Another gust of wind made me shiver and wrap my arms across my body for warmth. It was a fairly mild evening, especially compared to Bonfire Night but it certainly wasn’t warm enough to be sitting on a metal bench for an hour and a quarter. I glanced at my watch. Karen was only fifteen minutes into her hour-long session. Sitting in Blue Savannah on my own would be even worse than being home alone. I needed to find something to distract me.

I took a walk along the promenade and phoned Leah but it went straight to voicemail. I tried Tiff. Her phone rang for ages and it struck me that 7.15 p.m. on a Friday night probably wasn’t a good time to catch anyone. If she wasn’t at work, she’d be out at the pub. I was just about to hang up when she answered with a croaky voice.

‘Hello?’

‘Hi, Tiff. It’s Jemma. You sound awful.’

‘I’m full of cold. I think I might even be bordering on man-flu.’

‘That bad eh?’

‘Definitely. How’s life up north?’

‘Not so good. I had some awful news today…’

‘Could she have been lying?’ Tiff croaked after I’d told her about Fiona’s visit, my voice cracking at regular intervals.

‘I don’t think so. She had no reason to. I was already out of his life, thanks to the text she sent. Besides, she brought his ashes with her.’

‘It could be dust in there and you’d never know. Wait a second.’

‘What are you doing?’ But it was quiet so I’d have to wait. My eyes strayed towards Karen’s small group. They seemed to be doing some sort of relay in pairs. One did burpees while the other ran along the promenade and back, then they swapped. I felt exhausted just watching them.

‘I’m back,’ Tiff said. ‘Sorry, Jem, but she’s telling you the truth.’

‘Have you consulted your crystal ball?’

‘Yes. It’s called Google. I found an obituary in the local paper, a couple of articles about him, and a tribute on his company’s website. He’s really gone.’

The tears started again. ‘I didn’t get to say goodbye,’ I squeaked.

‘I know. I’m so sorry. He was far too young. It doesn’t seem fair.’ She paused for a coughing fit. ‘Sorry about that. What happens now?’

‘I honestly don’t know. I’ve spent the last four months getting over him while believing he was the bad guy who’d broken my heart and let me down yet again. Turns out it was really his heart that was broken and had let him down instead.’

Karen stared at me later, eyes wide, shaking her head. ‘I can’t believe it! When you turned up tonight, I knew something had happened but I thought your mum had maybe had a setback. Shit, Jem, I’m so sorry.’