Now that life felt more secure, she’d spent some time thinking long and hard about what she might want to do next. Although she’d been unceremoniously ditched by SlimmerYou, she still felt proud of the talks she’d done for them and knew she’d inspired other dieters each time. And so she’d taken the plunge and booked the local village hall for an hour-long slot on Wednesday evenings for her very own weight-watching club, planning to incorporate all the tips and advice she’d picked up, as well as the encouragement and support she knew she could offer her members. Jasmine, her boss at the café, had let her put an ad in the window, and Dave had helped her design and print hundreds of fliers advertising her idea, and her membership was gradually increasing as, week after week, word of mouth began to spread. For the first time Bunny felt as if she’d found her place, her people; she knew what they were going through and could help them along the way. She wasn’t charging very much – just enough to cover the cost of the hall, really – but as far as she was concerned, if she could encourage other people to transform into fitter, happier versions of themselves, then that was worth more than money.

‘My name’s Rachel Halliday, and I’m the proof that you can turn your life around,’ she said at the beginning of every meeting, and she meant every word.

That was another thing, too – she was reclaiming her name, so that it no longer felt like that of a victim. She was happy for those closest to her to carry on calling her Bunny, but there would be no more hiding away from the rest of the world in a different guise, she had decided. Why should she? She had done nothing to be ashamed of. In fact she was proud to be a survivor, proud of her own inner strength.

As well as working at the café and running her weight-watching club, she was busying herself by looking into college courses available nearby. Floristry, perhaps – she liked the thought of that – or she’d found one where you could learn how to become a personal trainer, which would also be pretty cool. Maybe she’d do both, just for the hell of it, and be a garland-weaving fitness ninja.