‘I’m fine,’ he said and she knew from the way he said it that he actually was; perhaps knowing the full truth was a bit of a relief, better than wondering at half a story. ‘I’d be more worried about you. You and Eddie were together a long time. How are you?’

‘Believe it or not, much better than I’d have imagined, if I’d ever thought this could happen.’ She laughed, because honestly, never in her wildest dreams could she have thought that Eddie and Anya would do something like this.

‘Are you still in…?’ He stopped for a moment, trying to get his bearing perhaps. ‘Oh, God, you’re not there on your own, are you? Will I come up? Help you sort things out?’

‘No, absolutely not – you need to get yourself sorted. It’s sort of settled on me now. I’ve moved all Eddie’s stuff out of my flat and told him it’s over. The worst is done.’ She laughed, a nervous sound in the back of her throat. Overhead, she saw the clock was just about to fall on the hour. ‘Listen, I’m sorry to do this in such a rush, but I’m due back on shift now. I’ll call you later, okay?’

‘Sure, no problem, Liv…’ There was so much more to say. There would be so many more conversations about this, probably over the next couple of days, but for now, Liv knew there was only one thing she wanted to ask.

‘Will you be okay?’

‘I’ll be fine. Honestly, Liv, it doesn’t change anything for me and Anya – it was over anyway – but it was hard to see a way out of it with the coffee shop and you know…’ He didn’t need to say any more. ‘Liv?’

‘Yes?’

‘Mind yourself, yeah?’

‘Of course and you too.’ She smiled before swiping the call to end. And she realised that far from being more miserable after the call, she actually felt relieved. Another piece of the past put to rest.

*

Francine was sitting in the nurses’ station when she returned to A&E. It seemed they were having a brief reprieve. ‘The calm before the storm, no doubt.’ Francine chuckled. ‘So, what’s been going on with you this Christmas?’ She looked at Liv with the sort of knowingness that negated any lies.

‘Oh, just your usual kind of Christmas fun and games…’ Liv thought she might as well be honest; until now, there hadn’t been five minutes on the ward to talk to anyone about anything much more than being on the job. ‘I found out that Eddie has been seeing someone else…’ she said.

‘Oh, no. I’m so sorry,’ Francine said and she reached out and patted Liv’s hand. ‘And you’ve been stuck here, on your own for the whole holiday.’