First things first, however. Once I’d made a pot of tea and cut a thick slice of stollen, I braced myself and looked at my phone. In addition to the one squillion notifications, most of which were informing me that the bulk of the Joy Papplewick fan club were now following me, I had several WhatsApp messages. All from Adam.

Oops.

Hey, just wondering how things were going and if you know what time you’ll be done at the hospital? Did you get the hall back how Principal Armstrong likes it?

I’m still awake, so just let me know what time to come over

Hope everything’s ok???

Wow – I just saw you’ve been busy this evening. I hope you didn’t give away the flowers I gave you ;)

The final one was at two in the morning.

Okay, I’m heading to bed now. Call if you still want me to come over, or need to talk. I can’t think of a better reason to get a bad night’s sleep xx

The truth was that after the encounter at the bottom of the stairs, I’d gone to bed thinking tipsy thoughts about Henry.

I constructed a long-winded apology, then deleted it. I’d never actually said that I wanted Adam to come over last night, because I wasn’t sure that I did. This morning, with a quiet house and space to breathe, it was as though having gone over and over all these thoughts and questions for so long, they were starting to solidify into some answers, like butter in a churn. I retyped a short answer saying a quick sorry, I was too tired to talk last night, and left it at that.

Next I whizzed through all the posts, comments, and messages. After finding nothing untoward, I posted a general follow-up thanking everyone again, apologising for the lack of individual replies and confirming that Joy was doing well.

Next, my next job.

In the end, it was easier than I thought to make a final decision. Henry had sent me the table we’d constructed of pros and cons, but when I opened up the BWM Today contract and started reading, I didn’t need it.

I loved living in Nottinghamshire. I loved being ‘Our Bea’. That the people who joined my online groups and called up the newsroom every day and sent me giant toy pigs felt as if they knew me, that I was one of them. Because I was.

I didn’t want to lose that.

It might sound pathetic to some, but I didn’t want to be a two-hour train and taxi ride away from my family. I wanted to be here to watch Elana’s performances and play games with Frankie and Daisy and sing along with Nana Joy while I still could.