Connie thought her legs were about to go from under her. For so long she’d imagined – indeed feared – his presence all around her, seen him in every face in every crowd. But his actual presence, in the flesh, standing there on Tessa’s doorstep as cool as a cucumber, was horrifying.

‘May I come in?’ he asked, his manners as impeccable as ever.

For a moment she was unable to respond, unable to move a muscle. She watched Jared start to step forward and her breath shot back into her lungs, her blood to her veins. She thrust out her hand, feeling the rough tweed of his overcoat as she pressed her palm hard to his chest. ‘Stay right there, Jared.’ She took a gulp of air.

He looked shocked and stepped back. Connie dropped her hand. It was freezing and she shivered in the wintry blast. ‘Go away,’ she added emphatically, as he showed no immediate sign of leaving.

He was staring at her. ‘Are you OK? You look white as a sheet.’ He reached out, but she backed away as she made to slam the door shut.

But he was quicker. He already had his fingers curled firmly around the door jamb. ‘Two minutes, Connie. Please.’

‘NO! Go away!’ she hissed, threatening to slam the door on his fingers but not wanting him to turn nasty, to create an embarrassing scene on Tessa’s doorstep.

‘And stop bloody stalking me,’ she managed, but her voice trembled.

Jared seemed genuinely taken aback, but he didn’t shift, didn’t remove his hand.

‘I saw you,’ she stated, more forcefully. ‘The other day, on the hill. And you – you put those ravioli in my shopping bag.’ She realized as she spoke that this was the only real accusation she could level at him, and it sounded insane.

He frowned, looking mystified. ‘Ravioli? I’m sorry, Connie, you’ve lost me.’

Breathing fast with frustration, she wasn’t going to be fobbed off this time. ‘I know it was you.’ She tried to remember which day she had seen him on the rainy hill, but her mind wouldn’t focus. Their faces were too close as he leaned towards her, his eyes dark pools of purpose. She refused to give way, wouldn’t leave any gap through which he could pounce as she waited for the moment when he would let his hand drop from the jamb and she could slam the door shut.

‘Couldn’t have been me. I’ve been in Berlin. Only flew in a couple of hours ago,’ Jared said.

Connie stared at him. He seemed so calm. So frighteningly calm. She didn’t believe him. But the fear that she had imagined it all, put a false spin on perfectly normal situations – his face under the umbrella, the parcel in her shopping – was almost more terrifying than Jared himself.