‘And what brought you two to Valentine Island?’ Victoria asks.

‘Lies upon lies,’ Kevin scoffs.

‘Oh?’ Victoria prompts. I’ve noticed she does a lot of prompting. Another thing she does is wait for ages before she speaks, letting people talk and talk and then, when she remains silent, they talk a little more. I feel as if she’s trying to bleed us dry of information. People talk the amount it makes sense to talk, but then she therapists them into saying more than they ought to. Well, she isn’t going to trick me into sharing my feelings.

‘My darling wife – of seven years – told me that she was taking me somewhere special on holiday,’ he explains. ‘She arranged for her mum to look after the kids, drove us to the airport and then brought me here!’

‘You don’t think here is special?’ Victoria asks.

‘Look, Jen knows there’s only one place I want to go. Hobbiton in New Zealand. When she told me she was taking me somewhere special, she knew what she was implying.’

Victoria can’t wait for a second to ask this question.

‘Hobbiton?’

‘It’s from The Lord of the Rings,’ he tells her, very matter-of-factly. ‘You can do these pilgrimages through Middle-earth.’

‘You’re a big fan of The Lord of the Rings?’ Victoria asks.

Kevin’s wife, Jen, blushes with embarrassment.

‘Is Bilbo Baggins a hobbit?’ he replies – I imagine rhetorically.

‘Did you mislead him?’ Victoria asks Jen.

‘I knew he’d never agree to a therapy holiday so, it’s true, I didn’t tell him where we were going – but I didn’t think he’d be disappointed.’

‘You know all I want is to go to New Zealand,’ he replies, leaning forward. ‘It’s all I talk about. It’s ridiculous, saying you didn’t think I’d assume that’s where we were going.’

‘What’s ridiculous is a grown man, crying on a beautiful beach, wearing a pair of hobbit feet.’

‘Oh, yeah, I’m the nutcase,’ he snaps back. ‘You’re the one who took me into a therapy session with two therapists who I thought were guests here too. I was like, “Oh, these two nosey buggers ask a lot of personal questions.”’

‘Okay,’ Victoria interrupts hurriedly, stopping things before they get going. ‘We all understand a lot more about why you two are here. Who do we have next?’

‘We’re Eva and Daniel,’ Eva says, all smiles, her head bouncing up and down like a nodding dog. She has his hand tightly between both of hers. ‘We recently celebrated our first anniversary.’

My ears ring and my vision blurs. I feel so overwhelmed with shock and anger, I feel as if I’m going to pass out. I feel an arm wrap around me; it’s Freddie, pulling me back from the other side. He rubs my shoulder reassuringly, which makes me feel a bit calmer, but I’m still so furious and upset.

‘Congratulations,’ Victoria says. ‘And what brought you to Valentine Island?’

‘We recently went through a little bit of turbulence,’ Eva explains as Daniel nods emphatically. Victoria nods as she listens. They’re all bouncing their heads up and down as if they’re at an indie gig. ‘But we continue on our journey, and we’re stronger than ever.’