‘Morning,’ I said quietly, remembering how late Annie was up last night and that she probably wasn’t in the mood for chit-chat. As she rose from the table and walked around to get to the sink, I took a sharp intake of breath.

‘My God, Annie, your eye! What happened?’ Annie slowly brought her hand to her face. She gently touched the area next to her eye that was blue and purple and swollen. She turned around and looked at me full on.

‘I’m not entirely sure how it happened, Daisy. I think I must have tripped on that tiny step into the pantry and bashed my face on the shelf there. I was half asleep. Anyway, what about you? Do you need some—’ Annie waved her hand about ‘—help with anything?’

I looked down at my bump. ‘No. I’ll be fine. I’m going to contact Ben tonight. I’ve drafted another text message.’ Annie shot me a look from the sink.

I knew that I had let Ben down with what I had said and the way I treated him just before he disappeared and a part of me wanted to allow myself the punishment, but the other part of me needed to know what was happening. I was angry that he thought he could just walk out of our marriage and cut off all communication. I had been refusing to think that Ben was hiding something from me but I couldn’t shift the nagging doubt. Why would the police question him so much and what if they needed to get back in touch with him again? But worst of all, what if I had made a horrible mistake and got myself involved with the wrong kind of man?

Annie cocked her head to one side. ‘It sounds like you’re talking about a work proposal, dear, not your husband.’ Annie laughed. Her tone was brazen but she wasn’t finished. ‘My Ben, he’s a free spirit. I had to learn to let him go several months ago and now I think you need to do the same.’

‘What?’ I could barely believe what I was hearing. ‘You think he’s gone? That’s it, it’s all over?’

Annie pulled her lips into an awkward half-smile and shrugged her shoulders.

‘I’m just saying, dear, maybe you should concentrate on, you know…’ She lowered her head and gesticulated to my stomach with her eyes.

‘Well, I’m not ready to say goodbye.’ My voice caught on goodbye, but I refused to let myself cry in front of Annie. ‘He has to at least make that clear, people don’t just disappear Annie! I will send him the message and if I don’t get a reply I will…’ I had no idea what I was going to do. What could I do? Ben had made his decision. I just had to wait.

‘I’m going for a bath,’ I said and headed back upstairs.

I ran a bath and once I was submerged to my neck in bubbles I reached up to the shelf above my head, for my phone. With my face hot from the bath water and the rage that was building inside me, I re-read the message laced with firm words and the odd expletive that I had assessed a thousand times and pressed send.