Olivia carried on down the wooded slope now, placing her feet with care. Here she was, just her and her bad memories, in the very place they had happened. Because today she was going to rip off the scab and feel the pain of the truth, for the first time in two decades. It was the least she could do.

Hesitating between the trees, she stared around her. Was this the spot? Right here? It was hard to tell. The night had been dark and the car had rolled over a few times before smashing into the tree with one final terrible crunch; remembering those fractured jumbled moments now and trying to relate them to her surroundings was impossible. Her legs were shaking, she realized, and she sat down suddenly in front of an oak tree. The ground was soft and springy beneath her and she leaned against the thick gnarled trunk to catch her breath. There. This would do. It was as good a place as any.

‘Hello again,’ she said. There was the faint hum now and then from the road above as a vehicle droned by, and sporadic birdsong from the trees, but otherwise it was quiet. Peaceful. The light was green and dappled through the leafy branches and her gaze was caught by an ant nearby, carrying a seed on its back. Tiny flies circled mesmerizingly in the air a short distance away. This miniature world was going about its creeping, murmuring business, wholly uninterested in her. She stretched out her legs in front of her, hands in her lap, and shut her eyes. Remembering.

It had been an ordinary day when she’d bumped into Pete in town. The exams were over and she was trying to get a holiday job for the summer. Aidan, of course, had already found a bar job at the golf club, but Olivia had left it to the last minute and was now dropping her details in at some of the hotels and B&Bs, in the hope that someone needed a waitress or chambermaid. She was getting nowhere and feeling increasingly fed up, so when she’d heard Pete calling, ‘All right, Liv?’ across the street she’d been glad of the distraction.