She’d have to cancel all the plans she’d so carefully made in the run-up to the Christmas holidays. It was unfortunate that her family would be stuck with Barbara, but the Latimers would muddle through – that was just the way they were. Her family would understand that she couldn’t just walk away when the guy could have a serious spinal or head injury – it so easily could have been her under the wheel of that motorbike. If she hadn’t known what a close shave she’d had at the time, the policeman had been quick to point out how lucky she’d been when he took down her statement. Her family wouldn’t want her to do anything less than what she believed was right.

For a moment, Liv thought about all she’d hoped this holiday would hold for her future, but deep down, she knew she’d made the right choice. The engagement ring would have to wait. God knows, she’d waited long enough to settle down already.

Eddie was the only man she’d really dated. He was her first grown-up relationship. Well, she hadn’t really dated him at all. Sometimes, she thought Rachel had sent Eddie to her so she hadn’t really had a choice. Eddie had just always been there; Eddie, with his slightly too long curly hair that he still tied into a ponytail, which she always thought made him rather arty-looking against his slightly crooked teeth and perfect nose.

If she was honest, she’d hardly noticed him before losing Rahcel and her life had been turned upside down. They’d been at school together and then, one day, walking through the coffee shop in the hospital when she was on a chocolate errand for one of her colleagues, she’d spotted him. He was sitting at a table and he looked as if the world was about to end. For sure, she thought he must be dying, so she went over to him, placed her hand over his and sat down next to him.