Your father and I are absolutely delighted to know that you and Jonathan are still together and have such exciting times ahead! We always hoped that once you had time to come to terms with things you would come back to us again, and although we didn’t think it would take so long, we knew we had to respect your wishes and leave you in peace if we wanted our Harriet back. Looking back, it probably was naïve of us to think that it had all been resolved. Thank goodness Jonathan put you in touch with his therapist to help you finally put your demons to rest.

The more I read, the less sense any of it made, unless . . .

It’s a relief to know that you understand why we interfered (as you put it), in your relationship with David, but we’re at a loss to understand some of the other things you wrote. The day Jonathan came and told us that the therapist had advised cutting yourself off from us for a while was a shock and I know the letter I sent back with him was . . .

‘Hattie!’

I jumped almost out of my skin as Jonathan hammered on the door. My phone clattered to the floor, where it skittered across the tiles, but thankfully didn’t crack.

‘What are you doing in there?’

I retrieved the phone, turned it off and stuffed it back into my bag.

‘Nothing,’ I said, opening the door so he could see for himself. ‘I was just about to brush my teeth. You were quick.’

‘I changed my mind,’ he scowled. ‘Given the limited time we’ve got, I thought we’d best spend it together.’

Given what I had just read and realised, spending time with him was the last thing I wanted. I was more inclined to tear him limb from limb than cuddle up with him. There was no way I was going to suggest spending another night at the hotel now. I needed to get away, find some space to fully take onboard what I had just discovered.

‘Are you all right?’ he asked. ‘You look a bit, pale, but then you did overdo it at breakfast, didn’t you?’

‘I’m fine,’ I told him, sitting on the still unmade bed. My legs were wobbling every bit as badly as they had been the night I went ice skating. ‘Actually, I’m pleased you’ve come back. I want to talk to you about something.’

He picked up the remote for the television and began flicking through the channels. The news blared out one minute, a music video on MTV the next. It was all I could to stop myself from launching across the room and wrenching the controller out of his hand, but I waited, a paragon of patience, until he decided to turn it off again.