Over the last couple of weeks as Aiden and I began making plans, we reached a point where it was time to break the news to close family members. Telling our respective parents wasn’t easy and I figured that as this was all Aiden’s idea, he should do the explaining. There were a few raised eyebrows, but Aiden made it sound so plausible, even I started to relax about it a little.

It was easier to tell Hannah and Owen at the same time, so when she popped in one evening we’d gathered around the monitor and Skyped Owen. The last thing I wanted was for him to feel left out and his reaction had shown a momentary hint of surprise, but it was fleeting.

‘Hmm… bold decision. Anything we should be worried about, guys?’ he’d enquired, calmly. His words were accompanied by that wicked little grin of his, the one he can’t hide whenever he’s nervous.

‘No, of course not. I’m heading off to Provence, on a little road trip. I’ll be spending time in a quaint little holiday village run by a very talented group of artisans. They hold courses in a wide variety of traditional skills. Everything from weaving to engraving, and the man in charge of it all is a renowned artist. I’ll be generally helping out as a volunteer working a full day on Monday and then four mornings, so I’ll have lots of free time. Aiden wants to travel further afield.’

The truth of it was that I knew Aiden needed to get this travelling thing out of his system. Maybe he wanted to experience a sense of freedom as an adult that he felt he’d missed out on. But how could I possibly stay home, trying to go about life as normal while anxiously awaiting his updates? Heck, a lottery win is supposed to take worry away, not increase it. So, I decided to chase an elusive dream of my own, to keep me busy and stop me fretting over our time apart.

Hannah had raised an eyebrow almost dismissively.

‘You’re going your separate ways? For a whole year?’ She’d stared at me, horrified, and then her eyes had darted across to assess Aiden’s reaction. She had no idea, of course, that this was his idea and not mine. ‘Free time to do what, exactly?’ she’d levelled at me, a tad caustically I felt. How did I get to be the baddie in this? I wondered. Mainly because, in her eyes, Aiden can do no wrong, which has been great up to now, but this wasn’t my decision, or my fault. I just couldn’t say that as Aiden had enough to contend with, so it was about damage limitation.

‘Well, mostly to learn how to draw and paint… but whatever takes my fancy.’

‘Fern, you don’t have hobbies. You’re not that sort of person.’