When everything was sorted I sent Josh a message, asking him to come and take whatever he wanted. He’d already taken his dad’s car; I came home from the shops the day after I’d said he could have it to find it gone. He’d left a note saying he was going to sell it and use the money for a gap year. In my message I said it might be a good idea to get his stepdad, Martin, to come with him in case there was anything heavy to lift. I didn’t want to be alone with Josh. I had never considered before now that even a fraction of doubt in someone means you can never really trust them.

Martin arrived first, parking his huge Land Rover behind my car. I went out to greet him and he kissed me on the cheek, something he’d never done before.

“How are you coping?” he asked, a sympathetic look on his face.

Now, that was a hard question to answer truthfully.

“Oh, you know.” I shrugged. “Is Josh coming?”

“Yes, I thought he’d be here by now,” he said. “There won’t be room for him on the drive, though. He’ll have to park on the street.”

I wondered whether that was deliberate, whether he’d chosen to arrive later so that he wouldn’t have to park near the house. In case I looked closely at his car. In case I challenged him. But when Josh came bounding up the driveway, tanned after a few days in Brighton with his friends, that thought seemed impossible.

“I stopped off to get these,” he said, thrusting some flowers into my hand. He leaned down to kiss me. I stood very still, unable to put my arms around him as I usually would.

“Thanks.” I had no intention of keeping those flowers in my home. “I’ll find a vase.”

“Are you sure you don’t want the electronics?” asked Josh.

“I don’t want anything,” I said. “Take whatever you want. Anything that’s left is going to charity.”

He looked confused.

“I’m having a fresh start,” I said.

He nodded slowly, then went into the living room.

Martin and I stood in the hallway for a couple of moments. “I know what he was like,” he said gently. “Tom, I mean. Belinda told me all about him. She said she felt claustrophobic at the end of their marriage, as though she was locked in a very small room.”

I shuddered. I’d felt the same way at times.