‘Are you trying to tell me that Roman is a fraudster and pretending to be a doctor on the side?’

Ella stood up and cleared away the dishes. ‘Call it woman’s intuition, but there’s something going on in Roman’s life – he’s hiding something. Gut feelings are always right. Anyway, I need to go and get showered.’ She began walking towards her bedroom, when Callie shouted after her.

‘I know one thing. When he threw in that comment about shopping for one, that wasn’t for my benefit. He was letting you know that he’s single. That’s my woman’s intuition!’

‘You’re reading way too much into it. He’s a friend, and we’ve only just met,’ protested Ella.

‘No one needs extra friends at our time of life.’

‘Actually, I do, and I’m not listening to you.’ Ella was chuckling when she closed the bedroom door behind her. This was exactly how she imagined life would be, living with Callie – fun days and full of laugher.

After a quick shower, Ella swiped her clothes from the wardrobe and plumped for a pair of baggy ripped jeans, a Levi’s T-shirt and an over-sized cardigan. As she pulled a brush through her hair, she sat down at the dressing table and stared at herself in the mirror. How things had changed in such a short time. Even though she’d only been in Heartcross a matter of days, her old life was beginning to feel like a lifetime ago. The flat already felt like home, she felt settled, and that’s when Ella realised she could count her good friends on one hand – Callie.

She thought back to when she’d started to date Alex. As he became a permanent fixture in her life, her friends began to dwindle away. Looking back, Ella had come to realise that Alex had manipulated situations and isolated her from her friends. Every time she’d arranged to go out with a girlfriend, Alex would turn up, sporting a huge bouquet of flowers with a posh restaurant booking under his belt. Each time he made out that she must have forgotten their arrangement and, in the end, she started to believe it and doubt herself, but it was all part of the game. Alex was a professional narcissistic fraudster. Her friends had warned her, but of course she didn’t want to hear it. She was in love and each time she’d put him first. One thing she’d learnt from the whole situation was, that was never going to happen again. Friends were important.

After applying her make-up and a squirt of her perfume, Ella pulled on her Converse and wandered into the living room to find Callie rummaging in the overstuffed drawer in the kitchen that was full of knick-knacks. ‘Here it is,’ she said, holding up a key. ‘The spare front-door key. You may be needing this.’