‘Just be careful,’ I offer. ‘And whatever he has to say, try not to let it affect you.’

He forces a smile. ‘I don’t think there’s anything that anyone can say that will shock me any more.’

‘I wouldn’t bet on it,’ I say to myself sceptically.

‘I’ve never noticed that before,’ he says, changing the subject and nodding his head in the direction of the print of the New York skyline hanging on the wall.

‘It’s been there a month or so,’ I say, clearing my throat. ‘A client bought it for me.’

‘I was pretty sure you were from the east coast, but thought it might be Philadelphia.’

‘No, born and bred in New York,’ I say. ‘Well, Long Island, to be specific.’

‘Ah, I remember going there when the kids were little,’ he says, smiling fondly at the memory. ‘It was a great day. Until we couldn’t find the restaurant we’d booked, and then all hell broke loose.’

He looks at me, his eyes full of sadness and regret that the good memories he has are so quickly marred.

‘When you think of her now, how do you feel?’ I ask.

He sighs and sits on the sofa again. ‘Deep down, I know she is a bitter, twisted woman, who at best is psychotic and at worst downright dangerous.’

A small step forward.

‘But I must have been the driving force of her anger and temper,’ he goes on. ‘It started with me and finished with me – and I will never forgive myself for what went on in between.’

Two steps back.

‘You did everything in your power to protect the children,’ I remind him. ‘The fact that you still have a relationship with them now, when she barely sees them, is testament to that. They don’t blame you for what she put them through, so why would you?’

He shrugs his shoulders and looks at me with sad eyes. ‘As I said, I guess it’s just going to take me some time to stop taking the rap for her behaviour and apologizing for everything I do.’

‘How do you think she’s holding up?’ I ask. ‘Do you think about that at all?’

He nods. ‘I keep wondering what’s going through her head. She must have been so shocked when she came home to find me gone. She wouldn’t have believed it possible, and the fact that she doesn’t know where I am will have her going out of her mind. Everything in her life is controlled; we all have our place in it and if we’re not where she wants us, there’s hell to pay.’

‘Do you honestly believe she would come looking for you?’