Thanks to Peter buying them a house, plus a large inheritance from his estate, Ben didn’t really need a salary, so he had acquiesced to Bella’s demands without any argument. Jo had barely seen Elodie since the funeral, except on FaceTime. When she tentatively invited them to spend Christmas with her, Ben’s eyes had widened in alarm and Jo knew that he was too scared to even broach the subject with Bella, so she had brushed it off with a nonchalant wave of the hand and a cheery, ‘Never mind!’ She didn’t want to do anything to put him in an awkward position with Bella.

The worry she felt for him was like rust gradually eating away at metal. He looked thin – too thin – and his eyes were clouded with anxiety. He had always had beautiful, soulful eyes that danced with mischief but now they just peered at her through the screen with a blank stare. He looked lonely, which she recognized all too well because she was lonely too.

Emma did her best to keep in touch as much as possible, but her job meant she was away travelling a lot and Jo didn’t want to burden her with her own worries and upset, so she put on a brave front whenever they spoke. Only when she came to visit could Jo really let her guard down and tell Emma how worried she was. They would sit across from each other, shaking their heads helplessly, as they tried to understand why Ben had allowed Bella to rent their family apart the way she had.

Jo took a deep breath and looked again at her stubbornly silent phone. Before she knew what she was doing, she was dialling Charlotte’s number.

‘Hi, Jo!’ Charlotte sounded a mixture of pleased and nervous. ‘Is everything OK?’

Tears sprang into Jo’s eyes at the sound of Charlotte’s sweet, lovely voice and for a moment she was too choked to speak.

‘Jo?’ Charlotte prompted. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Oh, Charlotte!’ Jo burst into a torrent of terrifyingly powerful sobs that she couldn’t contain. Months of grief and sorrow came pouring out in an unstoppable wave.

‘Oh, Jo, what’s happened? Don’t worry, just take your time …’ Charlotte’s sympathetic tone and the warmth of her words caused Jo to cry even harder. It felt like so long since someone had shown her any kindness.

After a few moments, the worst of her sobs had subsided and she was able to speak through a succession of hiccups and gasps. ‘It’s Ben,’ she managed at last. ‘I’m so worried about him.’

There was a long beat of silence before Charlotte replied. ‘I know, Jo. We all are.’

Jo blinked away the last vestiges of tears, relieved at hearing someone else echo what she felt. ‘Really? I was sure it was just me.’

Charlotte sighed heavily. ‘No. Matt and Freya feel exactly the same. We never hear from him anymore. He’s like a ghost that just vanished overnight.’

Jo thought back to Peter’s words when talking about Bella: ‘She’s like a ghost that just appeared out of nowhere.’ And now Ben was like a ghost that just vanished overnight. There was some sort of irony in there somewhere. ‘It’s her,’ Jo said quietly.