“Yes, exactly that. He didn’t say a word. I noticed that he hadn’t asked whether I was leaving for someone else. I was glad at the time, of course, but afterward, when I thought about it, it did seem strange.”

“Do you wish you hadn’t left home?”

I thought about it for a while. “No,” I said slowly. “I wasn’t happy with Tom. And just when things were really bad, I met Harry. I knew that I needed to leave Tom. That was true whether Harry stayed with me or not.”

“Wow. I didn’t know any of that was going on.” He took a deep breath. “I always thought you’d leave Tom one day. I just didn’t think it would be like that.”

“You did?” I wondered whether he’d noticed the moods, the way I smiled less when I was with Tom, the way I’d tense up and find it hard to breathe at times. The way I came to life when I met Harry.

“Yes. I hoped you would.” When I looked at him, surprised, his face was pink. “To be honest, I thought we might get together sometime.” He must have seen my confusion. “You and me.”

I felt a moment of utter panic. I’d never thought of Oliver as anything more than a friend, but if I rejected him now, I’d be left with no one.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I’ve never thought about it.”

“We get on really well, Ruby. We could take things slowly. See how it goes.”

He leaned toward me and I thought he was going to kiss me. Just then my phone beeped. Automatically I glanced over at it.

“Okay,” he said. “I get it.” He jumped up. “Are you still hoping Harry will come back to you? You’re wasting your time.” He got into his car and drove off without another word. I stared after him. He had now joined that growing band of people to avoid.

I looked down at my phone. It was a message from Sarah.

Thanks very much for that, Ruby. Harry has told me there isn’t a future for me at Sheridan’s.

Immediately I was hot with anger. I replied, Don’t blame me! You lied to me. You said you’d given him my letter.

Within seconds another message appeared. You think he wanted your stupid letter? I told you, he read it and threw it in the bin.

I smarted at the thought of this and knew I’d never know the truth. Was Sarah lying to me, to hurt me? Or had Harry read the letter and just discarded it now that I wasn’t any use to him?

Sarah must have been really fired up because another message came through.