One of us had to leave, before something was said that we’d never recover from. Though right now, it doesn’t feel like we’ll ever be able to get back to the normal we used to think was boring. It was only a week ago that life had seemed so mundane, but I’d go back there in an instant. How have our lives been turned upside down in such a short space of time? How has the implicit trust I had in my husband, and him in me, been eroded so deeply?

I’m still pulling myself together when, a few minutes later, a voice calls out down the hall. ‘Hello?’

With the concert starting in a couple of hours’ time, I knew that we’d most likely have visitors; friends excitedly passing by on their way to the ground, with picnic hampers and clinking bottles of wine. But of all the days to have an open house . . .

I quickly wipe under my eyes and pull at my blouse. ‘In here,’ I say, popping my head around the kitchen door.

‘Hey, sorry to just show up,’ comes an American drawl.

Of all the people it could be, Anna is my most preferred. Not least because it means she’s OK after last night.

‘I just wanted to say sorry about yesterday,’ she says, proffering a bottle of wine and a small bouquet of flowers.

‘What’s this?’ I ask.

‘It’s just a little thank you,’ she says, as the corners of her mouth turn up.

As I take them from her, I realize that I’ve never seen her smile before.

‘For what?’

‘You have no idea how much you’ve helped me these past couple of months,’ she says. ‘And after yesterday, I finally think I’ve turned a corner.’

‘What happened?’ I ask.

‘So I went back home after seeing you and told Nick, very calmly, that we couldn’t go on the way we were and that I was going to leave him unless we sorted things out.’ Her eyes light up. ‘We had a really good talk and he admits that he lets his anger and frustrations get the better of him, and that none of it is my fault. He doesn’t want me to leave and says he will do everything he can to make it up to me.’

‘That’s great,’ I say, tempering my misgivings. I’ve heard this a thousand times before.

‘So I’m going to give him a chance,’ she says. ‘But I wanted to say thank you because without you, I wouldn’t have had the courage to do it.’

‘Does this mean you’re ending your sessions?’

She nods. ‘You’ve been so incredible and given me so much, but I’ve got everything from them that I needed.’

I smile, yet can’t help but wonder if she’ll be knocking on my door again in a month’s time.