Without asking, she followed me out. When I opened the door to the building, Mike was leaning against the wall.

‘Hi,’ I said to him, giving Anna a sideways look, wondering how she’d react. ‘Why are you here?’

‘I need to talk to you,’ he said, standing up and reaching for the door as if to push it open. I paused for a moment, unsure of what to say, but I stepped outside with Anna and pulled the door shut behind us so he couldn’t get into the building. Anna was glaring at Mike and looking at me for an explanation.

‘What about?’ I asked.

‘It’s freezing out here,’ he said. ‘Can I come in?’

I looked over again at Anna.

‘No, I’m sorry. It’s not a good time.’

He frowned. ‘I only want to talk to you. Is that not allowed now?’

‘It’s allowed, but not right now. Anna’s got work to do and I promised I’d help her with it.’ It wasn’t strictly true, but it was a handy excuse.

‘Paige, this is silly. Let me in.’

‘No.’

He looked surprised, and I realised that I’d probably never said no to him before, or at least not for a very long time. Mike was probably expecting me to still be the same person I was when we were together, but I’d changed a hell of a lot in the last three years.

‘As always, your sister comes first,’ he replied with a roll of his eyes.

‘Of course she does.’ I folded my arms and stared at him defiantly. If he genuinely wanted to apologise for the way he’d treated me, so we could both move on, he wasn’t being particularly successful.

‘Paige, I’m sorry, okay?’ He let out a long breath. ‘I’m sorry, you just have this effect on me. Three years, and now suddenly you’re here and I can’t stop thinking about you. It makes me so mad, you know, that we threw away such a good thing. So, I forget myself sometimes.’

‘We can talk about it, but not right now. You can’t turn up at my front door and expect me to drop everything.’ I turned to walk inside and he put his arm out. Anna moved as if to get in between us, but I shook my head at her.

‘Wait, I’ve not said what I came here to say, yet,’ Mike said, a note of impatience in his voice.

‘And I’ve told you, now isn’t the right time.’

Before he had a chance to respond, Anna pushed past me, hands flying as she ranted at my ex-boyfriend.

I reached over and put a hand on her arm, stopping her mid-sign.

Anna, what are you doing?