‘I think you need one of these.’ I opened my arms wide and, without hesitation, Jemma snuggled against my chest, sobbing. I’d watched her trying to hold back the tears as she hugged her flatmates goodbye and made promises to stay in touch and visit each other regularly. I heard them telling her she was their family now and, even though she’d smiled, I could tell the words had broken her. As we set off, I could tell she was still trying to hold it together and it was pointless. We had a long drive ahead of us and she needed to let it go or she’d be on edge for the next four or five hours.

‘Oh my goodness, I needed that,’ she said, releasing me some time later. ‘Thank you.’

‘All part of the premium removals service.’ I clambered back into the driver’s seat and we continued on our way.

I could see that Jemma had visibly relaxed but she was still quiet, staring out of the window, probably trying to imprint the streets round her London home in her mind.

As if reading my thoughts, she said, ‘I promise I will talk to you. I’m just taking it all in for one last time.’

‘That’s fine. You take your time.’

She was quiet for another five minutes or so, then she turned to me. ‘How do you feel about going home? Did you say it’ll be the first time since you moved down south?’

‘Yes, which is really bad given that I moved here eight months ago.’ I cringed as I said it. Jack had visited a couple of times, and so had my parents, so I had at least seen some of my family, but it was wrong of me not to have made an effort to see the others. ‘I’m a bit nervous. No. Nervous isn’t the right word. Or is it? I don’t know. I feel guilty for staying away for so long. Embarrassed too. And, yes, probably nervous because I think I want to visit the spot of beach where it happened but I don’t know whether that’s going to be too hard to do.’

‘What was she like? Or is it too painful to talk about?’

‘No, I’d like to talk about her if you don’t mind listening.’

‘I’m not going anywhere for at least four hours.’ She wriggled in her seat so she could face me a bit better.

I smiled. ‘She was amazing. Absolutely amazing.’