Mum reached across the table and squeezed my hand. ‘You would tell me if Scott got in touch again, wouldn’t you? The no secrets pact still counts. Just because I’ve got some health challenges at the moment, it doesn’t stop me being your mum first and foremost. Parkinson’s doesn’t define me. You and Logan and this place are what defines me. And I know there’s something you’re not telling me about Scott. You’ve heard from him, haven’t you?’

‘Not recently.’

‘But you have heard from him. No secrets.’

I sighed. ‘Okay. I saw him. It was mid-July and he turned up at the flat…’

‘And you’ve heard nothing since that text after his no-show at the restaurant?’ Mum asked when I’d finished my sorry tale.

‘Nothing.’

‘How do you feel about him now?’

‘I don’t really know. Sometimes I’m in tears and I feel so lost without him and can’t bear to face the future. Sometimes it feels like we’re still together, still in love, and still getting married and that the double life thing was just a dream. Sometimes the overriding emotion is anger. How dare he betray me? How dare he come back to me and get me to fall for his lies all over again? How dare he choose them and not me? Then I feel unbelievably guilty because it’s absolutely right that he did choose them.’

Mum squeezed my hand. ‘It’ll take time.’

‘I know. A heck of a lot of time.’

The next day, Mum looked terrible. She shuffled into the kitchen barely able to prise her eyes open.

‘Back to bed,’ I ordered. ‘I’ll bring you some breakfast then I’ll go to the shop.’

She didn’t even attempt a feeble protest. She was obviously feeling horrendous.

‘Logan?’ she asked.

‘I’ll take him with me. It’s about time he earned his keep.’ I winked at her but she didn’t even manage a weak smile in return.

Logan was a star. He didn’t complain. He packed his tablet, DS, a sketchbook and some pencil crayons into his school bag and assured me he’d be fine on his own in the staffroom.

It felt strange preparing the till and getting ready to open up the shop. The last time I’d done that had been before I moved to London.

With ten minutes to go till opening time, I wandered round the ground floor, aiming to familiarise myself with where to find everything. Nothing much had changed, though. The designs differed and there were some new lines but everything had the same home as before. I was itching to re-merchandise some of the displays but I had to resist in case moving things round offended Mum.