‘When she broke up with me, she said it was because I was shallow and she needed a man with more emotional substance to him. She accused me of skating across the surface of life without ever engaging with the deeper issues.’

‘What on earth did she mean by that?’

‘She basically felt I’d never struggled. I had a happy childhood, did well at school, got my degree and landed a decent job straight out of uni. Life was handed to me on a plate, in her view.’

‘The same could be said of lots of people. What struggles did she have, then?’

‘None that I could see, but she always made this big deal about how hard she found it to make friends at school because she hadn’t grown up around other children and how I couldn’t possibly understand how difficult it was. It pissed me off because it felt like I should feel guilty for growing up in a large, generally loving family, but I couldn’t say anything because it would just make her worse.’

‘And then she dumped you.’

Mike nods.

‘I never liked her,’ I offer. ‘She was always criticising you. I mean, you can be a consummate arse sometimes, but you didn’t deserve to be treated like that.’

‘Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.’ Mike laughs bitterly. ‘Anyway, it’s water under the bridge.’

‘It isn’t,’ Sarah says to him, her tone suddenly gentle. ‘Because under all that bluster is a wounded little boy who still doesn’t understand what he did to make her behave as she did. I need that little boy to hear that he didn’t do anything. It’s not his fault. She sounds like a deeply damaged person who needs everyone around her to be just as damaged as she is. You’re just fine as you are. I wouldn’t be here if you weren’t. Are you listening to me?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good.’ She leans across and plants a kiss on his lips. ‘Right. Now we’ve sorted that out, we can move on to Tilly and Will.’ She waves to the spare sofa. ‘Why don’t you step into my treatment room, Tilly. The doctor will see you now.’

* * *

‘Sarah thinks I need to be more assertive and take the lead,’ I say to Tash a few days later as we’re grabbing a quick lunch together in the hospital canteen. ‘She thinks Will is just a bit shy and will come out of himself if given the right impetus.’

‘And what do you think?’

‘I think there’s a real risk of spooking him. I mean, he is shy and he does lack confidence, but I’m not sure leaping on him is going to help.’

‘But you can’t stay in limbo forever either.’

I sigh. ‘No, I know.’