“You can’t cope with this on your own,” he told her, coming straight to the point in a tone that brooked no dissent. “Nor can you carry on blaming yourself for something you didn’t do. The responsibility for what happened to your mother lies squarely with those behind the fire.”

“But if I hadn’t brought her here . . .”

“The responsibility is not yours,” he said emphatically, “but your mental health is, so what you must do for yourself, and your mother and Jasmine, is talk to someone who knows how to help you.”

Because she’d known he was right, she’d booked an appointment with her GP the next day, but when she finally got to see him she discovered that the wait list for an NHS psychotherapist was months. So instead of going that route she contacted a recommended private therapist instead.

It was his voice that she could hear inside her head now as she sat in her craft room with everything crowding in on her. It somehow broke through the chaos, a whisper in a storm at first, but calm and comforting, telling her to cry and rage all she needed to until she was ready to begin one of the exercises he’d given her. She always chose the same one, for it was simple and worked every time. All she had to do was picture herself in a place that felt restful and nurturing, somewhere she’d been before or maybe somewhere she’d like to go. She could be alone, or with someone she trusted, a friend or relative who brought no negativity at all into her world. At first it was always Joel or her father she turned to, but lately she’d found herself thinking of Dan and the way he’d held her that day on the moor. Even in memory it felt like a safe haven, and holding it close in her mind could be almost as soothing as the times he’d held her since.

They weren’t dating, or calling each other every day, or making promises they might not be able to keep, but over the past couple of months he’d often joined them for picnics on the moor, or hikes along the coastal path, or a trip to the cinema. It was always somewhere Marcy wouldn’t have to cope with too many people looking at her. Henry usually organized the excursions and more often than not it was just the four of them, although Jasmine occasionally came too, or Andee, or Leanne. At the end of the day, or evening, Dan would sometimes hold Claudia just a little bit longer than a friend might before going on his way, as though reassuring her that he was there if she needed him. It helped so much, and she wondered if he had any idea of that.