I shot Ben a warning look. He didn’t need to mention that I had said it was bad enough that we were going to his parents for Christmas, there was absolutely no way I was travelling down with his sister, too.

I could feel Jo staring at me and when I turned towards her, she quickly tried to rearrange her expression, but not before I had caught the look of pure dislike in her eyes. The feeling’s entirely mutual, I felt like yelling. She frowned, before getting up and leaving the room.

Ben and Peter didn’t seem to notice Jo leaving and Ben continued chatting to his dad, completely oblivious to the undertones crackling around them. I now saw that Peter didn’t look great. His colour was high and he had acquired quite a few more lines on his face, even in the couple of months since I had last seen him. He was still handsome but there were dark circles under his eyes and he looked diminished, somehow. The sexy swagger that he had used to seduce me had long gone.

I guessed that it was caused by stress but I couldn’t feel any sympathy for him. He didn’t worry about the stress I was under, when he vanished like a ghost and thought he could drop me without a backward glance.

I watched him now, trying to concentrate on what Ben was saying, but his eyes kept flickering nervously in my direction. I wondered if he had even the slightest trace of love remaining for me. When we were together, although I always knew that I felt more for him than he did for me, I was certain that his feelings ran deeper than just lust. I got enough back from him to make me believe that one day he would leave his wife and make a life with me and our baby.

How naïve and dumb that seemed now, bearing in mind what he did to me.

Just then, Jo came bursting back into the room. She seemed to be borderline hysterical. ‘Emma’s had an accident. We need to go and get her!’

Peter and Ben both immediately leaped out of their seats. ‘Shit! Is she OK?’ Ben looked genuinely distressed, which was a bit of an over-the-top reaction. I was fairly sure Emma couldn’t have been badly hurt or she wouldn’t be calling her mum and dad to go and pick her up. She would have been on her way to hospital in an ambulance.

‘She’s very shaken and upset and I think she’s bumped her head but she was talking coherently, so hopefully she’s fine. Come on, Peter, we need to hurry.’ Jo gestured towards the door expectantly, chivvying him as if he was a naughty child.

Peter nodded quickly and strode out of the room. I looked up at Ben, expecting him to sit back down beside me but instead, he headed for the door.

‘I’ll come!’ he said loudly.

‘No, Ben!’ I shouted, before I had time to think, causing them all to stop in their tracks. ‘You can’t go,’ I added, as three sets of eyes turned towards me.