Jack’s eyes tell me he knows it’s not as easy as that, especially when he can see mine are full of regret and sorrow.

‘Maybe you need to talk to someone about the way you’re blaming yourself?’ he whispers. ‘I know Matthew doesn’t blame you, Charlotte. You need to go easier on yourself. You have a life to live too, you know.’

‘Thank you,’ I say to him. ‘It means a lot to hear that from someone like you. I can see why Matthew trusts you so deeply.’

He smiles as if he’s heard it all before.

‘Start living again, Charlotte,’ he tells me softly. ‘Even painful endings can lead the way to new beginnings.’

His voice is soothing and comforting, his words are exactly what I need to hear, and they resonate with me because he can be objective in all this. Tom could tell me it’s not my fault until he’s blue in the face, but he’s too involved, whereas Jack is a professional, an outsider. In the time it’s taken to drink a coffee he’s made me feel like I do have hope when it comes to self-forgiveness.

‘I’ll certainly try,’ I tell Dr Jack, feeling much better in myself in such a short space of time. ‘Your words of wisdom will certainly help Matthew, just like they’ve helped me. I better go see how he’s doing.’

And so I walk back down the corridor of the small hospital, with a sense of hope in my heart that I haven’t felt in a very long time.

Chapter Seven

Dublin, December 2016

‘Merry Christmas, boys and girls! Have a lovely break and I’ll see you all in the New Year!’

The children chorus back. ‘Merry Christmas, Miss Taylor!’

The school bell rings and the stampede for the door begins until I raise my voice and call for home-time etiquette, which means to form an orderly line at the door, in alphabetical order of course.

By my desk, I have two huge bags of presents from my wonderful class, containing everything from photo frames, chocolates, candles and bubble bath to mugs with ‘Best Teacher’ on them. My heart is full but somewhat empty at the same time, as I think of the joy I felt on this very day twelve months ago and how I could never have predicted what was round the corner. The day we broke up from school, the night of the big snow, the night we went to Pip’s Bar, the night I spent with Tom …