‘Shit, Lex. I had no idea. I’m so sorry. Your mum and sister can be difficult, I know, but that’s way harsh. If I’d known that I’d—’

‘You’d what? Go back in time and change what you said? Decide you did want to sign up for a life with a disabled woman after all?’

I regret these words the moment they’ve left my lips but Dom just turning up like this isn’t just an irritation, it’s reopening old wounds. Stirring up feelings for him I didn’t know were still there.

Dom visibly recoils. ‘Lex, please. Don’t be like that. That was something I said in the moment. Stupid, yes. But true? No.’

‘It was true. You just wish you hadn’t said it out loud.’

‘No. I reacted. Just as you reacted to everything that was going on at work. To any offer of help from me, from your family—’

‘So you’re saying it was my fault?’

‘What? No. I’m saying… although it was you who had something life-changing thrown at you, it affected us as well. We were all trying to process it and do what we thought was best, but things got out of control, and our relationship took the brunt of it.’ Dom looks quite cut up as he says this.

My defensiveness wavers a little. I’d never really considered it that way before. I was so consumed by anger and denial that all I could think about was how everyone was getting on my nerves. They were trying to do what they thought was best – no matter how misguided that was. None of us got a manual on how to deal with a degenerative disease. We had to make it up as we went along.

‘I thought you were relieved.’ My voice is close to a whisper, eyes fixed on the floor. ‘It was a get-out-of-jail-free card. Who wouldn’t take that in your situation?’

‘You make it sound so transactional, Lex. You accuse me of going into work mode.’

‘Fair enough. So why are you telling me all this now, Dom? You never said any of this back when it mattered. I haven’t heard from you for ages. Why are you here?’

Dom swallows thickly and fixes his piercing blue eyes on mine. ‘I’m here, Lex, because since we finished, nothing’s been right. It’s like I’ve lost a part of me. I think about you all the time and I want you back. I don’t care what your MS means for our future. We can face it together. I want to be your rock and I want to take care of you. And I still love you – more than you could ever know.’

I feel like the breath’s been sucked out of me. The room blurs as unwanted tears brim. What do I do with this? I’ve been getting on great; created a whole new life for myself. But here, now, with Dom beside me, it’s clear to me that I’m still in love with him too. How could I not be? We were getting married. Our relationship didn’t fizzle out, we just hit a Ben Nevis-sized bump in the road. One that catapulted us in different directions, and now Dom’s found his way back from that. But where am I?