I’d been interviewed for Mum’s valuation jobs and had secured both. I wouldn’t officially start the local role until the New Year but there’d been an auction in early December in London so I’d started working for that auction house immediately so I could attend it. I’d stayed with Leah, Tiff and Drew for the three nights. They’d been true to their word and hadn’t looked for a new lodger so it was lovely being back in my old room although strange being there without any of my belongings round me.

While down in London, I’d also visited Owen and delivered the pair of Ju-Sea Jem Bears he’d requested, although we’d put a date in the diary for him to visit Whitsborough Bay in January as he was still dying to see the shop and meet Mum.

Sam and I kept in touch by text and WhatsApp but we never spoke. He’d called me a few times but I didn’t return his calls. I couldn’t bear the thought of an awkward conversation tinged with regrets.

When I first knew I was going to London, I nearly called him so many times but had to stop myself. Once in London, the pull to call him, to see him, to hold him was almost unbearable, but I needed to stay strong. If I saw him, I wouldn’t be able to resist him.

He hadn’t been home since our goodbye kiss but he’d messaged to say he was taking some leave and would be home for Christmas. Instantly, an image of the two of us below the mistletoe sprang into my mind and wouldn’t leave.

I longed to see him, to talk to him, to laugh with him and, yes, I longed for a future with him. Alone in bed at night, I repeatedly kicked myself for letting him go and worried that I’d made the biggest mistake of my life. But I knew that a distance relationship would have been a mistake too as my paranoia would have torn us apart. I’d just have to keep hoping that a job opportunity would eventually arise, he’d move back to Whitsborough Bay, and we could finally go on a proper date and see where it took us.

I dropped Logan off at Rachel’s before driving Mum to the hospital in my shiny new lease car. Rachel was taking him and Eden for lunch then to see the latest Disney release at the cinema on the seafront at South Bay.

‘You grab a seat,’ Mum said, approaching the reception desk. ‘I’ll tell them we’re here.’

A few minutes later, she sat down beside me.

‘I wonder if Dr Steadman knows that I’ve put in all those complaints about him,’ I said.

‘Aren’t they meant to be confidential?’