tired, Mum.’

She shrugged. ‘I’m fine. Busy morning. That’s all.’ She studied my face for a moment. ‘If we were having a looking exhausted contest, I think I’d be taking second place. What’s wrong, Jemma-bear? Scott hasn’t been in touch, has he?’ I’d never told her about Scott’s reappearance then subsequent disappearance. There hadn’t seemed any point in adding to her worries and Tiff, Leah, Drew and Karen had all been there to help me pick up the pieces, each managing to resist saying, ‘I told you so’.

I blew on my tea. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever hear from him again. Drew had an unexpected blast from the past, though, and he got a bit upset about it so I was up till the early hours yesterday morning consoling him. I’m still a bit tired from that.’ And I’m worried about you. But I didn’t add that. I wanted to finish my conversation with Sam before I broached the subject.